Why it's always "We..."

If you are dealing with insomnia, and decided to read all of the 350+ blog posts here, there is likely only one of them where you will find the word "I" being used.  Instead, you will see that the pronoun "we" is almost always the preferred choice.  Why is that?

The goal of this blog has always been to communicate what is happening on the golf course to the Club's membership.  While some of this activity may be seen by members, often times, a good bit takes place behind the scenes.  It is rarely a single person that is responsible for either the short-term or long-term condition of the course.  It takes a team of dedicated employees to make things come together, and when we have success, it is as a group.

For golfers, 2018 may go down in their memories as one of the worst weather years.  For those that work to provide great playing conditions for our members and their guests, 2018 will certainly be remembered as one of the most challenging ever.  The staff's drive and determination were pushed to their limits as Mother Nature kept trying to knock us down time and time again throughout the year. 

So as we turn the page on 2018 (with its 70" of precipitation), and hopefully welcome in a "normal" 2019, it seems an appropriate time to recognize the team that makes it all come together.  We should all be thankful for what they do each and every day.

Indoor fun!

By now, most Laurel Creek members are aware of the new golf simulator in the Clubhouse.  As we pass the 68"+ mark of precipitation this year, it's easy to see that this piece of equipment will be getting a whole lot of use when the course is unplayable.

However, you might not know that the new Men's Lounge includes a feature which is also destined to provide hours of entertainment:  Three putting green cups are installed in the floor around the room.

A quick look at this carpet might bring back memories of Johnny Miller's endless obsession over grain, so we decided to check and see how the ball actually rolled in this room.  We broke out the stimpmeter and found that this surface has very little friction. 

The good news is that we were consistently getting measurements of over 20'!  The bad news is that after spending the winter practicing on this slick surface, it seems likely that we will be hearing comments about how slow the greens are on the course...

Wrapping up some Master Plan work

We had a small area of sod to finish on #12 from this year's Master Plan work; and if you have to sod an area, now is the time to do it.  Thanks to some great camera work, we were able to capture the guys' "good side" as they rolled up some old sod and were prepping for the new.

In contrast to the summer months (when sod can die in the blink of an eye), with little turf stress at this time of year, we can roll it out, and let the transplanted turf start to enjoy its new home.  As you can see in the picture below, with no foliar growth now, the sod may appear to be completely dormant.  However, we do still continue to get rooting even with low temperatures.

There aren't many times you can just "set it and forget it" when working on the golf course--we are grateful when we can!

Fun in the Fescue

As we did on # 7 and #13 last year, we are renovating an area of Fescue this fall.  We had re-sodded a small area on #16 two years ago, with good results.  This year we have continued up the right side of the hole.

The first step in the process was to eliminate any existing undesirable plants.  The area was mowed down low, then three  separate applications of a non-selective herbicide were applied over the course of two months.  In the picture below, the only green you can see is from the spray tracker dye.

Next we mowed the area again, raked it, and removed the excess organic matter.  After this we were close to bare dirt, so the next step was to till the area and give it a final raking in preparation for sodding.

Having a sandier soil is helpful for maintaining playability in the Fine Fescue.  However, in the cut throughs where cart traffic will be permitted, we added an amendment to the soil to improve moisture and nutrient holding capacity, and installed wear-tolerant Tall Fescue.

While this sod is typically pretty dense the first year, we have a couple of tricks in mind to promote a thin and clumpy stand of grass next spring.  Stay tuned...

Doing what we can do...

We received a near record 9.40" of precipitation (as both rain and snow) in November--just a tad over the average of 3.50".  Additionally, the daily temperatures for the month averaged 3.8 degrees below normal.  To summarize:  It was cold and wet!

This wonderful weather combination certainly limited rounds, as well as what we could do on the golf course.  Fortunately, one of the few large pieces of equipment we can safely use under almost any conditions is our largest tractor, with a deep tine aerifier connected to it.  The flotation type tires on this tractor are the key to its having a very light footprint, even when the course is soaked.

The aerifier itself uses solid tines, which cause minimal disruption to the surface.  This solid tining can improve the soupy conditions in a couple of ways.  Below the ground, it loosens the soil by fracturing it, allowing for better infiltration of water.  Additionally, the holes can help to increase water loss through evaporation.

