Rain Is Over, Start Preparing for the Arcola Cup

Now that the heavy rain and humidity are almost behind us, we turn our attention to prepping for the Arcola Cup this Friday.  Today we are using tow behind blowers to help dry the green surfaces so we can start double cutting.  With the high humidity and rains the past few days, our normal green speeds of 12 are no more now that the greens are lush and soft.  We will be getting green speeds back to normal in the next few days but we have to be careful that we do not stress them out as they are still soft.

Bluestem Plugging

Today the maintenance staff planted 600 little bluestem plugs in native areas, ditch banks and bunker edges.  These are small native grasses that will accent these areas, and also do not create the playability issues we are facing right now with our new fescue sod.

Venting Greens This Week

This will be the 2nd time in the last 2 weeks that we have vented greens.  Normally we do this every 2-3 weeks but with our busy tournament schedule this season, we have had to push them off.  With the Arcola Cup on the 18th and a busy August, we will probably do them again once before the August Clambake and the AJGA tournament the week of August 11th.   This process allows gas exchange in the soil and oxygen into the root zone.

The Difference Between Seeded Fescue and Sodded Fescue

In the center of this picture, you will see where we sodded a tree stump in the native area on #4 hillside.  This entire area was killed and seeded several years ago and you will see how the area around the sod is thin and playable, yet the sod is thick.  This too will thin out with lack of rainfall, heat and the use of growth regulators/herbicides.  Until then, we must be patient and we will do what we can to make the areas playable in the meantime.  Again, the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

Not All Native Area Weeds Are Bad

This is milkweed, located to the left of the entrance driveway.  While it is a weed, it does produce flowers and they are beneficial to monarch butterflies.  We usually leave these alone and let them flourish.

Hydraulic Leak on Several Greens

What started out as an important maintenance practice turned into a nightmare.  We started verticutting greens yesterday and this morning and during the verticutting, a hydraulic seal blew out on one of the reel motors.  There was no way the operator could see the leak as grass was covering the green after each pass.  Once we started to blow off the greens and clean them we noticed the leak and immediately stopped the machine.  The greens effected were #3 bottom photo, #5 middle photo and the 7th green.  We usually do this practice several times per year and this time it caught up to us using a 15 year old machine to do it.  The lines will turn yellow but will not effect putting but will be unsightly.  There is little we can do now, as the heat of the oil is what yellows the turf so now we will have to wait it out.  We will do our best to get these areas back to normal.

Another Invitational in the Books

The final morning prep for the Invitational goes off without a hitch.  Many thanks to my crew who had to get water off the course late Thursday morning in preparation for the noon tee times and then worked until 9pm last night and be back into work at 4:30 this morning.  Mother Nature did not cooperate on Thursday but gave us 2 great days on Friday and Saturday.