How to achieve "Ludicrous Speed"

We have just completed the Men's Member-Guest event, and received many nice comments regarding the condition of the golf course overall, and the greens in particular.  While the greens have been rolling well for a few weeks now, we geared up the maintenance practices last week as the tournament neared. 

One of the first things we did to the greens was give them a good grooming using our verticut units set flush with ground level.  This process takes any grass that is growing horizontally and neatly nips it.  

We followed this up with a mowing (or two), which removed all of the material the verticutting units had generated.

Next came a dusting of sand, with approximately 200 pounds per green being applied.  The sand fills any voids in the turf, creating a smoother putting surface.

We then gave the sprinklers two spins to knock the sand off the leaf and move it down into the canopy.

We also sprayed the greens, applying another good dose of growth regulator.  

During the week, the greens' height of cut was lowered by just a hair--five thousandths of an inch--so maybe the thickness of two hairs.

In addition to a whole lot of mowing, there was plenty of rolling during the week.

The end result of all of this work were some pretty slick surfaces.  It is definitely nice to be past the summer heat and back to a time when we can push the greens without much concern.

An early haircut

 After the past six months, many of us could use a good haircut, and we can include the course's native areas in this list as well.  While we typically we wait until October to begin the process of mowing, the summer's weather has many of these areas out of control.  

We did a spring mowing, and came into the summer with good weed control, however between July and August we had close to 16" of rain.  Combine this with the summer's heat, and we had prime conditions for grass and weed growth--and lost balls.

In addition to the mowing, we have also gotten back on addressing any weeds, and are using a number of different selective herbicides to target the sedges, undesirable grasses, and broadleaf weeds.  As we often say, you can call these native areas, Fescue, or low-mow, but you definitely can't call them low maintenance.

Feeling the burn...

 When we come upon some brown turf, it's time to do a bit of detective work to determine the cause.  After all, there are many ways to kill grass on a golf course (disease, insects, mechanical stress,  too much water, not enough water, pesticide misapplication, gas spill, hydraulic leak, and of course, Great Blue Heron droppings).    The picture below was taken on #6 fairway a couple of weeks ago:

You really didn't need to be Hercule Poirot to figure this one out.  However, we are still left with one unanswered question--sunscreen or insect repellent?

Yes, either of those products may have caused this injury.  So, while protecting yourself is important, please apply these products when you're standing on a cart path or other non-turf surface.

Finally finished

 We completed fairway aerification this past week.  In an ideal world, we could get everything done during the few days we are closed, but Mother Nature rarely provides us with perfect aerifying weather this time of year.  Between rain events either the day prior to, or the day of planned aerification, we only had one nice, low humidity day to work on 34 acres of fairways.

The thatch-picking wagon train on #9.

Because of this, we had to complete the process on #9 and #15 on days we were open.  Working around play obviously makes things a bit more challenging, but we all ate some dust and dirt and got it done.

#15--the final fairway.

We often joke that the actual aerification could be completed in a single day, however the processing of plugs and cleanup is what really takes a whole lot more time.  The last fairway we aerified was #15 on Thursday, which was another hot day, peaking at 92 degrees--definitely hot enough to stress both man and turf!  

Coming in the next morning and seeing the turf looking happy was great, and is proof that the extra time we put into this process is well worthwhile.

Clean and green on Friday morning.

Other tasks tend to get put on the back burner during our August aerification, so it's nice to have this labor-intensive activity out of the way.

Gentle Giants

 Without fail, at least once each summer we get a call from someone reporting Hornets in a bunker.  More often than not, what we find are not Hornet Wasps, but Cicada Killer Wasps.  And while these large wasps may look somewhat terrifying, they are not out to hurt you.

The Cicada Killer is a burrowing wasp, and it seems that they find a sandy bunker face to be quite appealing.  You would really need to be aggressive towards them to see them reciprocate, and turn aggressive.  So,  if humans have little to fear from Cicada Killers, who should be worried?