To look at the positive side of this weather,  with high temperatures in the 40's, and winds of 50 mph, Scott didn't have to worry about interfering with play while solid-tining #1 fairway.

Something's missing

With several blind tee shots on the front nine of Laurel Creek, insider knowledge can be helpful in club selection and knowing where to aim.  Since the course was first built, one reference point that some players have used when standing on #4 tee is a test tower for the AEGIS facility, located beyond #5 green.  From the Champion tee on #4, the distance to the tower was 3,850', but given its height could easily be seen.

The tower's height was also the primary reason we never attempted to block it with landscaping.  Even if we had done a planting that screened the tower from the fourth hole, an 80+' tree would have been the only way to block it from view on #5.

Now you see it...

Well, if you didn't notice, that landmark was recently removed.  Not surprisingly, a Google search provided little explanation as to why these towers are no longer needed by the Navy or Lockheed Martin...

Now you don't...

With the "Cornfield Cruiser" in the background, only a utility pole now marks where the formidable tower stood for years along Hartford Road.

The good news is that what some folks considered an eyesore, is now gone.  The bad news is that you may need to find a new reference point the next time you tee one up.

We tried...

Less than one month ago we said it was time to stop whining about the weather.  Unfortunately, that was only wishful thinking, and a promise we just can't keep.  Yes, only midway through the month of November, and one week prior to Thanksgiving, the first snowfall of the season arrived.

Unusual to see snow before the leaves have finished falling.

To add insult to injury, prior to the storm, we made the mistake of believing the weather prognosticators, who had said the snow would change over to rain by the afternoon--it did not.  With a major event that evening at the Club, it was a scramble to get the snow plow ready, and deal with the Slurpee-like white stuff.

As of  November 16, the course has already received close to six inches of precipitation for the month, and over 60 inches year to date!

The day after this storm, which crippled much of the Mid-Atlantic region, one of the national meteorologists stated that, "The storm out-performed our forecast."  Hmm, that is one way of putting it...

If you were a fan of Happy Days,  you might be able to guess the answer to this:  What do meteorologists and Fonzie have in common?    Click here for the answer!

Repurposed

The recent clubhouse renovation not only brought improvements to areas frequented by members, but also to some of the behind the scenes operations.  Included in this is a new, more efficient bag room.  By using "high density mobile shelving", only half as much space is now required for bag storage.

So what happened to the old bag racks?  Well, we found a perfect new home for some of them in the turf care facility.  The backpack blowers are now stored in a way that is easy to get to, organized, neat and clean.

It's always satisfying when we can make an improvement to the operation--especially when the price is right.  We are certainly grateful for these hand-me-downs!

Golf course management and the flu shot

So, after being bombarded by healthcare providers, news media, and television advertising, you get a flu shot--and voila, you don't get the flu that winter.  Clearly the vaccination worked, right?  Maybe, but perhaps it wasn't the shot that prevented you from getting the flu but other factors.  There is certainly no guarantee that you would have contracted influenza even without the vaccine, thus a cause and effect relationship would be tough to establish.

What the heck does this have to do with a golf course?  Well, often times we will tweak the turf management program by introducing a new product or practice in hopes of improving turf health.  However, if we apply product "X" to all of the greens and they are in phenomenal condition that year, can we conclude that this product is the greatest thing since sliced bread?  Absolutely not!

Just like your getting the flu shot, if we treat all of the greens, we have no way of truly knowing if the "vaccine" we applied led to improved greens, or it was something else.  In the case of turf, the greatest variable from year to year and month to month is the weather.  There are many, many reasons why grass may lose roots and vigor, most of which are ultimately driven by the weather.

No "flu shot" for the beginning of #12 fairway.

Because of this, it is imperative for us to leave untreated check plots when changes are made to any maintenance practice.  As mentioned last week, we applied the first preventative Take-All patch spray at the end of October, and it won't be until next spring that we see if Take-All develops or not. 
Again, if we spray every fairway this fall, and see no Take-All next year, can we assume the spray worked?  Not really, since weather conditions just might not have been conducive for disease development.  Only by leaving untreated check plots can we begin to draw conclusions.

Lastly, if your doctor recommends getting a flu shot, it's probably a good idea (like having car insurance and hoping you don't need it).  Being an untreated check plot for that miserable virus may not be worth the risk!

