Back in the dirt...

Several tees are being improved this fall, starting with #2.  The Champion/Palmer, and Medal tees are being combined into one large tee.  This will eliminate the loss of usable teeing ground that we previously had at the front of the rear tee and back of the forward tee, along with picking up the area that was rough in between the two old tees.

As you stand on the new tee, it appears to be significantly longer than the old tees.  However, the back of the tee and front of the tee are unchanged from the old tees.  The fact that the new tee appears to be so large just shows how much unusable area there was in the past.

This additional teeing space will allow for greater flexibility in daily setup, as well as tee marker rotation for turf recovery.

Never saw that before...

For several weeks there have been a couple of small black spots on some greens.  It wasn't until we actually started poking around, that we discovered the unusual cause.

While removing the turf covers last March, we apparently missed a few of the staples used to hold them in place over the winter.

Iron is often applied to the greens to give them a nice color (without stimulating growth), however it is well known that too much iron can temporarily turn the turf black.  It looks like the rusty staple was overdosing this small area--mystery solved.

Fortunately none of our greensmowers ever had a run-in with this piece of metal throughout the growing season.

They're back...

As we did last year, lightweight blowers have been placed on a handful of greens to help clear off any leaves that may have accumulated during the day.  While we try to make a couple of loops around the course to clear them off with our backpack blowers, there are days when an hour after we are finished, it looks like we were never there.

Just a quick refresher on how to operate these:  

1) Grab the blower

2) Pull the trigger (Can't get much easier than that!)

Here's a quick tip.  Be sure to mark your ball before using the blower--as slick as the greens are now, even a slight breeze might start your ball rolling! 

Gorgeous weather, but...

Many years it seems like we jump straight from summer to winter, so having what feels like a "real fall" with cool temperatures and blue skies is definitely appreciated.  Of course we could use just one good rain event.  While many parts of the country have been getting way too much precipitation, we certainly have not.

The brisk nights and shorter days help to reduce turf stress this time of year, but with clear skies, a nice breeze and low humidity, there is still a fair amount of moisture loss occurring.  

Again, regardless of how good an irrigation system is, there is no substitute for the uniformity that comes from Mother Nature.  A nice rain will evenly rehydrate the soil and go a long way towards allowing us to turn off the irrigation for the season.  

Until then, we will likely continue to deal with the Goldilocks conditions of too wet here and too dry there that come with "artificial rain."  While there are a number of fall projects we'd like to be working on, for now the team will continue to be dragging hoses.

Earthworms—Friend or Foe?

As you have likely heard on the news, September was extremely dry in our region, down 80% from the average rainfall for the month.  However, this dry spell has not prevented the appearance of worm castings on the tees and fairways.

Earthworms act as nature’s aerifiers, providing a service by creating pore space for air, water, and plant roots, as well as increasing the microbial population in the soil they process. How important are earthworms to healthy soil? To quote Charles Darwin: "...it may be doubted if there are any other animals which have played such an important part in the history of the world as these lowly organized creatures."

So why wouldn’t we be happy with the help in creating pore space in the soil?  Well, the work they do below ground is fine, but the downside to having earthworms on a golf course is that when they expel soil on the surface, it leaves little hills, like miniature volcanoes.  At best, these piles can be dragged or broomed off when thoroughly dry.  However, when we have moisture in the air, these piles stay wet.  Dragging them turns them to mud.  Left alone, the piles get squished by carts and mowers leaving mud spots about the size of a silver dollar.

Numerous strategies have been employed on golf courses where worms have created such a problem. This includes spraying mild soap solutions in hopes of irritating the worms and discouraging their surface activities, as well as aggressive topdressing programs of straight sand to create a surface that is abrasive and uncomfortable for the worms. Fortunately for us, the worm activity always seems to fade as quickly as it appears.  

A final thought about the earthworm population to contemplate: Some scientists calculate that in the soil of a dairy farm, per acre, the total weight of all of the earthworms that live underground exceeds the weight of the cattle grazing above ground—that's a whole lot of potential fish bait.

Practice Tee Turf

It isn't too often that we have a day with unimpeded access to the practice tee.  So when this does happen, we take full advantage of it.  Given this summer's heat, the Bermudagrass on the practice tee flourished, and has spread well beyond the original section of the tee that was sodded to Bermuda.  

Because of this, instead of overseeding a small percentage of the upper tee, we covered almost the whole thing.  This process requires several steps, including seeding, aerifying, dragging, blowing, brooming and fertilizing. 

The somewhat gloomy weather throughout the past week may not have been great for golf, but was perfect for getting the seed up quickly.  As a matter of fact, even some seeds that landed on the practice tee mats decided to pop:

Tournament Preparation

The lead-up to one of our final major events of the year, the fall Member-Member, meant a lot of time was devoted to working on the greens.  On Monday, we tickled the turf with our verticut units to remove any grass that was growing horizontally.

This process generated quite a bit of material.

Beginning on Tuesday, we double-mowed and rolled the greens every day.

The end result was some pretty slick surfaces, which everyone seemed to enjoy.