In some regards, it is hard to believe that the peak golf season is coming to an end, and on the other end of the spectrum, the early start to the 2012 season and the extreme heat and drought that we endured from mid-June through early August made it seem like Labor Day should have come a month ago. But, alas, September is near, the days are shorter, and the shadows are longer. Despite a warming trend over the next few days, change is most definitely in the air.
Most locust trees, many ashes, and a few maples are already showing their traditional yellow, purple, and red hues, and blowing leaves off of greens prior to morning mowing has become a daily routine. There's little doubt that the stressful summer months have expedited leaf fall, and the pesky acorns are also dropping in earnest. Despite frequent waterings, a few of the small trees that we planted in mid-June didn't survive, but other damage to the trees and shrubs appears to be temporary.
Our crew will also be taking a different and smaller look after this week when five full-time seasonal employees depart for school. However, our spring and fall rough mower, Joe, will be returning, and we still somehow manage to get everything done that is needed.
Maintenance work on the golf course has been fairly routine as of late, and if you haven't heard, we will not be core aerifying the fairways this fall. More on this at a later date, but I can't imagine that any golfers will be heartbroken over this development.
Have a great Labor Day/Badger football opening weekend!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
Breaks and Patches
Since there are less desirable pictures to follow, let's start this post off with a nice one of the 13th hole..
After two months of brutal weather, it seems as if we might finally be turning the corner, and this break in the heat is much needed. For those who haven't been keeping track, we've had 33 days with at least a 90 degree high temperature. In hindsight, we were actually fortunate to have been dry throughout the majority of the heat because high moisture+high temperatures=turf death and disease. When the rain returned in mid-July, a disease called summer patch started appearing on a few collars and approaches.
Here's a direct quote from one of my turf books, "Infection by the summer patch pathogen is highly dependent on the temperature and moisture status of the soil. When soil temperatures are elevated (65-85 degrees) and there is ample soil moisture the summer patch pathogen readily infects and colonizes turf roots. As soil temperatures increase beyond 75 degrees, root growth is slow and cannot compensate for roots damaged by infection." Summer patch is most effectively treated when soil temperatures reach 65 degrees at a 3" depth for several consecutive days, and this year, our preventative applications occurred on May 22 and June 1. Unfortunately, the extreme weather, subsequent stress, and high rainfall for the last half of July caused the summer patch pathogen to rear its ugly head. This disease only affects Poa annua and Kentucky bluegrass, and once present, curative fungicide applications are not very effective. However, there are a few fungicides that are thought to help out and one was applied this week. We also solid-tine aerified the worst of the areas to promote root growth and to cool the soils with the relatively brisk nights that are being forecasted. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet to for this disease, and it will likely linger until the temperatures are consistently lower.
The above picture from 15 approach illustrates the what summer patch looks like, and although it's unsightly, it should have minimal impact on play.
From one break (in the weather) to another, we had yet another irrigation break by an isolation valve. Each hole has a valve between the loop the feeds the entire system and the pipes that are attached to that hole's sprinklers. These valves allow us to make necessary repairs on an individual hole without depressurizing the whole irrigation system, and in the 17 years that Chad has worked here, this is the first year that any leaks have occurred in and around these isolation valves. This year, we've had three such breaks! We're not exactly sure why we've had so many, but we're speculating that the extremely dry conditions may have caused movement in the soils that resulted in the breaks. Our latest isolation valve break was by far the least complicated of the three, and we were able to fix it ourselves.
Besides the summer patch, we're happy with course has been holding up. Hopefully, the cooler days and nights will stick around to allow us to provide you with faster greens and to help the Poa grow some roots.
Here's a direct quote from one of my turf books, "Infection by the summer patch pathogen is highly dependent on the temperature and moisture status of the soil. When soil temperatures are elevated (65-85 degrees) and there is ample soil moisture the summer patch pathogen readily infects and colonizes turf roots. As soil temperatures increase beyond 75 degrees, root growth is slow and cannot compensate for roots damaged by infection." Summer patch is most effectively treated when soil temperatures reach 65 degrees at a 3" depth for several consecutive days, and this year, our preventative applications occurred on May 22 and June 1. Unfortunately, the extreme weather, subsequent stress, and high rainfall for the last half of July caused the summer patch pathogen to rear its ugly head. This disease only affects Poa annua and Kentucky bluegrass, and once present, curative fungicide applications are not very effective. However, there are a few fungicides that are thought to help out and one was applied this week. We also solid-tine aerified the worst of the areas to promote root growth and to cool the soils with the relatively brisk nights that are being forecasted. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet to for this disease, and it will likely linger until the temperatures are consistently lower.
The above picture from 15 approach illustrates the what summer patch looks like, and although it's unsightly, it should have minimal impact on play.
From one break (in the weather) to another, we had yet another irrigation break by an isolation valve. Each hole has a valve between the loop the feeds the entire system and the pipes that are attached to that hole's sprinklers. These valves allow us to make necessary repairs on an individual hole without depressurizing the whole irrigation system, and in the 17 years that Chad has worked here, this is the first year that any leaks have occurred in and around these isolation valves. This year, we've had three such breaks! We're not exactly sure why we've had so many, but we're speculating that the extremely dry conditions may have caused movement in the soils that resulted in the breaks. Our latest isolation valve break was by far the least complicated of the three, and we were able to fix it ourselves.
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| The latest break took place on hole 4, and the repaired product is pictured above. |
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