2019 is here

It's officially time to stop whining about this year's weather, and move on.  While we are still focused on providing exceptional playing conditions throughout the fall of 2018, as the golf course mowing requirements start to decrease with cooler temperatures, quite a bit of our efforts are now geared towards having a successful 2019 season.

There is probably no better example of this than our Take-All patch prevention sprays.  The first of these applications was made this past week, on October 26.  Why is this date important?

The significance of spraying for Take-All patch in October, is that the damage from the disease typically isn't seen on the fairways until late spring, often peaking at Memorial Day.  The picture below was taken on May 31, 2018.

So, yes, even as we are still licking our wounds from the summer of 2018, we are actively working to prevent future turf damage from occurring more than half a year from now.

Rough Recovery

The prolonged hot, wet weather this year took its toll on area golf courses.  In many cases, no part of the course got hit harder than the primary rough.  Both Gray Leaf Spot disease, as well as mechanical injury from carts, maintenance equipment, and even feet, really thinned the turf.  In spots where we can limit traffic, we have aerified and seeded, with promising results.  However, it doesn't look as if we had much time in the "Goldilocks" just right temperature zone for seeding this year.

With nighttime low temperatures of 70 degrees just 10 days ago, we were hoping for some cooler nights to aid in seed establishment and recovery.  Well, once again Mother Nature showed her twisted sense of humor, leaving us with the old "be careful what you wish for" feeling.  This past Thursday night we were in the low 30's, with a solid frost on the golf course.

Seedlings in a primary rough area which was aerified and seeded.

Other areas will be sodded during the late fall and winter, with improved turf varieties that are more traffic tolerant, and disease resistant.  While it's typical for us to sod a few cart path ends in the off-season, it looks like there will be a much greater amount of area that needs to be addressed this year.

The walk-up behind #13 green took a beating this year.

On a positive note, the greens, tees and fairways made it through the year with minimal lasting damage.  With cool nights, the green speed increases as if by magic.  Now all we need is some prolonged dry weather, and you might actually start to get some roll...

Plenty to do every day...

Unless you happen to live on the golf course--and spend a lot of time looking out your back door--you might think that when the course is closed, little maintenance takes place. In reality, days when we are closed can often be as busy and productive as when we are open for play.

For example, this past Monday, we finally had a chance to lightly topdress the greens, applying an average of 200 pounds of sand per green.  Any practice like this, which may be somewhat disruptive during play, is best accomplished when we are closed.

Scott topdressing #6 green

Additionally, the grass doesn't know if it's a day when the course is open or closed.  Especially this year, with all of the rain, if we have a window of opportunity to mow without causing damage, we need to take advantage of it.   When it comes to the greens, they get their morning mowing seven days per week, whether there is play or not.

Selvin mowing #17 tee

  It now feels like someone finally flicked the switch, and we have been abruptly thrown into fall.  You will hear no complaints about cooler temperatures from the Grounds staff!  However, we can now add one more task to our daily list:  leaf cleanup.

Jim (and a helper) blowing #15 fairway

Not very low

Ah, October, a month we look forward to, as the heat and humidity of the summer are finally replaced by crisp, cool mornings, and some of the best golfing conditions of the year.  Or, at least that's the way it's supposed to work...

It truly feels as if a book could be written about the weather we've experienced in 2018.  Two weeks ago, the Philadelphia region hit its annual rainfall average--and we've had over 4" of rain since then.  Yes, there definitely have been countless days this year that were neither good for playing golf, nor for maintaining the golf course.

In addition to abundant rainfall, we have also had some crazy temperatures the past several weeks.  However, in this case, we're not talking about extreme daytime high temps, but instead, the nighttime lows.  Going way back to August 27, we have had exactly one single night that hit the average low temperature.  Stop and think about that for a second--that is only one day out of the last 40+ which has been "normal" by this measure.

Through the entire month of September we averaged close to eight degrees above average at night.  The normal low is now 47 degrees, and we have not come close to that.  As you can see below, the lone "cool" night occurred on September 9.

While people may only consider nighttime temperatures when deciding to turn the A/C on or off, if you're a grass plant, what happens at night can be just as important as what happens during the day.  What do these extended warm nights mean for the turf?  Well, with the persistent humidity, moisture, and warm soil temperatures we’ve continued to experience, a lot of the bad actors that have usually packed their bags for the year, are sticking around.

