The heat is up and the speed is down...

We've mentioned the subject of green speed in mid-summer in the past, but with a notable recent example of some significant swings in weather (and speed), it warrants revisiting.  

If you can remember back to July 4, it was an unusually cool, crisp morning for this time of year.  In checking the green speed that particular day, the greens were over a foot faster than they had been on July 3.  

So, you may wonder what we changed in our daily preparation of the putting surfaces, and the answer is absolutely nothing.  We used the same mowers, set at the same height, and the same roller.  The only difference was going from a hot, humid day on the 3rd, to a (relatively) cool day on the 4th.

The bottom line is that when you're feeling sticky, so is the turf!

Not Fairy Ring again...

It's been four years since we have seen any Fairy Ring on the greens (Rings Are Back), and they are never welcome.  In fact, since 2012, this is only the fourth time we have had to deal with this disease, so it definitely isn't something you can set your watch by.

Despite some very wet conditions this past week, we made a fungicide + wetting agent application and watered the greens afterwards, in order to move the products down into the rootzone where Fairy Ring activity is taking place.

As we are already dealing with the anticipated cool-season turf roots shortening during the heat of the summer, getting blindsided by Mother Nature with these rings just isn't any fun at all.  However, we are not alone.  If you happened to catch any of the Scottish Open this past weekend, you likely would have noticed some pretty spectacular Fairy Rings there.

Connecting the dots

The heat and summer stress has much of the Poa in the greens looking more yellow than green.  Poa is technically a winter annual, and the intense daily workout it is subjected to between our maintenance, players' feet, and the weather can take its toll.

What's telling, is where the healthier Poa can be found.  The straight lines of green dots are last fall's aerification holes--confirmation of the importance of this cultural practice.   

The Heat is On

Between some potential winter injury, and the second half of May being unusually cool, the Bermudagrass on the practice tees has been slow to break dormancy this year.  Fortunately, just as the cool-season turf is starting to feel some stress from last week's brutal heat, the Bermuda has woken up and is now growing aggressively. 

Bermudagrass is quickly filling this divoted area.

For many years, there was little turf left on the tees to hit from by August.  Installing a grass that thrives in the heat has proven to be a real game-changer in allowing us to provide a good surface to practice from even when we are dealing with triple digit temperatures!

A Success Story

In the past, golf courses were portrayed as having a negative impact on the environment.  Fortunately, a good deal of time, effort, and scientific research have been spent to debunk this myth.  Given the abundance of flora and fauna, it certainly would be challenging for anyone who frequented Laurel Creek to believe this fallacy.

In contrast to what we see today, prior to the construction of the golf course, much of the property was being mined for clay and gravel, and had a post-apocalyptic appearance:

Following a recent site visit by an Audubon International staff member, we received our recertification as an Audubon International Certified Cooperative Sanctuary.  Laurel Creek has maintained this status since 2002--additional evidence that golf and environmental stewardship can coexist.

Tips and Tricks

It is always interesting to see how other courses deal with common issues that arise in golf course maintenance.  A while back, we saw this trick on Turfnet for dealing with high plugs on the green, and finally had a chance to try it ourselves:

Basically this is an aerification tine mounted to a metal handle.  By removing a core from a high plug, you can kneed the area together and get it flush with the surrounding putting surface.  Our Equipment Technician, Don Robel, fabricated this beauty:

While we don't expect to be wearing out the aerification tine on the end anytime soon, Don built this tool so that it can be equipped with a variety of tine sizes:

This tool checks all of the boxes--it is both simple and very effective.

A First, and the Worst...

#14 green was in good shape when we left last Tuesday afternoon, but things changed dramatically between then and Wednesday morning, when we were greeted by a large area of turf that had clearly died very quickly.  While nobody ever wants to see this, with our Member-Guest event starting the next day, the timing couldn't have been worse.

After a few minutes of head-shaking, the grass-growers' instincts kicked in, and we wanted to start surgery on the damaged turf immediately.  However, some patience was required.  While it may look pretty darned bad, the potential impact on ball roll is likely to be greater with an area that has been repaired through plugging and seeding than with the dead grass.  Therefore, the decision was made to hold off on repairs until this week.  

The next thought was trying to determine what was the source of the liquid that killed so quickly.  Could this have been caused by a piece of maintenance equipment?  While anything is possible, some clues lead us to believe that this was not the cause:

• Not in a straight line, so not a mower, roller or sprayer
• Completely dry with no oily residue, so not motor oil or hydraulic oil
• No odor, so probably not two cycle gasoline
• The pattern doesn't match the splatter of someone walking with a backpack blower, and... 
• Unlike a backpack blower with no gas cap, this had a distinct start and stop point on the green with nothing trailing off the green

To be honest, the pattern looks as if someone was walking with a cup and either poured or spilled the contents on the green.  Whether it was done purposefully or accidentally, we may never know.  

The Grounds team works hard day in and day out, and takes pride in providing great putting surfaces for our members and their guests.  To say this was disheartening is an understatement.  This was a first for us, but will hopefully also be the last time we ever have to deal with such a situation.