The week of April 30th Update

It looks like we are finally going to get some favorable temperatures to get some grass growing.  The weather this week looks a little unstable, but temperatures are moving into the 70's.  The warmer temperatures and added precipitation will allow the grass to fill in and thicken up.  This week we will be starting our ferrous sulfate program to the greens.  Ferrous sulfate is basically iron and it allows the plant to green up.  A bigger advantage to applications of ferrous sulfate is that the sulfur will help lower the pH in the soil and promote the bent over the poa.  We also apply ammonium sulfate during the year which also contains sulfur and will benefit the bentgrass. 

On Wednesday we have our first men's stag.  Sunday brings the Spring fling.  These are both fun events and I hope you can get a group and enjoy them.  We will be marking the course on Tuesday.  The new seeded areas will not be marked but should be played as ground under repair.  We will also start planting the flower beds on the course this week.  The club's horticulturist, Jim Pillard, does a great job with the landscaping and flowers on the course and around the clubhouse.  He will be very busy planting over the next three weeks. 

Please remember to repair your ballmarks and replace your divots.  Get out and enjoy the course this week. 

Week of April 23rd Update

It looks like we will have a slight warm up as we start the week with a chance of showers in the middle of the week.  We will be applying our first fungicide application to fairways and tees on Monday as a disease called dollar spot is starting to show up.  Dollar spot becomes active as the soil starts to warm up and moisture increases.  We received about .8" of rain on Friday and Saturday which jump started the fungus.  Monday we also will be verticutting and topdressing the greens.  Tuesday we will be topdressing the lower driving range tees.  We hope to stay on the top driving range tee until the first week of May.  It will then be closed and seeded.  We will be applying our second application of herbicide for weed control, basically going after the dandelions and clover.  Thursday is opening Ladies day.  Friday is scheduled for applying a fungicide and growth regulator to the greens.  Get out and enjoy the course!!    

Golf course updates

Starting in the next couple of weeks I will be giving weekly updates of the golf course.  The update will include current course conditions, weather forecast, projects planned for the week and any disruptions that may affect play.  I will post on these updates on Sunday night or Monday morning. 

Water Management

This year we purchased a soil moisture meter to improve our irrigation practises on the greens.  We have always checked the water content in the profile of the greens prior to running an irrigation cycle with a hand probe.  The hand probe would pull out a small core and we would squeeze it to determine the amount of moisture in the green.  The problem with this is it was hard to distinguish the difference from one area to another.  The new soil moisture meter will improve this process.  The meter will determine the volumetric water content of the soil.  The definition of volumetric water content is the ratio of the volume of water in a given volume of soil to the total soil volume.  Basically, we will be taking 24 readings off each green in the morning and late afternoon.  Parameters will be set as to how much water to give the greens given the percentage of the volumetric water content by the moisture meter.  The morning readings will tell us how much hand watering needs to be done and the late afternoon readings will tell us if greens need to be watered that evening.  There are some goals that we have associated with this new water management program:
1.  Improved playability.  The greens will play firmer and more consistent.
2.  Improved agronomics.  We will be watering when the plant really requires it.
3.  Improved training.  I will be able to train the staff proper watering balancing plant health and playability. 

Our intern James checks #7 green.

Greens Maintenance



Tim topdressing

We began our regular maintenance to greens today.  We started by verticutting the greens, then blew them off, topdressed, dragged and watered them for 6 minutes.  The final stage is to mow them. We have dropped the height down from .156 to .135 with the final height of the season to be .125.  We will be at this height by May 1st.  You should notice a big difference in how the greens are playing as we plan on topdressing every two weeks during the golfing season.  The verticutting and topdressing improve ball roll and smoothness by standing the turf up and reducing the friction of the grass and the golf ball.   

Kyle verticutting

James brushing

Tommy blowing off grass and thatch

We will apply one more application of growth regulation, Primo/Proxy, to reduce the poa seed head.  This application will be applied next week.  We are about 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule from previous years for our general greens maintenance.