Aerification Update

It's that time of year again when we begin the very necessary practice of aerifying greens.  I always get the comment "Do you have to do it now?".  And the answer is a very firm "yes, it must be done now".

We have always tried our best to work around the golf schedule and begin aerification in mid to late September to avoid disappointing members and guest.  The downside to this is that we are left with just a few weeks to aerify 36 holes of greens, tees, fairways and a learning center with very little good weather, shorter days and a smaller staff.  When it rains this time of year we not only lose that day  of aerification, but the following 1-3 days as well while things dry back out.

This season we got an early start on the process with both Lake Course tees and greens being done before Labor Day.  This is the ideal time of year for aerification in our region of the country.  The days are still warm enough to dry the course quickly and the nights have started to cool off, lowering the soil temperature to a point where the turf is starting to grow aggressively again and the holes fill over quickly.  The following pictures are from one of the Lake Course greens.  The first picture is of the green after the cores were removed and the second is the same green one week after it was topdressed.  As you can see, the holes are filling over nicely.  If  we had done this in mid to late September, it would take two weeks to get to this point and would have been a disruption for a longer period of time.

We were able to get through the Hill Course greens this week.  #1-8 were deep tined and the rest were done in the traditional manner but the topdressing was rained out yesterday and today.  Hopefully we will be able to get it done early next week before the holes close up too much.  After that we will continue on with Hill Course tees, fairways on both courses, and the learning center.

USGA Turf Advisory Service Visit

Just got done with and all day Turfgrass Advisory Service (TAS) visit with Adam Moeller of the USGA's Green Section.

We had Adam come in primarily to assess our shade/tree issues on #6, 7, & 8 on the Lake Course and give recommendations for trees to be removed, but turned the day into a full day TAS. We came away with some good suggestions from an agronomic standpoint and a lot of tree suggestions. Overall, a day well spent.

If anyone has any questions about our visit, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Tee Leveling

We've started with some tee leveling this month.  We wanted to get started on a few earlier in the season but the weather didn't help us very much. 

Last week we completed the red tee on #13 Hill and that should be back in play by the end of next week.  This week we are doing the gold/red tee on #2 Lake and hope to have it completed before the weekend, and back in play in two weeks.  Next week, weather permitting, we'll head to the gold/red tee on #3 Hill.

To hear the process described, it sounds relatively simple, consisting of three steps: 1) remove sod; 2) level tee; 3) replace sod.  But all three are time consuming, especially steps 2 and 3 that require a large amount of finesse and hand work.

The pictures to the right are of the tee after the sod has been removed and leveling is just starting.  And the other is of the rolls of sod taken off the tee.

On both tees we have been able to enlarge the teeing surface a little bit.

Dollar Spot

Last week I mentioned that we had been holding up pretty well against dollar spot.  Well.........that didn't last long.  It sprouted up on the tees last night and with the forecast calling for rain at almost any given time until Thursday, we may see a pretty good outbreak by the time it can get treated.  But, unlike the anthracnose that hit #6, 7, and 8 on the Lake Course,  it is largely superficial at this point and will bounce back quickly after we hit it with a little propiconazole and chlorothalonil followed by another shot of fertilizer. 

What a summer!

Like most regions of the country, it's been quite a summer here in WNY. The long, hot, dry spell has put a tremendous amount of stress on our turf opening the door for anthracnose on #6, 7 & 8 greens on the Lake Course. The rest of the greens have handled it quite well with not so much as a splash of any other diseases out there.

Surprisingly, I have seen almost no dollar spot on tees and fairways yet this year despite having only one preventive application on tees and only the Lake Course fairways treated. We'll see what happens later this summer as the nights get cooler and the dew gets heavier.

Power Outage

We lost power this afternoon and power company says it will be out for 24 hrs. Not good with this heat. Lake Course #6, 7, and 8 greens are taking quite a beating with this heat and lack of roots from the wet spring.

Because of this, we will skip the morning mowing and roll greens instead. This will help ease the stress level for a very long day tomorrow. Normal mowing practices will resume Saturday morning, assuming we have power back.

HOT, HOT, HOT

It has been a few years since we've had a summer this dry, and the next few days are going to be hot as well. Fortunately not as hot as the Midwest has seen recently (upwards of 110* in some areas), but hot by our standards.

I read on a turfgrass disease blog recently that cool season grass roots pretty much quit growing around 77*F at 4" deep in the soil. Our temp on #13 Lake Course green yesterday was 82*F at 4" deep at 4:00pm. It is going to be a tough stretch for the rest of the summer.

What does the heat this mean for golfers? Not much other than tolerating some daytime irrigation to keep the grass alive until we get some cooler weather. Also, please be patient with some of my boys who are out trying to repair irrigation leaks and wiring issues. They are instructed to be courteous and get out of the way when golfers approach, but please give them a heads up when you are approaching so they know you are there.

Drink lots of water!