Friday, November 8, 2019

Novemberrrr!

Hello and welcome to The Greenkeeper!  Today is Friday, November 8th and winter is on its way.  Okay, maybe not full blown winter, after all summer just left town (Last Post), but some cold air from Canada will arrive tonight making tomorrow morning's round a very chilly start - possible frost delay.  And that's not even the coldest air as the 10-Day Forecast below reveals a reinforcing shot of Canadian air for the middle of next week!  Can you say Novemberrrr!
When the flash drought finally broke on October 13th we had six measurable rain events the remainder of last month totaling 5.68 inches.  The irrigation reservoir quickly went from several feet below capacity to full pond.  

 We had two major golf events still to conduct, Fall Member-Guest and the Carolina Invitational and ironically we received significant rainfall prior to both events.  We received 3/4 inch rain the day before Member-Guest practice rounds and nearly two inches rain prior to the Carolina Invitational practice rounds last week.  Despite the soft and soggy conditions relegating everyone to the cart paths for practice, we were able to get carts on the fairways for the competitions and my team managed to provide some sporty conditions for our members and invited guests.
I want to thank my team for all their hard work this season.  This has been a challenging year as we've had to rebuild the staff from scratch.  We're like a football team starting a bunch of freshmen and sophomores.  But what we lack in game experience we've made up with hard work, grit, and determination.
CGC Agronomy 2019
In other turf news, the newly seeded areas of our putting turf nursery continue to establish as we grow-in the new green.  I can clearly identify establishment differences between varieties as one outpaces the others.  But that's okay, it's good to learn the differences between them and compare to our existing grasses.  Our mowing height on the turf nursery is still slightly too far above that on the course's putting greens, which is why we haven't harvested plugs to make repairs lately.  But we will continue to gradually reduce the HOC on the nursery green and as the two HOC's get closer together you will see some lingering scars disappear.
Putting Turf Nursery
Well, with the Invitational in our rear-view mirror and clocks returned to standard time our attention and efforts shift to keeping the course clean as the leaves continuously fall.  Week after next Senior Assistant Eric Sosnowski will accompany me to Myrtle Beach, SC as we attend the 2019 Carolinas GCSA Conference and Trade Show November 18-20.  And before you know it Thanksgiving will be here.  In the meantime, bundle up and get out and enjoy the course, cause nothing could be finer than fall golf at Carolina.

See you on the course,

 Matthew Wharton, CGCS, MG
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