Weather Dictates Everything

 There was some chatter back in May and June that the greens were too fast and the fairways were too tight.  Clearly, the weather was the contributing factor in our greens rolling in the mid 15s to 16 for a few weeks and our fairways yielding more than 30 yards of roll following tee shots.  This is not normal for Arcola and while we thoroughly enjoyed seeing the course play to its full potential with little inputs, we knew eventually it would come to an end.  

Growth regulators help control growth.  They are a key part of most golf courses' management plans.  They also help the greens retain speeds longer during the day, slowing growth down a bit.  For fairways, we use growth regulators to reduce growth, but more importantly slowly lessen our poa populations.  Certain regulators are harsher on poa than others and you have to be very careful with what chemicals you mix with them so you do not over regulate the poa and possibly eradicate it altogether.  When humidity rises and rainfall is more often, growth regulators often become less effective due to grass remaining more lush and having less time to dry out.  While we enjoyed several weeks of no clippings and firm conditions, we are now looking at lush green grass everywhere, regardless of our management practices.

The pile of clippings you see is from 1 and 9 fairway only.  They are still tight but out growing the regulators we have on them.  Extra clippings mean excess growth, so we will ride out this weather stretch until growth slows down and things dry out.  We have put very little water on them in the past 14 days, despite the hot temperatures of late.  You will now see a reduction in ball roll off the tee and on the greens.  More rain and humidity forecast for this coming weekend, so no light at the end of the tunnel just yet.

Rains Are Finally Over

 

We were fortunate the past 2 weeks to dodge many of the storms that came through NJ.  Friday we were able to get the Arcola Cup in without delay and Saturday we saw a quick afternoon burst soak the course.  Yesterday looks to be the last of the rains for at least a few days as the course got hit pretty good in the evening.  With high humidity remaining this week and temps in the 90s, we decided to vent the greens today.  The greens have a bit of algae forming in spots and we were able to spray the greens Friday evening to help alleviate it and venting them will help them dry down a bit over the next few days.  While I complained about no rain for most of the spring and how our irrigation inefficiencies were highlighted, I would take that over constant rains and humidity with no control over managing moisture in the soil.

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!

I Told You So

 My favorite line I like to use with my wife is "I told you so".  In my most recent update, I said once we get measurable rain and humidity, the turf is going to explode.  We have had no growing weather all spring and nutrients had been applied throughout to get turf going.  Without natural rainfall or temperatures, the fertilizer is not being used to its full potential.  This past week we saw higher humidity and now we have had 2 good soaking rains, with more on the way.

During the week, we will mow fairways 4 out of 5 days, so we have not mowed fairways since Friday due to the holiday weekend.  The clippings in the fairways are out of control.  That means tomorrow morning we will be making a growth regulator application to fairways to help slow the growth.  This weather is beneficial for us to make the rough a bit more penal for the Arcola Cup this Friday, however, the roughs will be labor intensive next week when we are able to mow them again since we will not mow Thursday on.  

The upside to all of this humidity and rain is no irrigation.  We have not irrigated at night for almost 2 weeks.  While this is great for the turf it is not good for firm and fast conditions.  Green speeds have dropped to 13.8-14.2 with the weather and if the rain continues they will continue to drop.  We will keep you posted with any changes.

Venting Fairways

 

With an extremely dry spring so far, we decided to move up our fairway venting a few weeks and start opening them up now instead of after July 4th.  Mainly due to golf schedule issues, but more importantly our fairways were repelling water.  The second benefit, we have been in a high humidity, cloud cover and hit or miss thunderstorms for the past 4 days.  We figured, once we started getting hit by these storms having holes in the fairways to allow them to breathe would be beneficial.  So far, we have gotten .9" of rain since Friday and another round of storms coming today.  

As you see in the top picture, the holes are small and once we roll and mow them, you can barely notice.  I will be curious to see how the fairways react later this week when the rain is out of the forecast for the next 7+ days.  Most likely if our schedule and weather permits, we will do this process again in mid to late July.

Cart Traffic Evident

 

The pictures above are just 2 examples of how cart traffic effects the playability, health and aesthetics of the golf course.  You can see where all the carts drive and how we must use signs and stakes to direct them away from these areas.  In some areas there is not much we can do, but this is basically happening on every hole.  The yellowing is the constant traffic and the turf unable to grow out of it.  Even though we have fertilized the whole course, the weather has not been conducive to it working effectively yet.  Stakes and signs take away from the course but are a necessary evil.  It is imperative that you stay on the paths by tees and greens.  Pulling into the rough to gain a few extra feet forces us to have to put more signs and stakes out to protect the grass.  These become labor intensive to move and are an eyesore.  Luckily we are a mainly walking club, but May and June are heavy with outings and cart usage.  Normally we are not seeing wear and tear this early.  Once the rain comes alot of these will lessen, but until then we will be having to protect the grass.

Finally!

 

It has been a year coming, but we are finally starting to level sprinkler heads.  Over time with topdressing and organic matter accumulation, turf raises up and eventually sprinkler heads and drain basins become low, effecting playability, safety and efficiency.  Last week the staff checked and unclogged all nozzles on heads and now we will be spending the next week or so leveling heads.  With the extreme dry weather this spring we have had no time to do this but with the wet forecast ahead, we can finally get a jump start on it.