Blogs I Follow

In my wanderings around cyberspace looking for ideas and information for our blog, I have come across several others that do a wonderful job updating their respective membership.  I visit these sites somewhat frequently looking for ways to improve the Chautauqua Golf Club Maintenance Blog and occasionally steal a topic, idea, or link.  Many of these are not from our immediate area, but are from many areas of the US.  Regardless of where the they are located, golf courses face many of the same challenges - unlevel tees, tree/shade issues, drought, never ending rain, heat, disease pressure, water quality issues, environmental challenges, maintenance practices, etc. 

I have added a list of some of these blogs to the right side just under the Weather Channel.  I encourage you to check them out and see what is going on at other courses around the country.  Check back periodically as I will be updating the list as I find more, some of which may be from courses near your home course when you are not at Chautauqua.

The blog I mentioned in my last post, turfdiseases.org, is worth checking out as well.  I am certain you will be able to find some information relative to your home club/region.

Where oh where did the Poa go - Turf Diseases | Turf Diseases

This is an article taken from an excellent turf blog done by a group of turfgrass pathologists from around the US and Canada. It is an great article that nicely describes some of the problems we faced this summer up on #6,7, & 8 greens on the Lake Course.

Where oh where did the Poa go - Turf Diseases | Turf Diseases

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.