On the turf disease area, we have seen more Gray Leaf Spot in the rough this year than ever before.  With regard to insects, the Annual Bluegrass Weevil is still active, causing damage to some areas of Bentgrass.  And annual weeds have continued to germinate and grow vigorously.

The Annual Bluegrass Weevil has moved on to Creeping Bentgrass.

It used to be that if you made it to August 15 without issues on the course, you were over the hump.  Now, we are into October and still have the fans running around several greens.  We can only hope that it won't be long before we finally see some frost on the pumpkin.

No Wake...

It is always appreciated when players observe posted signage on the golf course.  For September, we gave up on using "No Carts" signs, and switched to something a bit more appropriate:

Yes, the Philadelphia region reached its average rainfall amount for the entire year a week ago.  Since that mark was hit, we had six straight days with measurable precipitation, totaling an additional 4.3 inches of rain for the week.  And with three months left in 2018, it's hard to know what the year's total will ultimately end up being.

It's been tough keeping up with the rough.

It may be something of an understatement to say the golf course is saturated--if you picture a sponge that can hold no more water, that's right where we are at the moment.  Given the warm temperatures and high humidity throughout the month, the grass keeps growing aggressively, and we have had difficulty finding a window when it's dry enough to mow the turf without causing damage.

Mechanical damage on a slippery slope.

There is an old saying among grass-growers:  The best defense against weed encroachment is a dense stand of turf.  Unfortunately, keeping thick, healthy grass this year has been impossible in many areas.  Both golf carts and maintenance equipment have led to turf thinning, particularly around high traffic pinch points.  Additionally, the region has been clobbered by Gray Leaf Spot, a disease which can quickly damage the Ryegrass in our rough.

Excessive rain and heat led to the breakdown of pre-emergent herbicides earlier in the year, and most courses in the area have dealt with large quantities of Crabgrass and Goosegrass.   Combining the abundance of these plants in the summer of 2018, with the thin turf areas we see now, it seems likely that these opportunistic weeds will be even more troublesome in 2019.

We often say that weather trends tend to even out over the long run.  However, it's now clear that the long run may need to be looked at as a decade or longer, and not a single year.  When we close the books on 2018, by itself, it will certainly not be average in many ways.

Quadrant I

Those familiar with Stephen Covey's, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, will recognize these four quadrants from his time management matrix:

Ideally, with proper planning, we are able to spend most of our time working in Quadrant II, and try to avoid the "putting out fires" of Quadrant I. 

Unfortunately, even with the best planning, there are some events that are difficult to predict.  For example, when we have irrigation issues involving the main line, everything else gets placed on the back burner.  While there hasn't been much need to irrigate lately, having an entire golf hole with no water, is not ideal.

This past Wednesday afternoon, we suddenly had water flowing across the cart path at #5 green.  After doing some exploratory surgery (aka digging), we discovered that the source of this leak was a steel main line fitting on the 6" pipe.

Once the fitting was cut out, it was pretty easy to see what had happened.  These fittings are epoxy-coated during their manufacturing process, however any scratch or scrape of the paint can allow corrosion to develop.  Once a pinhole is formed, the jet of water at 120 psi will quickly cause it to expand.  You can often judge the scale of the irrigation issue by the hole required to make the repair--and this one definitely required the backhoe. 

With four of us spending the better part of the day working on this problem, we were able to get the repair taken care of from start to finish.  (Of course, it may not really be a good thing that we're becoming quite proficient in dealing with main line fitting failures.)  The lesson here is that Quadrant I is not a great place to be spending your time, but if you find yourself there, some Quadrant II pre-planning can be very helpful in extinguishing the fire.

And now for something completely different...

As tempting as it is to discuss the bizarre-o weather we experienced last week--and it is quite tempting--instead, let's take a look at something a little different.  How about: shaving cream on the golf course.

Yes, you read that correctly.  This year, we started using shaving cream to help in weed management on the course.  You see, when targeting a pest, we typically won't make a "wall to wall" application.  For both environmental, and economic reasons, it is often better to "spot spray" only the areas that need to be treated.  This is where the shaving cream comes in.

Kyllinga on #18 fairway is marked with shaving cream.

When you are operating a sprayer, there is a whole lot to keep track of, and driving all around looking for a particular weed may not be the best option.  Instead, we can have someone go out ahead of the sprayer on a golf cart, and quickly leave a dab of shaving cream near any areas requiring treatment.  The sprayer can follow behind, and target only the marked spots.  One of the benefits of using shaving cream is that it lasts for several hours, so there is no concern about it disappearing before the sprayer gets to it.