Yes, it's the Cicada that needs to look over its shoulder to make sure the Cicada Killer isn't closing in on it.  The female Cicada Killer will sting a Cicada, stunning it, then walk/drag/fly/glide the huge Cicada back to its burrow where it lays an egg.  If interested, you can read a bit more about Cicadas and Cicada Killer Wasps here:  https://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/10-facts-about-cicada-killer-wasps/

A word of caution:  We do occasionally encounter other wasps, such as Yellow Jackets or Bald-Faced Hornets on the golf course--both of which absolutely can be aggressive towards intruders--so don't assume that everything is a friendly Cicada Killer!

Cleanup in Aisle 10

 When it comes time to aerify the greens, tees and fairways each August, we always pay close attention to the weather forecast.  Last Monday was a little nerve-racking as we tackled the greens during 90 degree heat, but both plant and man survived the stress.

The blowers were humming during Monday's greens aerification.

As we then looked to Tuesday's forecast, with only a slight chance of an isolated shower, it seemed like a perfect day to start punching fairways.

Things were going well, until a random, isolated shower popped up and parked itself over the golf course shortly after noon Tuesday.  We didn't see it coming, and had #10 fairway completely opened up with plugs from one end to the other.  After watching this turn into a river of mud, we headed home for the day, muttering that we might be better off relying on a Ouija board for a more accurate weather prediction.

Not a pretty picture on Tuesday afternoon.

The story continued on Wednesday, which was once again hot and humid, with little drying occurring.  We cleaned #10 as best we could, but truth be told, we were still left with a muddy mess. 

"Mud ball" would be an appropriate name after our cleanup Wednesday morning.

So, what could possibly help this situation?  Would you believe the answer was:  More rain.  Yes, just as they had done 24 hours prior, the skies opened up, and we got an additional inch plus of rain on Wednesday afternoon.  However, this time, all of that water washed the mud off the turf.

Another heavy thunderstorm helped clean #10.

We often say that aerification is never the same twice.  Changes in temperature, humidity, cloud cover--and rainfall--can certainly make the process interesting, and sometimes frustrating...

The high lows...

When talking with someone about how hot it is outside, most of us focus more on the daytime high temperatures, and aren't quite as concerned about the nights, when we can crawl into bed with our A/C keeping us cool.  Plants aren't so fortunate.

Last week we discussed how hot July was--during the day--but a case could be made that the nighttime temperatures hurt the turf just as much as the daytime temperatures did.  A good example of this can be seen on July 24 and 25, where the daytime highs for the two days net to average with historical numbers.  However, the low temperatures on both nights were five degrees above average (71 versus 66).

In looking at the numbers for the entire month of July, we see that 87% of the daily low temperatures were at or above the average.  As a whole, the month was 4.3 degrees hotter at night than "normal."  The plants just aren't catching a break during these periods, when soils are hot around the clock.  

The graph below is from one of our soil sensors buried in #16 fairway, and shows the daily peaks and valleys of the soil heating and (sort of) cooling.  Throughout the entirety of July, there wasn't a moment when the root zone was below 70 degrees.

Some folks may be saying to themselves, "During both the day and night in July, you're only talking about four degrees above average--what's the big deal?"  

Well, think of it this way:  If your ideal temperature is, for example, 72 degrees inside your home, and you're told that you will have to deal with it being 92 degrees for a month or more, you definitely wouldn't be a happy camper.  Now, what if we say it's going to be 96 degrees for that month in your house--that four degree difference might not seem so tiny any more.  

The point is, the hotter day and night temperatures aren't taking place during ideal growing conditions, but during what are already very stressful times for cool-season turf.  An extra four degrees both day and night for more than a month, can easily be enough for plants to "raise the white flag."

As we get into August, the low temperatures are continuing the trend of being warmer than average.  Of course, eventually (perhaps in October) it will cool off enough that we will see new root growth.  However, there is no doubt that we will be adding this summer's weather to the many things we would have passed on during the crazy year of 2020.