Arcola Cup in the Books

 

Crew mowing 18 green at 3:45am on the morning of the Arcola Cup.  A split shift of 3:30-7:30 in the morning and return for 11:30-2:30 to set up again for the second round.  A lot of moving parts in one day to make it successful, but this preparation started at least 2 weeks prior.

Going from extremely cool and dry conditions in May and June where firmness and speed was not an issue to flipping the switch to hot and humid conditions the past 10 days plus.  We were hearing complaints that the greens were too fast and fairways were too tight and now everything is too lush.

You know it is humid when you cannot see the first fairway from 20 yards away and this is an indicator that the atmosphere is saturated.  This was Wednesday morning before the Arcola Cup.  This means less water, and much more spraying is required.  On top of that, Thursday afternoon hit 95 and the humidity dropped to 35% in a few hours, drying everything down quickly and getting everyone on hoses to keep things hydrated.

Here is what was done  to prepare for the Arcola Cup in the past 2 weeks:

-greens verticut to thin canopies

-greens vented last week to air out surfaces and be able to take water in the event of a t storm

-sprays made to protect all fine turf for this week

-penetrants applied to greens to help with water penetration in the event of a t storm; on the flip side, this wreaked havoc on the afternoon with 95 degrees as the greens were drying too fast

-made an extra nutrient spray to our roughs to make sure it was thick enough, since green speeds and firmness were not going to be able to defend the course

-trying to get all the rough mowed in advance during a holiday weekend and then allow it to grow out in time for the Arcola Cup

-making an extra growth regulator spray to help slow growth even more on greens

As a wrap up, the greens were stimped at 5am and 1pm during the Arcola Cup and were rolling 14' 6" both times.  Firmness was not where we wanted it due to the rapid dry down on Thursday afternoon with the shift in the weather.  Rough was definitely penal and healthy.  Fairways were a bit softer and that was mainly due to the extreme humidity the past 7 days and they were not effected by the rapid drop in humidity on Thursday afternoon.

While we had the best plans in place for the past 14 days, some things panned out and others did not.  At the end of the day considering everything, the course was shining again even though it was not showing its teeth!