As is often the case, the idea of using shaving cream was one we picked up from another golf course superintendent.  Sharing useful tips and tricks is one of the great things about this business!

No middle ground

This year has felt like one of weather extremes.  With all of the rain in early and mid-August, we were hoping for a change in the weather--and we got it.  Unfortunately, this may fall into the category of "be careful what you wish for."

We traded the wet weather we experienced during aerification for a long dry spell.  As of last Friday, we had gone 2 1/2 weeks without rain.  Getting aerification recovery, especially in the fairways, is extremely challenging when relying solely on the irrigation system.

As you can see below, we often end up with one area being too wet, and another spot close by, being too dry.  With fairway sprinklers spaced 80' apart, both mounds and swales fall within the coverage of one head.

Achieving uniform moisture with no rain is difficult.

To compound things, somebody forgot to tell Mother Nature that meteorological summer is supposed to have ended when we move from August to September.  We finished August a significant 2.25 degrees above average for the daily temperature, including a heat wave in the final week.  The first six days of September was no better, with another heat wave, record temperatures, and daily temperatures running nine degrees above average.

Labor Day typically means that it's time to bring the fans in--not this year.

At this point in the year it should probably come as no surprise that we are now seeing the weather pendulum swinging back one more time.  Rain started Friday evening, lasted through Saturday morning, and is coming down again on Sunday.  There's even concern that Florence could make land fall close by later this week.

As we often say, when viewed as a whole, 2018 may look like just an average year, but it's definitely been a wild ride from winter through summer.  Maybe fall will treat us better.  Maybe...

#12 Master Plan Work

With all of the other fun and games (like aerification) going on in August, we didn't have much time to discuss the Master Plan work on #12.

The old fairway bunker.

As with the other holes worked on in 2016, Golf Course Architect,  Andrew Green's, design calls for reducing the overall square footage of sand, while placing the new bunkers in a way which emphasizes strategy.

On #12, for those who are just able to clear the wetlands crossing, they will now find a generous area of primary rough, with the beginning of the fairway also being extended.  However, for players choosing a more aggressive line off the tee, the challenge will be to clear the three new bunkers.

At the green, there is now a single bunker placed on the back right.  The high sand line on this bunker will definitely stand out, and add definition as you hit into the green.

The contractor for this work, Mottin Golf Course Renovations, has endured some of the same challenges we did in maintaining the course in August--lots of rain, then lots of heat.  When it came time to install the Matrix liner, the temperature was 95 degrees!  As always, their attention to detail has been outstanding.

The old fairway bunker facing the tee.

The new fairway bunkers are coming together.

It's no secret that for years, the bunkers on this hole have more closely resembled a rock quarry than an area that belongs on a golf course.  From both an aesthetic and playability perspective, these changes will be a tremendous improvement to this challenging golf hole.

An angst-filled August

With cool-season turf roots at their shortest of the entire year in August, it is always a month that presents some challenges.  However, this month will be one we won't soon forget.  Fairway aerification was scheduled for this past week, but given the saturated conditions, little sunlight, and high humidity, we weren't able to follow the usual procedure.

Typically, we pull the plugs, allow them to dry, then grind them, which separates the soil from the thatch.  We then pick up the thatch and blow the fairway off.  However, with no drying occurring, we were forced to pick up and remove the entire aerification plug from most of the fairways.  This is much more labor-intensive, slower, generates a ton (hundreds of tons actually) of material, and with no soil being left, it leaves the holes open.  Therefore, until completely grown over, these holes will tend to dry out quickly, and need to be kept moist.

The picture below is the kind of hit or miss (mostly hit) pop-up storms we had to deal with.  If we pulled plugs in the morning and left them on the fairway waiting to dry, a storm like this would have made a muddy mess.

Never good when you could hold a swim meet on the practice tee.

On a positive note, we are always working to improve the aerification process, and a change this year made a real difference.  We abandoned the large, tractor-mounted aerifier on the fairways, instead using the smaller walk-behind models.  While it meant a whole lot of walking for the guys, with mushy conditions, this was a good move.

