Be careful what you wish for...

For years, we have battled weeds in the Native Areas of the golf course.  Included in this category of undesirable plants, are grassy weeds.  In early April, we made an application of two post-emergent selective herbicides, and the knock down of these non-Fescue grasses was really good--in some places, perhaps too good. 

It is easy to see the treated versus untreated section behind #10 green.

That is, in various locations, the grassy weeds are the dominant stand, with little Fine Fescue.  While we would typically do a wall to wall follow-up application a few weeks after the first treatment (which would hopefully be a knockout blow to the weeds which are already hurting), we took a more conservative approach with the second application, and only retreated areas which have a good stand of Fescue.

The mound separating #9 and 18 is great in some spots, but a bit sparse in other areas.

If nothing else, this brought two things to light.  For starters, it truly highlighted the areas where we need to either sod or seed new Fine Fescue to reestablish a clean stand.  Second, it's great to see that we now have some products available to keep these areas free of unwanted plants once the Fescue is in place.  

Unusual weather and its impact

It's a bit early in the year to start whining about the weather, but the past week felt more like mid-July than mid-May. The month actually started off fairly cool, with nighttime low temperatures averaging 43 degrees from May 7- May 18.  This really kept the Bentgrass on the tees and fairways from kicking into high growth gear.

Of course, recently the temperatures rebounded in a big way.  Combining these 90+ degree daytime highs with a marked lack of precipitation in April and May--we are currently 5" behind average rainfall for the two months--and you've got the makings for some challenging turf times.  

A part circle sprinkler which was out of adjustment has the walk-off behind #17 looking toasty.

Clearly, any turf that does not have solid irrigation coverage is going to struggle now.  However, there are also areas of off-color turf on tees and fairways which aren't dry.  No, our perennial foe, Take-All Patch is popping up on #1 and #9 fairways, as well as on several tees.  

Areas of Take-All Patch can be seen on the right side of #18 Honors tee.

If that wasn't enough fun, we are still seeing Waitea Patch on a few greens, which we continue to treat for.  This disease is also known as Brown Ring Patch, however what we are seeing has a distinct yellow appearance.

 

With 20 putting surfaces, all constructed the same, and managed the same, it is interesting when only a few of them are exhibiting symptoms of this fungus, while most are not.  And in this case, the greens where the Waitea is most prevalent would typically be considered to have the best growing conditions, with full sunlight, and good air movement.  

Tackling the Traffic

 With a record number of rounds, the cart traffic is taking its toll, particularly in the "pinch points" coming off tees and approaching greens.  We have started aerifying these areas to reduce compaction, and will be continuing this process around the course, as long as the weather is conducive to turf recovery.

Often times, we will aerify about half of a high traffic area, rope it off for a week or two while it recovers, then aerify the other half.  Much like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, this will be "lather, rinse, repeat"--by the time we finish a loop around the course, we'll need to start over.

Greens Aerification

Our spring greens aerification took place this past week.  While neither golfers nor Grounds staff enjoy this process, it does provide much needed, long-term health benefits to the putting greens.  These surfaces are treated like elite athletes who are pushed to their limits on a daily basis, and when summertime temperatures hit, they will need every advantage they can get to make it through.

As you can see below, from coring, there is a tremendous amount of material generated.

The pickers and blowers follow behind, removing the plugs.  Once cleaned, we apply a heavy layer of sand to the greens, which is broomed into the holes.

The next day brought the team from Dryject, where more sand was incorporated into the greens' soil profile.

As you can see in the picture below, the Dryject process enables us to get sand significantly deeper than we can with a conventional core aerifier.

With plenty of precipitation, there has been no moisture stress on the greens following aerification.  Now all we need is some consistently warm temperatures to speed up the healing process.

Poa Seed Control

 Every year, we track temperatures in an effort to correctly time our spring Poa seedhead control sprays on the greens.  While we will never prevent 100% of the annoying seeds, the best way to measure how well we did is by leaving some untreated check plots.

A quick look at one of our check plots on #8 green shows you what we'd be dealing with on all of the greens if we hadn't treated them--a very bumpy surface.  Our control sprays appear to have been pretty solid this year.

The picture above was taken last Friday, when we were dealing with 50 mile per hour winds, and chasing tree "helicopters" off the putting surfaces all day long.  Certainly on that day, Poa seeds weren't the only seeds impacting your putts.