July Green Superintendent Update

 

June has come and gone in a blink of an eye. In usual sky meadow fashion we are underwater or in an extreme heat spell. The wind on this property amazes me everyday. It is beneficial and harmful at the same time. The course has held strong through this tough stretch. With these weather patterns we lose some of our weaker and shallow rooted turf. In specific our poa annua has taken hits. This is a weaker inferior native grass to the northeast. Any of these areas we look to overseed new bentgrass cultivars that are disease and drought tolerant. I have already started to add strong bentgrass seed to greens and tee boxes. Reducing the poa population is always an ongoing battle, but it will only create stronger and better playing surfaces by pumping the new bentgrass into all areas of the property.

 

 

Green stakes

I have started to remove boundary stakes around green complexes and cart path edges. They are a tacky look and make maintenance much harder for our rough mowers. This removal is not an invitation to drive in these areas. I constantly see members driving where they are not supposed to. In order to protect these areas and not have the green stakes out we all need to do our part as a community to follow the cart signs in approaches and exit where we are supposed to. This is something you should police with your fellow members and hold accountability to yourself to protect our course.

 

Root growth/ seeding

            We are constantly working on getting our root depths deeper. I do this by increasing microbial activity in the soil and adding soil amendments that help us attain these roots depth. The fall and spring is when we push the plants to root deeper. How ever deep we get them is what we have to survive on for the summer. Our bentgrass on greens have reached root depths of up to 7 inches. As shown in the photo is root structure and a nice sandy soil profile on greens. These are the goals to have a successful season. The last photo shown is a heavy poa annua area. The grass is constantly weak due to shallow rooting. This area requires constant monitoring and water. As previously stated we will be working to get bentgrass in these areas to have healthier putting surfaces all season long. We have started stamp seeding and introducing bent into thin areas. The hand tool stamps the green planting seed into the soil and is topdressed with sand. This process will be continually repeated until areas are established. 

Pump station

Our main line in our pump station blew a pin hole this month. My staff and I got creative and fabricated this patch job with some macgyvering and creativity. The station was back up and operational within 24 hours. The pump station is key to keeping our course alive.

Thacth/LDS

Thatch and localized dry spots are a constant battle at sky. Unfortunately we had to do some sod work on #2 ladies. The deep layers of thatch rejected all water and dried the tee past revival. We attempted to pull cores out of the tee box and it actually bounced the procore right off of it. I look to open this tee area once the grass has rooted later this month.  We will continue our cultural practices in august to remove thatch and add sand to the profile. The lds in fairways are treated with wetting agents to break the surface tension and allow water into the soil . This works most of the time, but in some areas we will have to aerate,add seed, and sand. Strong cultural practices will alleviate these problems unless there is ledge under these hot spots. We have learned all of our areas that dry out the fastest. In the last photo shown is a dew pattern. These dew patterns in the morning show us which areas dry out the fastest. My staff and I study these everyday and adjust irrigation as needed to adequately water efficiently. 

Trees

Trees are abundant at sky and sometimes removal is necessary for plant health. The oaks on 4 tee have such a large root system that they are stealing water and nutrients from the tee box. This will be a winter project but the symptoms will show for the duration of the season until removed.

Golf Course Superintendent 

Cogan Register