Once again, the Grounds staff and Pro Shop team, worked their tails off to get this done.  We had a brief taste of some cooler nights this past weekend, and look forward to more of the same in the coming weeks!

What a week!

Weather is always the uncontrollable factor when it come time to aerify, however this is the first time we have ever had outright downpours during greens aerification.  You can see below that Monday morning started out alright.

 By mid-morning things changed, as the skies opened up, and everyone learned that you can truly only get so wet.  The great thing about our greens is that they are sand-based, and with holes open, the water didn't stick around on the surface long.

The afternoon came and brought with it another round of heavy rain, for a total of 1.60" during the greens aerification process.  While the greens didn't seem to mind this at all, trying to uniformly apply topdressing sand under these conditions was challenging.

If the sand and putting surfaces are dry, it's easily worked into the holes, whereas damp sand and surfaces leads to the sand "bridging" across the tops of the holes.  Not surprisingly, we were getting lots of sand bridging when the rain started.  Oddly enough though, the rain came down at such a rate that any of the sand which was smearing across the holes, was flushed down into them, leaving the greens in close to the same condition as we see when everything is 100% dry.

This was a tough day, and one thing that can't be overstated is the amazing job the team did by persevering through some pretty darned miserable weather.  The Grounds staff, along with the strong, young backs from the Pro Shop staff, knocked it out of the park!

Tuesday we tackled tee aerification, and yes, it rained on us again.  Fortunately this held off until we were close to finished, and the impact was minimal.

If aerification wasn't enough fun for one week, the Master Plan work on #12 started as well...

At times like this, words like challenging, stressful, and frustrating may come to mind.  However, "boring" certainly does not!

One in a Million

This past week, Bill Roberson, one of Laurel Creek's original members, and a friend to so many, passed away.

Through business, his love of sports, and his extensive charitable work, Bill knew thousands of people.  But one thing most of these people likely weren't aware of, is that Bill knew way more than your average golfer when it comes to turf management.  Over the last quarter century, I had the privilege to speak with Bill on many subjects.  However, not surprisingly, most of these conversations tied into the golf course in some way. 

I'd like to share a few of my memories about Bill.  I'll preface this by saying that, as a rule, I do not refer to Club members by their first name.  However, I also don't make a habit of addressing friends as "Mr." and I consider Bill Roberson a longtime friend.

• Seeing how the sausage is made--While many golfers prefer not to encounter the Grounds staff, Bill never minded this--in fact, he seemed to truly enjoy watching the team prepping the course.  Often being in the first group of the day, he would run into the crew, and never once asked them to stop.  Typically, he would say hello, and praise the work that we were doing.

• An easy choice--When asked a question, Golf Professionals and Golf Course Superintendents won't always come up with the same answer.  However, in 1999, when the Club was first forming a Green Committee, John Tyrell and I were asked independently who we felt would be valuable, contributing members of this Committee.  Without knowing the other's answers, there was one name that we both had on our lists:  Bill Roberson.

• Life of service--Bill was incredibly generous in many ways, particularly with what may be a person's most valuable commodity--their time.  It would have been easy for him to pay his dues to the Club, and just come here and play.  Instead, he wanted to help.  From the inception of the Green Committee in 1999, Bill has been a member.  2018 marks his 20th year of serving on the Committee.

• A plant on the Green Committee--Whether it was participating in the golf course Master Plan process, or discussing equipment needs, as a Committee member, Bill was always knowledgeable and engaged, often asking some tough questions.  There were many times when I'd see him on the course, and we'd talk about some current issue in golf course operations.  Odds were good that at the next Committee meeting, without any prompting from me, he would bring up the topic, trying to ensure that others were aware of what we might be dealing with.

• No payback--Another great thing about Bill was, in the 25 plus years I've known him, I never once received a call, text, or email, asking for something special.  Never the old, "I'm bringing a guest next week, can you give the greens an extra roll that day..."  That wasn't his style.

• Talking turf--Bill's interest and knowledge of fine turf probably came from a couple of things, one being his leadership role in the LPGA Championship. However, I'm sure the stronger tie he had to my end of the business, was the fact that he has had a Bentgrass putting green at his home since long before we met.  If there's one thing we didn't agree on, it was this green.  I tried for years to convince him to plow it under, and go with a nice artificial green, but he didn't want to hear that.  He enjoyed being able to discuss turf problems--we talked air movement, shade issues, irrigation practices, and turf diseases.  Bill knew that Dollar Spot was largely an annoyance, but Pythium Blight spells disaster.  Undoubtedly, his owning a green helped give him the deep appreciation he showed for the work we do on the golf course.

