Leaves in your line?

To many, this is the best weather of the year for golf.  But with the fall also come the falling leaves.  There are days when we can clear the course of leaves, and an hour later it looks like we were never there.

In order to address this, we will be placing a few blowers around greens that quickly become covered in leaves.  Just grab the blower, pull the trigger, and you're in business.

The idea for the blowers came from a Laurel Creek Green Committee member who had seen this used at another course they played.  We always appreciate hearing tips and tricks, and seeing if they can work for us! 

An Early Project

This winter we plan on addressing several tees which are in need of releveling.  However, we already jumped into project mode this past week by beginning our tee work on #8.  The reason for the early start is because we are seeding the tee.  So, why seed and not sod this particular tee?

After working on a tee we have three options:  Reuse existing sod, buy sod from a grower, or seed the tee.  Sod grown on a farm offsite often struggles the first couple of years, since it was established on a different soil than we have placed it on.  Option two, stripping and reusing the existing sod can work well, but #8 tee was starting to have Goosegrass contamination, so we opted not to use the sod that was there.  

The third choice, seeding, requires some patience, but typically yields the best long-term results.   If you look at #3 tee as an example, which we regraded and seeded a few years ago, it has performed quite well.

For the balance of October and November, we will move the Medal tee markers around to alternate tees.  Once we get past Thanksgiving, we will be able to place a mat on the tee and allow it to play from its normal location.

Turf Trials

 If you're wondering what the red paint on #7 approach is for, these are markings to  delineate plots for turfgrass research.  With this area perennially having Take-All patch, it provides a great location for turfgrass pathologist, Steve McDonald, to conduct fungicide trials.  

The various plots receive different products, at different rates and different frequencies over the next month.  The efficacy of each protocol won't be assessed until next spring, when the symptoms of Take-All are seen--or are not.

Wile it might be better if we didn't have such good Take-All Patch, we are always happy to help with any turfgrass research project.  The results can provide us with additional tools and information, as well as any other golf course that is facing the same challenges.

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...