Greens Aeration Finally Underway

 

We are finally underway aerating greens.  The rains yesterday postponed our start until today.  The staff will stay until 5pm to get as many done as possible so we can get back on schedule.  The machine on the right verticuts (removes thatch) and leaves sand in the slits.  The machine on the left is the actual aerator that pulls cores out of the greens.  Our greens desperately needed this as water puddled instantly during recent rains, meaning they are sealed off at the surface.  In another month we will go with solid tines and punch deeper to help water move through the profile during the winter months.  We do this process each and every year which allows us to keep our greens open all 12 months.  We will do less disruptive aeration in April except for drill and fill now that we are doing this.  I do not foresee us pulling any plugs next spring.

Tent Area Cleanup

 

We know the tent was up for a month and basically the turf below was dead when removed.  We had to move fast as the pumpkin picking was scheduled for 3 days later.  If you do not know, this area was created for entertainment back in 2019 such as concerts, fireworks and members hanging out.  More importantly it also acted as our white tee for #10.  Since 2019, this has probably been renovated 6-7 times, meaning sod stripped, area floated and new sod put down.  Over time, we start to see low areas from foot traffic in the tent etc so Brad from Downes came in at no charge and laser leveled the tee for us.  This will probably be the last time we can do this before we have to go in and address drainage and add new mix, but long story short in 3 days the area was back to normal for pumpkin picking!  Without the creation of this area by my staff, the club could never host the big events they do now.

Actually Damage is Good

 

During fairway aeration we decided to verticut into the stepcuts.  You will see by the picture above quite a few areas got shredded.  Basically these are bentgrass patches that at 1" get really puffy and the verticutter rips through it instead of slicing through it.  Bentgrass performs great at 1/2" or lower and anything higher gets puffy and unplayable.  While this looks ugly, we are going around to seed these areas to get more rough grasses in them so this does not keep happening.  In this case, I am actually not upset by seeing this, especially in November.  By next spring these areas should be healed for the 2024 golf season.

Fixing Up Traffic Issues

 

This is the area near 10 green where all carts are funneled to the cart path.  There is a maple tree located to the left of the mat, so that funnels traffic even more.  This area is unsightly with cart signs and stakes and thin and bare turf, so we are experimenting with matting that will allow carts to drive on but protect the grass below.  We basically stripped the poor sod, put new sod and then will lay the mat on top.  The new sod will be protected and the mat will not be noticeable once the turf grows through it.  We tried it on 10 and the walk up to the new tee on 6 as 2 sample areas.  If this works and holds up, we may consider doing more in the future.  Will keep you posted.

Aeration Underway

 

What a perfect day to start fairway aeration.  A year like this is when we really need to do this procedure, especially in October.  After all the heavy rains since summer the ground becomes compacted from mower and cart traffic.  In August, we deferred this practice until October so the soil and turf needs to be punched for plant health and to set it up for next year.  Originally, this was to be a perfect week for this with no events, but we have a few rescheduled tournaments from the past few weeks that will have to play with less than ideal fairways.  The weather looks perfect for us to get as much done this week as possible and it is likely it will carry over into next week when we begin greens aeration.  Short term pains, long term gains.

Important Maintenance

 

Here is #5 green following a rain event.  Yes, it has XGD drainage in it, however the green is made to surface drain water off the front and back.  Over time from topdressing and organic matter accumulation, the low areas begin to build up sand dams where water constantly runs off greens, eventually raising the grade enough to trap water on the green.

The only solution is to sod cut the areas that have been built up over time, manually remove the material carefully and put the sod back as accurately as possible.  Once we complete this, we will lightly topdress the sod seams and roll the sod.  This green will get tested this weekend as another 1-2" is forecast.  We will address all greens that this is a problem on this fall.

The Never Ending Spray Season

 2023 started off as a carbon copy of 2022, droughty and cooler.  Playing conditions for much of the spring were ideal with firm and fast being achieved without much effort.  Then came July.  Since July, rainfall and humidity have been plentiful.  Certain weather patterns favor certain diseases.  This spring it was just being able to apply water to extremely dry turf.  When temperatures and humidity are high, coupled with rainfall, Brown Patch and Pythium Blight are possible.  When temperatures are moderate and humidity and rainfall are high then dollar spot is probable.  From July to this week, it has been ideal for dollar spot, no matter if it is in the rough, fairways or tees.  Our greens are not susceptible due to daily mowings first thing in the morning, our pesticide and fertility programs and our cultural programs.  Normally, we make 3 to at most 4 rough applications per year, but this year we have had to make 5-6.  Fairway sprays usually last 14 days at the least on a normal year, but this year we were getting 5-10.  The picture above is our 17th fairway 5 days after a dollar spot spray that probably should have lasted 17-20 days.  This was our 3rd spray in 30 days and we just made our 4th today.  This disease has been rampant all year and it is almost laughing at our sprays.  You do not really notice it because we will make immediate follow up applications if there is breakthrough.  What may begin to happen now is that we can start to get resistance to certain chemicals if we over use them.  We also have some very old bentgrass patches on fairways that are more susceptible to the fungus than others.  We started rolling fairways on days we do not mow them to take the dew off first thing, but with the recent fog and humidity, the dew is back on them by 7am.  We will continue to fight the fight and will look at all avenues to address this moving forward.  Next year depending on weather we may not even see it, but indications are this may be our biggest nemesis moving forward.  This is why fungicide budgets begin to increase over time.