Shorter days?

As the days grow shorter, this past week's fall Member-Member event marks the last time of the season that we will have a 5:30 start time for employees.  Sunrise is now closing in on 7:00.   

Mowing by moonlight can definitely be tricky, and prepping the course with artificial lighting is challenging to say the least.  As we started out on Friday morning, the brightest light was the glow of the Clubhouse in the distance.

Of course, while there may be fewer hours of daylight, we're pretty sure the days aren't actually shorter--they all still have a full 24 hours in them.

Tech for the Team

 With a couple of dozen members of the golf course maintenance team spread out over 200+ acres each morning, there are literally a lot of moving pieces.  Knowing where everyone is supposed to be at all times can be challenging.  In the past, job assignments could only be viewed in the break room:

With many maintenance practices having several steps, keeping the flow progressing smoothly can be critical to our success.  Thanks to the work of Assistant Superintendent, Luke Kringler, seeing and updating job assignments can now be done on the fly.  For most end users, it's as simple as downloading Google Drive onto their phone.  

The screenshot above is an example of the information that can be seen.  While we typically discourage employees from looking at their phones during work hours, this is definitely one time we need everyone to use the available technology, so we can all be on the same page.

Dead turf?

 During extremely dry periods, people often refer to off-color turf as dead.  In reality, more often than not, turf suffering from environmental stress (such as heat or lack of moisture) is not dead, but dormant.  For example, the straw colored grass shown below will bounce back as soon as it receives adequate rainfall.

One thing that should be kept in mind, however, is that dormant turf can be severely injured or even killed if additional stress factors are added.  That would include mowing or golf cart traffic.  This is one reason why walking only courses are often able to maintain dryer, firmer conditions, than those that see significant cart traffic.

Another "average" month

In looking back at August, as a whole it was pretty close to average both in terms of temperature, as well as precipitation.  The daily high temperature for the month was just a tad low (about 0.25 degrees), and the rainfall was roughly 10% below average.  However, the timing of the rain was quite lopsided, with  over 92% of the month's precipitation occurring in a five day period, from August 7-12.

We have always maintained that it takes one good soaking rain to evenly heal the fairways following aerification--we are still waiting for that.  

Looking ahead, September may also very well end up being average.  However, in this case, the rollercoaster ride looks like it won't just be rainfall, but will also include some wild temperature swings.  While we started the month with some gorgeous cool temps, the first full week is less than ideal, including several days in the upper 90s.

When will the solid rainfall come?  It might be time to turn to the "Magic 8 Ball" to get that answer--the crystal ball is currently down... 

Time for a haircut...

 With phragmites surrounding many of the 14 ponds on the golf course, we have begun cutting it back in an effort to restore the views.  When dealing with a job like this, having the right tools is important, and our Ventrac tractor gets the job done like nothing else.  

Removing 12' tall phragmites helps provide a cleaner look, and improved sight lines off the tee.

A good amount of the phragmites is growing in the water, so working from inside the pond would be helpful.  All we need is a nice cold winter with some ice!

Trust the Process

 Sorry Sixers fans, we're definitely not talking about "that" process.  No, we are referring to the aerification process we do each year on the fairways.   

As we continue to make adjustments, one common theme we've found is that in this case, bigger isn't better.  For example, while a tractor-mounted aerifier may seem to be more productive, the walking aerifiers are more maneuverable.

Yes, the way we go about the cleanup process, is definitely labor-intensive.  Again, could we use a tow behind or tractor-mounted blower?  We could, but those just don't provide the same quality of finished product that a team of 10 backpack blowers do.

While rain is not our friend during the actual hole-punching, afterwards we always seem to need one good rain event to get everything evenly wet.  To date, this summer has either been feast or famine when it comes to precipitation!                                                                                                             

The holes are missing

Hopefully everyone has had a chance to read the letter which was sent to the membership, explaining the change in our greens aerification protocol and timing, going forward. Still, if you've been on the course this past week, you may have been surprised to find that the greens don't look like Swiss Cheese covered in sand.  

While we did run the aerifiers across them on Monday, we used an extremely small tine.

It's tough to see a hole just four days post venting.

While aerification is an important and necessary cultural practice to maintain healthy greens, pulling a core in August--the month with the shortest roots of the entire year--can add stress to the turf in the short-term.  In contrast, the greens appeared to perk-up immediately after last week's "venting" process.

So, while the greens may be missing the traditional holes in August, it's unlikely that golfers will be missing the holes.  No longer losing a few weeks of good greens in May and August should be something everyone can appreciate.