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 next few days. We will give the plants some much needed attention and help them recover from this poor stretch of weather. The following will occur Monday and Tuesday:
- Verticut and needle-tine greens to provide some venting
- Slice fairway edges and overseed with bentgrass
- Addition of soil amendments to greens to aid in stress tolerance
- Spray weekly nutrients and fungicides to greens, tees and fairways
Stay cool and see you on the course-
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 next few days. We will give the plants some much needed attention and help them recover from this poor stretch of weather. The following will occur Monday and Tuesday:
- Verticut and needle-tine greens to provide some venting
- Slice fairway edges and overseed with bentgrass
- Addition of soil amendments to greens to aid in stress tolerance
- Spray weekly nutrients and fungicides to greens, tees and fairways
Stay cool and see you on the course-