Some of the superintendents that check in may like to see this. Sometimes when mixing products to spray, some of those products do not get along. That happened on Monday when we tried to spray fairways. We were pushing our luck a little-I believe we used the line, "we haven't seen any problems yet" before adding another product to the mix. When we mix products we use a 90 gallon mix tank with an aggressive agitation to mix the products together before pumping the solution into the spray [.....]
This issue includes more talk of the wet weather, and what is resulting from it. You can see the issue by clicking here, or on the right under Turf Scouting Reports. [.....]
'The Greens at Pebble Beach - The USGA Green Section Weekly Update' [.....]
From time to time we are asked by a company if we are willing to test a product in the real conditions of a golf course. We do not turn down the opportunity to assist a company who is working towards the same goal we are, which is improving turf conditions. This is the first time we have come across these results. Only 4 days after the application, I saw this on the driving range fairway.
We test this product in 4 locations around the course and [.....]
The month of June has been abnormally wet. We usually welcome the occasional rain event, however this month has brought several rain events. The biggest problem with the rain events were they spaced themselves through the month in a manner that prevented the course from being able to adequately dry. This has brought on several issues this month, and possibly more issues into the summer. Here are a few pictures of what we have seen on the course.
The picture on the left is showing symptoms of [.....]
An update on some maintenance we completed last Monday, June 21st: we verticut the fairways. This verticutting on the fairways was a little different than what we do to the greens. These blades are set deeper to remove more material. You can get more information from an earlier post on verticutting here.
These verticutting units are a separate set of attachments for our fairway mowers. We can remove the cutting units and replace them with the verticutting units.
After the verticutting is completed on the fairway, [.....]
The Turf Scouting Report from June 19th is available. This issue discusses more rain and a few diseases that have come with it. You can view it by clicking here. [.....]
The course did suffer some storm damage from the first wave to storms on Friday evening. Most of the damage included sticks and debris on greens, tees and fairways. There are a handful of large limbs down, and 1 tree has blown over. I am writing this as the second round of storms is passing through, so we may need to reassess in the morning. More picture of the course.
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The persistent wet weather that has bothered the club for 3 weeks is beginning to take a toll on the turf. The wet conditions invite a number of maladies that will inhibit desirable turf conditions. One malady gave quite a show on Wednesday. This one was a slime mold that showed in only a few spots on the 10th tee box. I was excited to see this and get a picture because I had never seen a slime mold this color.
Slime molds can occur on all [.....]
The strain of the wind on Tuesday night was more than two trees could bear. We lost part of a Hawthorne tree to the left of 13 forward tee and a branch out of a tree near 16 green.
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With several new members joining the club this spring I thought I would make available the Green Department's New Member Orientation packet for 2010. This packet highlights on course etiquette that members and their guests should exhibit, as well as specific issues unique to the club. This packet will also be linked to under the "Frequently Used Maintenance Practices" heading.
2010 New Member Orientation Packet
Welcome new members! [.....]
It's hard to believe that the U.S. Open is already here. Golf Course Management magazine, the publication of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, highlight some of the preparations made to Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open. That article can be found here.
Also, the Golf Course Management blog will be following the superintendent and grounds crew through the week on their blog. You can find those updates on the GCM blog. [.....]
The Turf Scouting Report for June 11th is available. This issue discusses more rain, and fairy ring management. [.....]
On my April 21st post I talked about reseeding our fairway nursery. During the past 7 weeks, the seed has established well. There are spots that still need to fill in, but that will happen with more growth.
An area that has not recovered well is the area near 1 approach. This area suffered the most extensive winter damage on the course, and the recovery has been slow. The area has been seeded twice but appears very little of the seed has grown in. All the rain [.....]
The last of our capital equipment improvements for the year have arrived. The final pieces include a sod cutter and a set of verticutting units for a new-to-us used mower. The picture on the left is of the new sod cutter. This piece of equipment is replacing another sod cutter that looks very similar. The old machine has been on the property for several years and weather the course renovation.
The machine in the foreground of this picture is the new-to-us used machine that will be used [.....]
There is one job on the course that is not well known but is done with the same regularity as mowing the greens and raking the bunkers. That job is dragging dew. We don not want to discount the benefits dragging dew has to the early morning golfer, but the main reason for doing the practice is the agronomic benefits of it.
Diseases occur on turfgrass when three conditions exist. There needs to be a pathogen present, a susceptible host for the pathogen to attach to, then [.....]
Here is a good article from the USGA discussing the condition of roughs during the spring time: USGA: Spring Rough Is Rough! - June 2010 [.....]
This weeks Turf Scouting Report has been posted. This issue discusses diseases that are beginning to show around the Chicagoland area, as well as some dollar spot control trials.
I have also posted a video on the right column of the blog that discusses the CDGA Turfgrass Program.
Click here for the June 4th Scouting Report [.....]
There was on upside on Wednesday. Though the course was too wet to accomplish anything, our summer flowers arrived on Wednesday morning. This turned out to be great timing. We were able to delegate most of the crew to start planting flowers.
The spring flowers that were in place in the beds were removed. We work the soil lightly, then apply a fertilizer before planting the summer flowers.
By the end of the week we were able to plant most of the flowers. The flowers for the [.....]
I had intensions to post this earlier but am just now getting around to it. After the storms passed early in the week, the course was lucky to remain in great shape, but some evidence of the storm lingered through the week. Here are a few problems we dealt with through the week.
This picture shows what behind 14 green looked liked around 11am on Wednesday, after the rains in the morning. We suspected the water should have been receding quicker than what it was. The next [.....]
Lots of rain to start the month of June. If you were here on Monday, you may have been rained out of your golfing reservations with the 1.25 inches of rain that fell. Now on Wednesday morning we were greeted with 2.0 inches of additional rain. This rain has taken advantage of the floodway that crosses the course. Here is a series of videos showing how the water flows through the course after heavy rains.
Water entering the course at 11 tee.
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