Reel to Reel

Here are a few of my favorite shots of the month.

Another .65" of rain pushed precipitation totals just over 2" for the week.  Ground conditions remain soft as the rain came fast and furious.  Yesterday's slicing will help move much of the water through the soil profile and firm up the fairways. The weather this week threw us multiple curve balls and we were constantly readjusting our plans.  We accomplished everything we wanted,  just not on the days we thought we would do it.  You have to love Mother Nature. Week Recap: - verticut and topdressed greens - applied fungicide/nutrient applications to greens, tees and fairways - weekly mowing and line trimming - performed miscellaneous irrigation repairs - bunker bank mowing and trimming - sliced fairways

Cooler temperatures and 1.35" of rain Thursday, allowed us to start slicing fairways.  Slicing the fairways now will help them dry out from the rain and provide some much needed oxygen to the roots.  As the fairways start to recover from the summer stresses, providing air to the plants is critical. The slices are only a few inches wide and extremely inconspicuous. The benefits however are huge, we have had great success this year with bentgrass plants coming up in the slices.  By providing the plants with healthy growing conditions, they are outcompeting the weaker poa plants.  The more bentgrass that is incorporated into the fairways, the healthier they will be and the better they will perform. Slicing #17 Fairway

Greens and tees held up great through another tough weekend of extreme weather.  High temperatures and low humidity made it difficult on the plants.  We continue to syringe constantly in attempt to cool the plants down.  The fairways have not gained much recovery from the heat stress that they have suffered due to uncooperative weather conditions.  Our fairways consist of two types of grass: poa annua and bentgrass.  During my tenure, the management approach I have taken with the fairways has been one that favors bentgrass populations over poa annua.  Poa is a much weaker grass species that requires more food and water and is susceptible to many more problems.  For those reasons, my maintenance programs have been designed to give the bentgrass a competitive advantage over the weaker poa.  In a normal weather year, the transition to bentgrass fairways is hardly noticeable, maybe some slight y...

It was a difficult weekend for all parties involved: the turf, the superintendent and his staff.  Intense sun and relentless heat made it extremely challenging to keep the turf content.  Surface temperatures on the greens reached over 112 degrees on Saturday.  We tried to cool the plants down by syringing, but only managed to get surface temperatures down to 104 degrees.  Unfortunately those temperatures were too much for the plants to take, as significant wilt occurred on the greens. Overall, the fairways held up pretty well.  On Saturday, the weaker turf on the fairway edges took a step backwards from the recovery they were making due to the obscene temperatures.  We will be overseeding the thin areas this week with bentgrass. Mother Nature has not been very kind recently seeing that temperatures have exceeded 90 degrees in 10 of the last 12 days.  The weather does look to be a bit more favorable in...

The golf course is back in playable condition.  A huge thanks to my staff for an outstanding effort during our long day yesterday.  All of our accomplishments during the clean-up would not have been possible without their dedication and persistence. Things to know before you play today: - All of the tree debris has been removed from the greens, tees and fairways. - On certain holes, out of play rough areas are still a mess. - Bunkers are still being put back together, unfortunately it is a tedious process. - The back of the 7th green was damaged by a limb, the pin will be in front for a while. - Green speeds will be slower due to excess moisture and humidity. - There are still a few soft spots in the fairways, please be aware of where you are driving. Thanks again to everyone for their patience and understanding as we finish the clean-up process.

Clean-up on the course continues, unfortunately it is going to be a lengthy process.  Over 20 large tree limbs and numerous tractor loads of debris fell from the 50-60 mph winds.  Over 2 inches of rain has accumulated over the last two days.  Remarkably the course has absorbed the water quite well considering how much was standing on the surface last night. Below is a video of footage I took last night and of this morning's clean-up.  The opening scene displays some heavy rain, but the heaviest rain occurred about 10 minutes prior.  It was coming down so hard, you could not even make it out on screen. 

Yesterday's storm was tame compared to the one that rolled through at 7:00 p.m. tonight.  Extreme high winds and torrential rain pounded the golf course for about twenty minutes. As you can imagine, the golf course is quite the mess.  We will be closing the golf course tomorrow for clean-up .   Several large branches, debris and standing water everywhere will need to be cleaned up before the golf course is playable.  Thanks for your understanding and patience as we work through the mess.    #2 Valley #9 Green Side Bunker #18 Fairway

Erratic weather may be the theme of the year.  Strong storms ripped through the golf course this evening.  Although they did not last long, heavy winds and an additional .75" of rain left its toll.  Significant standing water is present on most of the fairways.  I would anticipate it being gone by the morning considering how dry conditions have been.   I will assess cart availability in the morning.  Below are a few pictures of the course in its current state.  #5 Green #5 Fairway #6 Fairway #2 Fairway

Tornado sirens, ominous skies, lightning, wind and a little rain made for an interesting day.  The day did not have much flow as there was a lot of starting and stopping due to the inclement weather.  We did manage to mow greens/collars, cut cups, mow rough, mow green and tee banks, spray greens and spray 1/4 of the fairways. The golf course is holding on nicely as we survived some tough weather this weekend.  We picked up .25" of rain today which was much needed since we have not seen any real precipitation in the last couple of weeks.  The extended forecast looks pretty grim next week with day time temperatures exceeding 90 degrees and night time temperatures in the mid 70's.  The plants will be put to the test as disease pressure will be high and heat stress is always a concern with elevated temperatures for this long of a period. We will be syringing with hoses and irrigation heads the rest o...