Weather Update, You Won't Believe This and Coming Up Next!

Hello and welcome to "The Greenkeeper"!  Today is Thursday, September 6, 2012 and football season is finally here!  Why would I be so excited about football season you ask...because football season brings football weather... and football weather brings the absolute best conditions to our bentgrass putting surfaces!  Speaking of weather, the past two weeks Mother Nature has reminded us summer isn't officially over with high humidity levels and afternoon thunderstorms.  Labor Day weekend felt more like the 4th of July but I have seen the extended forecast and heavenly conditions are just around the corner.  In my last post on August 22nd I stated the rainfall for that month was 6.71 inches and that's exactly how we finished as we received no additional rain between August 21st through September 1st.  So far this month we have received two plus inches (2.24) dating back to an afternoon shower which briefly interrupted play during the second round of last weekend's Senior Club Championship on September 2nd and continuing up through this past Tuesday evening when we received 1.5" (the bulk of our total thus far).

Congratulations to Paul Spadafora, Senior Champion Golfer of the Year!!

 

In other news, yesterday morning we were greeted with the remnants of some late night vandalism.  Now, before you go jumping to conclusions the vandal or vandals were not neighborhood juvenile delinquents but rather the nocturnal, four-legged variety!  While in route to the driving range tee to begin set up for the day I received a call from the greens mower operator on the 3rd green bringing to my attention this...

Hole Dug in Front Middle of 3rd Green!

Upon closer inspection I found the paw prints in the nearby left bunker confirming my suspicion of Coyote(s) and the damage upon closer inspection appeared as follows...

 

Coyote Damage (Closer View)

I have been working in this business for over 20 years and I have seen many things but this was the first time I have witnessed physical damage to a putting surface of this magnitude caused by an animal.  Fortunately we have the resources to repair damage such as this and about 30 minutes and 11 hexagonal plugs from our nursery green later the area looked like this...

 

Not Too Shabby!

Moving on, as I stated earlier cooler, dryer weather is just around the corner and we have one club championship in the books and two more on the horizon.  The ladies are up next on the 15th and 16th and the men will determine their 2012 champion the following weekend over 54 holes contested the 21st through 23rd.  Of course there is Guest Day on the 14th and you can expect my staff and I to do everything possible to have the course looking and playing its best!  I am excited about the condition of the playing surfaces thus far as we transition from summer conditions to fall and expect great things for all the upcoming events!

 

Remember the course will be closed for TWO days (Sep 24th and 25th) to aerate the putting greens following the Men's Club Championship as we prepare the greens for even better conditions for the slate of events in October and November.  Also, Golf Course Services, Inc. will be on site at that time to begin installing additional subsurface drainage to key areas on the 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th holes.  I will be taking pictures and posting their work to the blog quite a bit during that time so stay tuned.  Until next time...

 

See you on the course,

 

Matthew Wharton

Golf Course Superintendent