Doing right by divots

We are often asked if divots should be replaced, or filled with the bottle mix on the cart.

The USGA provides an excellent answer to this question in a brief video:
Divots 101—Know When To Repair Or Replace

Deja Vu

It's been a while since we whined about the weather, but after this past week's incessant rain, we started having flashbacks to last year.  Thus far, it feels as if June is perfect weather for only a few folks to spend much time on the golf course:

A mallard is enjoying one of the few greenside bunkers that has yet to be renovated.

Similar to last year, April showers weren't really an issue this spring.  In both 2018 and 2019, we were within 4% of the historical precipitation average for the month.  However, once we hit May and June, the skies opened up.  This year, we recorded over seven inches of rain in May, and with 10 days remaining in June, we had already surpassed the monthly average by 57%!

What July and August will bring us is still unknown.  At this time, perhaps the old adage, "Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best..." is the only advice we can follow.

CANI on the Course

If you haven't heard the acronym "CANI" before, it stands for constant and never-ending improvement--or as we like to say, raising the bar.  With the goal of always seeking to better every phase of the golf course operation, we already have a Word document labeled "2020 Planning Notes" in progress.  This contains a list of changes we'd like to make in the future, dealing with everything from staffing, to fertilization and fungicide timing.  In early fall we will review the ideas and goals in this document, and include many of them in our business plan for the upcoming year.

Often times the improvements we make from year to year are minor in nature, and typically won't be noticed by a golfer.  However, these small tweaks can contribute to the overall quality of the product we are able to present to our members each day.

What's truly rewarding is when a suggested operational change comes from the front line staff.  A good example of this led to the way in which we are now mowing the approach on #11.  In the past, we would often see wear from the triplex mowers trying to negotiate this narrow area.  One of our full time employees, Jeff Stewart, suggested that we start hand mowing this approach when we cut collars.

When we looked at the cost (a few extra minutes of mowing) versus the benefit (improved turf condition) this change made complete sense. A simple, yet great idea--but that's not the best part of this story.

As Jeff is typically the person tasked with mowing collars, this idea actually increased his workload, and added to the 15 mile days he often puts in for us.  However, like many of the staff, Jeff has the ability to look beyond his own job, and focus on the big picture of what we are trying to accomplish.  We are truly fortunate to have such engaged team members, and look forward to continually raising the bar!

Tournament Time

Perhaps it's just human nature, but many of us seem to spend more time focused on the negative events in our lives, rather than the positive ones.  So, what's that have to do with the golf course?  Well, prepping for a Member-Guest event can be physically stressful to the turf and mentally stressful to the Grounds staff that prepares the golf course.  However, while there's always room for improvement, in looking back at this past week, things went about as smoothly as we could have hoped for, and there were plenty of positive moments.

First and foremost in making this possible is the team we have this year.  Everyone arrives on time (which you can't take for granted, when we start at 5:00), they communicate well with each other, and look to help their teammates.

For example, it was great to see the guys finish mowing their greens, and immediately walk over to help complete the bunker raking without anyone needing to tell them to do so.  This may be a small thing, but it underscores how the group understands the importance of each task, and support each other.

 Another positive factor is that early June is typically a great time for this event.  The turf hasn't had to endure prolonged hot weather yet, and there's plenty of daylight in the wee hours of the morning.  This allows us to have less concern about staying ahead of play in readying the golf course.

 Lastly, one potential stress-inducer is always the weather.  While some heavy storms softened the course prior to the tournament, we were fortunate to have moderate temperatures and lower humidity on Friday and Saturday.

The dog days of summer still lie ahead, and we will undoubtedly have plenty to stress about.  But for now, we will take a step back, look at the glass as half full, and be grateful for all of the positive experiences we have each day.

Missed it by that much...

They say that timing is everything, and this past week we missed the perfect timing for a fairway fungicide application by one day.  We had planned to spray fairways on Thursday, however, as it turned out, Wednesday would have been a better choice.

With all of the rain Tuesday and Wednesday, there was plenty of prolonged humidity and leaf wetness, creating the perfect growing environment for Dollar Spot disease.  Finding Dollar Spot isn't at all unusual, but it typically starts out as a few minor spots.  Instead of this usual slow progression, on Thursday morning the fungi's mycelium made it look like it had snowed on the course.

The fairways weren't the only area of the course which was impacted, as the rough got clobbered as well.  We stuck with the plan, and the fairway fungicide application was made on Thursday, followed by a primary rough spray on Friday.

Fortunately, at this time of year, the turf will quickly grow out of any foliar damage caused by the disease.  However, this is definitely a lesson in not letting your guard down.  A month from now, trying to stretch fungicide intervals could lead to Pythium Blight--a disease which the turf will not quickly recover from!