• The grass is always greener...or maybe not--Bill played golf all over, including many top 100 courses, but whether it was after a trip to the Monterey Peninsula, or playing someplace closer to home, when he got back, we'd talk about the conditions.  It seems probable that he was showing his bias to his home course, because he'd always tell me that while these other courses were good, they were no better than Laurel Creek.  

• The joy of giving to others--Besides giving of his time, Bill was generous in other ways, as well.  During his many years of running the McDonald's LPGA Championship tournament, he seemed to truly enjoy having people attend, and treating them like VIPs.  Whether it was heading to DuPont Country Club, or a bit further to Bulle Rock, my family and I always tried to get there for at least one day.  (There was nothing like the McDonald's restaurant on wheels, to get the kids excited about going to a golf tournament.)

• He made us feel like stars--Bill clearly loved Laurel Creek, the staff, and the golf course.  Over the years, when he had well known public figures as his guests at the Club, he would go out of his way to introduce us to them--but even this was done in a special way.  He lavished praise on the course, to the point that his guests may have felt they should be asking for our autographs, instead of the other way around. 

• A family man--It was easy to see that Bill cared about family.  Countless times he asked me, "How are the boys doing?"   Many years ago, my family and I went to the Spectrum in Philly to see a show.  As the performance ended, I heard someone calling my name.  I looked around, and saw Bill going out of his way to say hello in the crowd.  I hadn't seen him, and never would have known if he didn't shout to me.  But the fact that he made a special effort to say hello to us, is something I have always remembered.  That's just the kind of man he was.

Thank you for everything you've done for the Club and for me, Bill.  You have always been there, had my back, and listened closely when we talked.  If you've ever got any thoughts or advice about the course, I'll be listening.

Just an average July...

Being the hottest month of the year, when you are growing turf in July, it's never a whole lot of fun.  However, this past month seemed particularly challenging, with hot, dry conditions early, and humid, wet conditions later.

What came as something of a surprise, is that when we closed the books on July, 2018, as a whole, it was pretty darned average.

Yes, below average temps at the end of the month, offset hotter conditions in the beginning, and we finished July less than one half degree above average.  We also ended the month only 5% above average in precipitation.  Golf courses just west of us were not so lucky in the limited rainfall totals.

Another interesting stat is that, even with 16 days in the 90's in the Philadelphia area, as we enter August, we have only had one heat wave this year.  A heat wave is three consecutive days with temperatures in the 90's, so the week straight of 90+ at the end of June and beginning of July still only equaled one heat wave.

Fortunately--sarcasm intended-- it appears that we are now going to get our second official heat wave during early August.  Looking ahead to the middle of this month, with aerification and Master Plan work starting, we really hope that AccuWeather had a glitch on the forecast for the 15th.

One thing is for sure, we won't shed a tear if this is the last heat wave of 2018.  Even the "average" months take their toll.

Population Shift

Laurel Creek's putting greens are comprised of two very different grasses, Poa annua, and Creeping Bentgrass.  One of the challenges this presents, is trying to insure a smooth putting surface, when the growth habits of Poa and Bent do not coincide.

In our region, Poa can outcompete Bent for most of the year, but then the summer heat comes, and Poa is not a happy camper.  It is always interesting to see how the percentage of these grasses in the greens appears to shift from one season to the next.

As you can see in the picture below, the Bentgrass in the center is coming on strong, while the Poa isn't a fan of July's weather.  There certainly appears to be more Bent than Poa here.

This is quite different than what we see in the spring, where Poa is growing like crazy, and controlling its seedheads is of utmost importance.  An untreated check plot from a seedhead prevention spray shows a whole lot of Poa, and not so much Bentgrass at that time of year.

Below is one final picture which illustrates the competitive edge which Bentgrass has now.  In the areas where we had Fairy Ring hit hard a few weeks ago, it's the Bent that's moving into the ring's perimeter.

We have now past the peak for average summer high temperatures, going from 87 last week, to 86 degrees this week.  While August typically means the shortest roots of the year for cool-season turf, it's good to know that the thermometer should be heading in the right direction, giving both Poa and Bent a much needed break.