Stay in line

This is the time of year when the practice tee takes a pounding.  Thousands of balls are hit, which means thousands of divots are taken, and it can be a challenge to get the turf to recover quickly.

One way you can help to ensure that there will be good grass to practice from throughout the season, is by practicing in a linear pattern.  Just take a look at this picture provided by the USGA:

As you can see, the linear pattern uses a much smaller area than the scattered pattern, and will fill in much faster than the concentrated pattern.

We have another excellent example of the linear pattern in use, right here.  The picture below was taken after Laurel Creek member, Dr. Mark Walker, hit 150 balls.

So, when practicing, please remember to stay in line!

Seeing spots

It's the time of year when we are seeing spots--brown spots, that is.  What's the cause of these?  There is always a laundry list of potential problems, including fungus, insects, heat, too much water, not enough water, and traffic.  Often times, what you observe above the ground, on the foliage, is a reflection of what's happening beneath the surface.  So when we see a spot looking a bit "off", one of the first things we check for is soil moisture.

Remember that last week, from Sunday night into Monday morning, we received 4" of rain, so it might seem unnecessary to check for moisture.  However, in this case, it looks like all of that water didn't make it much past the surface, as the light colored soil is bone dry.

More spots can certainly be seen on the fairways we didn't treat for Take-all Patch last fall.  However, the picture below is really a twofer.  Yes, the mottled Bentgrass is being damaged by the disease, but the yellowing Poa in the center is the target of a troublesome (or in this rare case, helpful) insect, the Annual Bluegrass Weevil.

Here's one more spot, from #16 fairway, to consider.  What's different about this?  The cause of the discolored turf doesn't appear to be lack of water, a fungus, or insect.  No, this spot looks like it's suffering from a case of "too much of a good thing."  The darker green ring outside the brown area is indicative of some kind of fertilization--maybe from a heron, or maybe from a human.

While finding off-colored spots isn't our favorite thing in the summer, it is always better when we understand the cause of a problem, as we can then develop a plan to make the turf happy and healthy once again.

Conflicting interests...

From the moment the last tine exits the turf during spring aerification, it feels like someone hit the stopwatch, as the countdown to the Member-Guest tournament begins.  The goals of getting the greens to fill in and heal, then have them rolling well for the tournament, are often at odds with each other.  To be blunt, we need to go from the absolute worst the greens will putt, to the best they will putt.  This is where the challenge begins...

Just prior to aerification, we will back off on the use of plant growth regulators, and begin applying small amounts of fertilizer.  100% of our greens fertility is sprayed on, allowing us to carefully mange growth.  Part of the reasoning here, is that we can always add more, but once fertilizer is applied, it's hard to take it back.

On average, between the hollow tine aerification, and the Dryject process, we applied 9,000 pounds of sand per green.  Clearly, in order to fill in from this, we need to encourage the greens to grow.  It seems pretty simple that if we get them growing aggressively, they will fill in quickly.

 However, when you consider that more grass = more friction = slower green speeds, when preparing the greens for a tournament, we are typically looking to minimize clipping yield, not encourage growth.  Thus, we have a balancing act.

The picture below was taken five days after aerification, and while the holes are starting to get some grass covering them, we were still miles away from anything close to normal.

Monitoring the progress of aerification holes filling in, can really feel like you're watching paint dry.  As the days go by, we are able to slowly lower the mowing height, and get the putting surfaces back on their strict diet, and exercise regimen.  Finally, beginning Tuesday of Member-Guest week, it is double mowing and rolling every day.

The picture below was taken on day one of the event.  They're not quite "ludicrous speed," but rolling pretty well.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'...

So, how tight is the margin between aerification and spring Member-Guest?  Well, due to scheduling, this year we had one less day between aerification and the tournament.  At times like this, a single day can lead to quite a bit of stress.

Fortunately, waiting until May to aerify, gives us the best chance of hitting some "Goldilocks" growing weather--not too hot, and not too cold.  While nobody enjoys aerified greens, this process is the best way to set us up for another successful summer, and really good greens going forward.

Great news--we've got Take-all Patch!

If you recall, during the the past few years, we have had sporadic outbreaks of a root-borne turf disease, Take-all Patch, in late spring.  As the pathogen is compromising the plant's root system, by the time you see symptoms on the foliage, the damage is already done.  In an effort to prevent disease development, we initiated trials last fall, which included changes to fertility, cultural practices (aimed at reducing organic matter content), and fungicide applications.

Well, we've never been so happy to see turf disease.  Hmm, maybe we should rephrase that:  It is very helpful that we are seeing turf disease in the untreated areas.  Since Take-all patch can be hit or miss, had this been a year when we saw little or no Take-all anywhere on the golf course, it would have been impossible to know if the preventative treatments made last fall worked, or not.  Fortunately, (sort of) we are seeing a good deal of Take-all in many of the same locations as we have in prior years.

There is plenty of Take-all on #13 fairway.

However, the really good news is that we are seeing no Take-all on the tee and fairway areas we treated with a combination of fungicides last fall.  A comparison of spring, 2017 and spring, 2018 in these pictures speaks volumes:

#3 Legends tee in spring, 2017.

#3 Legends tee in spring, 2018.

#7 approach in spring, 2017.

#7 approach in spring, 2018.

We always try to make solid long-term plans in managing the golf course.  But it was still somewhat surprising to see that the fungicide applications made a full seven months ago, between Halloween and Thanksgiving, could have such a profound effect on turf health this year, as we are now past Memorial Day and entering the summer months. 

Given the relatively short residual activity of today's plant protectants, it certainly shows that the correct timing of fungicide applications is critical in helping to control Take-all.  It is also worth noting that after consulting with several sources on a best management plan for Take-all Patch, it was Steve McDonald, of Turfgrass Disease Solutions, that recommended the combination of fungicides which were so effective.

So, what does this mean going forward?  Well, for this year, we will still have some Take-all to deal with in the untreated areas.  However, in looking ahead, we have a good game plan for the future.  We will most definitely expand the use of this fungicide program in the fall, and look forward to seeing even less Take-all in 2019!