What's happening lately

This time of year is fairly straight forward for work being done on the golf course.  We always prepare the course in the morning and spend the afternoon hours watering and doing detail work (weedwhipping, sprinkler and yardage marker edging, pulling weeds etc.)  I keep a list of projects with me that I like to accomplish over the course of the year and we pick them off as time allows.  Lately we have been working on two projects:

Limbing up trees, we started on #8 and 9. 

We do this for a couple of reasons: 1. Allow the rough mower to get under the trees without cracking the limbs  2. Allow for better visibility of the course and the ability to find ones ball if it rolls under a tree  3. Allow for more sunlight to come through to promote healthy turf.

We have also been repairing our nursery area.  This is the area to the left of #8 fairway.  We grow rough, fairway and greens grass here.  In the event that something happens on the course and we need to repair it with sod, we can take it from this nursery and have the golf course back in acceptable playing condition sooner than if we had to grow the area in from seed.

This is a yearly process.  As we use it, we have to replant it so that we never run out.  This area will be reseed in late August and grown-in during the fall.

It's HOT!

First time I have ever seen a squirrel do a spread eagle in the shade.  You know it's hot then.  Click on the picture to enlarge.

Roots, where did they go?

This post is going to be a little more educational in nature.  If you are the type of person that learns visually, just look at the pictures, they say a thousand words.  The optimal growing temperature for cool season grasses (poa, bentgrass - like we have on our greens) is 68 - 77 degrees.  The optimal soil temperature for root growth is 50 - 64 degrees.  Once we get beyond these optimal temps, the plant starts to decline, especially at temps higher than 86 degrees.  At 86 degrees the plant expels more energy than it can take it.  Plants take in food just like we do, its called photosynthesis.  They also "breath" or perform respiration like we do.  When they respire, they expel carbon and normally this carbon is brought in from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, BUT when you have high temps, the plant shuts down photosynthesis.  So where does the carbon come from that is expelled during respiration.... THE ROOTS. 

After all that talk, basically when its hot out, the roots die back.   Above that, poa roots are typically 1-2" in length in the summer, while bentgrass roots are usually 2-8" long.  poa doesn't have a lot to give when the heat takes it.

Can you guess where this is from?

The front of #17 green.  The soil temp is at 99 degrees.

Our current root system on #17 green.

Sorry, this is not ours.  This was on a bentgrass green in Detroit.  Big difference in poa and bentgrass.

I am not writing this to make excuses, just supply some facts.  We are currently on babysitting mode on #17 green.  We have to syringe the green with water about every two hours to keep it from wilting and going backwards on us.  Usually in about mid-September is when the temps really start to cool down and the roots start coming back.

Dry turf



What is your first thought when you see this picture?  Mine is - the turf looks bad, it needs water and how did it get this way.  After looking up from the problem, you will see the cause....

TREES.  You will find that there are many trees on this property that were planted too close to the fairways.  The roots of these trees are sucking the life out of the turf that is in its path.  You may suggest that we apply more water through the irrigation system on compensate for the tree roots.....



The only problem is that just beyond the tree roots, in the middle of the fairway, the turf is too wet.  So you will find us from time to time handwatering these spots on the fairways to help them make it through the summer.  On a hot, dry summer such as this, expect some turf loss to the grass that gets in the trees way!

Wildlife

Lately I have been seeing 4 fox running around the course during the early morning hours.  I hope they stay around to help keep the geese away.  They have been doing a great job on the rabbits this year.

There has been a Doe and her three fawns walking around as well.  Brave little ones, they let you get fairly close.

Goose Repellent

In the past few weeks we have been installing mono filament line around the golf course that boarders the Blanchard River (8,9).  This is being done to deter geese from coming on to the property.  During the night, geese walk up the banks and feed on our greens, tees and fairways.  They typically leave us before we get here in the morning and leave behind quite a mess.  A member suggested to us that we try stringing fishing line at about 10" above the ground, stating that the geese will not cross the line.  We have installed two sets of line, one about 8" off the ground and the other at about 16" off the ground.  I do have to say that this system works.  We were getting a lot of damage on 8 approach, lined it off and we haven't see damage on that approach since.  Now the geese were just moving to other areas of the course.  Yesterday we finished surrounding the entire River with line and this morning there was no sign of geese presence on the course.  Lets hope they don't get too smart and walk in from our grass nursery.



Storm Damage

A few pictures of the storm damge from last week.  Thank you to all the members that came out to help us clean up.  We are still at least a week away from having the entire course cleaned up.  Our irrigation satellites are also without power yet and we are having to turn on all the irrigation manually.  Thank you for your patience when you come across sprinklers up during the day.