Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Course Update!

Hello and welcome to The Greenkeeper!  Today is Tuesday, June 30th and I can't believe July starts tomorrow!  My goodness this year is flying past.  Considering everything that has happened thus far this year, maybe that's not a bad thing. ;)  

 Since my last update Mother Nature has cranked up the warmth along with the humidity!  Those are the two things Bermudagrass loves the most and the result is a golf course some of you may describe as lush, or even juicy.  The tees have recovered nicely from their core aeration and the fairways are more than 90% recovered from the deep verticutting and topdressing.  

 As a result, some of you may have noticed a little more grass under your ball as we made our first fairway height of cut adjustment of the growing season.  We always start the year lower and creep up as necessary to meet growth during the season.  The same is true for the rough.  Our current HOC in the rough is 1.75 inches and it's typically during mid to late July when we creep even closer to two inches so don't say you haven't been warned. ;)

 This week my team is treating all tees, fairways, approaches, closely mowed surrounds, bunker faces, and even pond banks with a plant growth regulator.  The purpose of this application is to tighten the canopy, but more importantly slow the rate of vertical growth resulting in fewer clippings.  Clipping management is always a struggle during the most humid periods of summer.

One last note about June before we turn the calendar, we only saw 1.65 inches of total rainfall this month!  In an average June our irrigation lake would be down two to three feet with less than two inches rain, but considering the over abundance of soil moisture thanks to the spring rains of April and May (14.98 inches combined) our lake is only a few inches below full pond.

 You may recall last time I referenced other course related projects on the horizon.  We're about halfway complete as all fans have been in place and operating continuously for several weeks and the native mowing has only two areas remaining (right of hole 3 and right of hole 10).  I'm guessing next week will be the pool landscape install as that renovation is nearing the finish line.  
The SubAir install on hole 12 is in a holding pattern as repairs are made to our electric service panel in that corner of the property.  We recently discovered damage to the post supporting the existing service, plus the service is being increased to allow for the addition (existing service powers fans on holes 11 and 12).  Hopefully this will be a brief snag.  

 Before I go I wanted to share the post below for the photograph.  We've received numerous comments about the presentation of the bunkers with this new method and I think this pic captured it best.  Thank you all for the support, the team really appreciates it!
And here's hoping we see many more Fridays like this, as well as the other days of the week as summer continues! :)

 See you on the course,

 Matthew Wharton, CGCS, MG
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