You know that it is dry when a local news channel's lead story is about drought-ridden lawns and that's exactly what happened last night. The last significant rainfall that the golf course received was 0.6" on May 30. Since then, we've received 0.2" of rain, and the recent stretch of hot, windy days certainly exacerbated the dry conditions. Thankfully, we entered this heatwave with very good rooting depth, and the playing surfaces have thus held up quite well. Over the past few days, two people have been handwatering dry spots all day. However, since our double-row fairway irrigation system is only able to water the edges of the rough, the wider rough areas are drying out substantially. Over the past two weeks, I have been using portable sprinklers attached to 100' hoses in an effort to keep these dry rough areas from entering dormancy, but it has been impossible to keep up with the evapotranspiration rates that we've been experiencing. Accordingly, unless we received a substantial (greater than a half inch) rainfall tonight, the rough will continue to be quite dry.
The positive side of the dryness is that this heat didn't bring any disease with it, and we're hoping that the drier rootzones will have prevented the turf roots from essentially boiling to death. While it's too soon to know for sure, our roots may have survived the heat (fingers crossed).
If you play this weekend, you may notice that the rough and green banks are longer than normal, and this is being done in preparation for the Taylormade Invitational that is being held here on Monday. Things will return to normal on Tuesday.
When we haven't been handwatering, we've completed a few small projects over the past two weeks, and the most noticeable was the addition of a perennial garden to the back right of 16 green. This area was unsightly from its frequent use as an unofficial cart path, and we hope that you like the garden and its associated walking path. We also completed come sod work behind 10 green and by the 6 tee bathrooms. Due to shade issues and cart traffic, the back left of 10 green had developed grass-less tracks, and with a little cart traffic control and the previously-removed tree that cast a significant amount of shade on this area, we're cautiously optimistic that we'll be able to keep some turf here.
Rain or not, we're looking forward to the break in weather that is coming tonight, but an inch of rain sure would be nice (and much needed).
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Friday, June 8, 2012
Productive Week
If it were possible, we would have bottled this week's weather and replayed it throughout the summer. With minimal wind and temperatures in the 70s, it was a very productive week. After being here for a few weeks, our seasonal employees are settling in nicely and that has certainly helped us to take on duties besides mowing. Approaches and tees were fertilized with Milorganite, and the tees especially will appreciate this slow-release fertilizer. All of the fairways were also fertilized with a granular product. Typically, we fertilize the fairways with a granular product once per year and rely on smaller, more frequent doses of liquid fertilizer throughout the remainder of the year.
Also this week, traditionally dry spots on greens, tees, and fairways were treated with wetting agents. Soils in a golf course setting (especially those with a high percentage of sand) often become hydrophobic when water-repelling organic compounds coat the soil particles. Wetting agents act as a bridge between the soils and water and allow for more even moisture retention and penetration.
And, finally, much of the course was spot-sprayed for broadleaf weeds this week. Our primary weed targets at this time of the year were prostrate knotweed and white clover. Over the past few years, we've been aggressively trying to reduce the knotweed population in many rough areas. This particular weed does well in compacted soils, and with very few cart paths, the majority of the course's rough area are quite compacted. Earlier this spring, we also aerified and fertilized the worst of the areas to give the grass a fighting chance and to alleviate some compaction.
A few weeks ago, you probably noticed that two trees between 6 forward tee and the driving range were removed. Although one of the trees (a honey locust) was in poor health, they were targeted for removal because they impacted play from the left side of the practice tee, and the before and after pictures below illustrate just that:
Speaking of tree removal, a medium-sized linden tree that was located to the front left of 3 back tee was cut down. This tree made the back left of the tee unusable, and its elimination creates a very interesting angle for tee shots. Again, the before and after pictures are below.
Similarly, a linden tree that is to the front left of 15 tee was trimmed, and this will also allow for use of the back left portion of the tee.
We hope that you enjoyed the nice, cool week as much as we did and have an enjoyable, hot weekend.
Also this week, traditionally dry spots on greens, tees, and fairways were treated with wetting agents. Soils in a golf course setting (especially those with a high percentage of sand) often become hydrophobic when water-repelling organic compounds coat the soil particles. Wetting agents act as a bridge between the soils and water and allow for more even moisture retention and penetration.
And, finally, much of the course was spot-sprayed for broadleaf weeds this week. Our primary weed targets at this time of the year were prostrate knotweed and white clover. Over the past few years, we've been aggressively trying to reduce the knotweed population in many rough areas. This particular weed does well in compacted soils, and with very few cart paths, the majority of the course's rough area are quite compacted. Earlier this spring, we also aerified and fertilized the worst of the areas to give the grass a fighting chance and to alleviate some compaction.
A few weeks ago, you probably noticed that two trees between 6 forward tee and the driving range were removed. Although one of the trees (a honey locust) was in poor health, they were targeted for removal because they impacted play from the left side of the practice tee, and the before and after pictures below illustrate just that:
Speaking of tree removal, a medium-sized linden tree that was located to the front left of 3 back tee was cut down. This tree made the back left of the tee unusable, and its elimination creates a very interesting angle for tee shots. Again, the before and after pictures are below.
Similarly, a linden tree that is to the front left of 15 tee was trimmed, and this will also allow for use of the back left portion of the tee.
We hope that you enjoyed the nice, cool week as much as we did and have an enjoyable, hot weekend.
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