The heat is up and the speed is down...

We've mentioned the subject of green speed in mid-summer in the past, but with a notable recent example of some significant swings in weather (and speed), it warrants revisiting.  

If you can remember back to July 4, it was an unusually cool, crisp morning for this time of year.  In checking the green speed that particular day, the greens were over a foot faster than they had been on July 3.  

So, you may wonder what we changed in our daily preparation of the putting surfaces, and the answer is absolutely nothing.  We used the same mowers, set at the same height, and the same roller.  The only difference was going from a hot, humid day on the 3rd, to a (relatively) cool day on the 4th.

The bottom line is that when you're feeling sticky, so is the turf!

Not Fairy Ring again...

It's been four years since we have seen any Fairy Ring on the greens (Rings Are Back), and they are never welcome.  In fact, since 2012, this is only the fourth time we have had to deal with this disease, so it definitely isn't something you can set your watch by.

Despite some very wet conditions this past week, we made a fungicide + wetting agent application and watered the greens afterwards, in order to move the products down into the rootzone where Fairy Ring activity is taking place.

As we are already dealing with the anticipated cool-season turf roots shortening during the heat of the summer, getting blindsided by Mother Nature with these rings just isn't any fun at all.  However, we are not alone.  If you happened to catch any of the Scottish Open this past weekend, you likely would have noticed some pretty spectacular Fairy Rings there.

Connecting the dots

The heat and summer stress has much of the Poa in the greens looking more yellow than green.  Poa is technically a winter annual, and the intense daily workout it is subjected to between our maintenance, players' feet, and the weather can take its toll.

What's telling, is where the healthier Poa can be found.  The straight lines of green dots are last fall's aerification holes--confirmation of the importance of this cultural practice.