Here is a great video of another maintenance crew enjoying their job.  It was posted a couple of weeks ago, and have been meaning to share it.  It is from The Glencoe Golf and Country Club in Alberta, Canada.


The Glencoe Golf and Country Club - Turf Care from MOLiFE/NZC Films on Vimeo.

We have started to over seed areas in the fairways that thinned due to the hot and wet summer weather.  We hope to be finished with the fairways areas today, then start on the areas in the rough that were damaged by summer patch.

The first step is using an aerator with solid tines to poke shallow holes into the soil to create more soil surface area for the seed to contact.

We are then running our seeder over the area.  This seeded cuts shallow channels into the soil, then drops the seed into those channels.  It will likely be 2 weeks before we will see noticeable seed coming into these areas.

The fairways were also fertilized yesterday to aid with the recovery process as well.
August Was Great! One More 90° Day, Summer Patch, Dollar Spot, University of Illinois Turfgrass Research Field Day, and Tim says Kingpin 

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

So, now are we happy? Happy? At the end of this week, I can honestly say it has been a good month - August. Although we hit 93° in Chicago on Wednesday that will be the last hot day we'll see this month. For the month it was only our third day above 90° on Sunshine Course in Lemont. Was it a hot summer? Yes, very. However, all the action was compressed into the single month of July. On average, it sounds like an 'average summer' because Midway scored 24 days above 90° and the 144 year average is 23 days. When you realize most of those days were compressed into one month you can begin to understand why so many golf courses were unanimous in one issue -turfgrass loss occurred somewhere on fairways or greens. 

If you were unable to adjust cultural practices during July you were in big trouble. Worst case senario was aggressive cultural practices to produce fast greens stayed in place for that Big Tournament and that Big Tournament fell during the third week of July. Well then, hang on for that ride. The ride goes beyond the expectations of golfers and is the reality of accepting the fact that we are never in complete control when it comes to the weather. It is understanding that each season we must watch turf health suffer whenever a volatile summer weather pattern (heat + humidity) gets stuck above our heads at (Insert Name) Country Club. All I can say is that I really appreciated the final summer ride that simply said "August, 2011". I'll gladly wait in a long line for that ride. 

Click here to view the August 26, 2011 Scouting Report. 

Enjoy the rest of a month called August! 

Derek Settle, PhD 
Director of Turfgrass Program 
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org 
Weather Blog 

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS 
Manager of Turfgrass Research 
630-685-2310 
tsibicky@cdga.org 
Research Blog
The course measured 1.3 inches of rain this morning from the storms yesterday.  Washed out bunkers is the only clean up we will have today.  There was very little wind, so no tree work is necessary.  The course will be wet in the usual areas, but responsible cart usage will be allowed today.
August Is Nice and Dry: The Unusual, Summer Patch, Pythium Blight, Dollar Spot, Fairy Ring Returns and Tim says Spoon-feeding 

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

It's dry and we like it. Maybe we shouldn't so much but you have to understand it distances our memory of July's flood. July was THE month that really challanged us with rain, more rain, and rain. It happened at peak summer heat when kids stay near the pool. Since that time kids are back in school, sorry Nathaniel, and we've begun to notice a change or two. Daylength continues to shrink and now lasts about 13.5 hours. For example, today's light began at 6:02 am and ends at 7:47 pm. Our longest summer day saw the sun's rays from 5:15 am to 8:30 pm. It means we continue to cool and at 2 inches the soil temp now reads 73° - down from 85.5° on July 21st. 

Still there is trouble in the landscape. I continue to make frequent visits to help superintendents identify the strange. Things like Pythium blight where it shouldn't be (triggered by last weekend's storms). Or creeping bentgrass that just won't act right (still on physiological vacation) since it's now overwatered by having to baby Poa no-roots annua on the same green. Or summer patch gone wild across much of a fairway or even down the middle of a couple greens. Or type 1 fairy ring causing dead rings on a green. Still, as long as we remain vigilant it's going to be ok because this growing season is cooling. Golfers continue to enjoy a wonderful period without rain - meanwhile, we just have to look after those roots. Dear Roots, please grow. 

Click here to view the August 19, 2011 Scouting Report. 

Have a nice August weekend! 

Derek Settle, PhD 
Director of Turfgrass Program 
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org 

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS 
Manager of Turfgrass Research 
630-685-2310 
tsibicky@cdga.org
August Continues to Cool: Rootless Turf is Weak, Summer Patch Hurts, Hot Temperature Diseases Halt, Dollar Spot Returns, and Tim is Stressed? 

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

It happened. It seems we have survived another difficult summer. Can I really say that? I think I can. We are now almost looking mid-August square in the face and the extended forecast is without 90s for highs and now we can reflect. From the very beginning this growing season was trouble. A very wet spring interfered with our attempts to 'green-up' turfgrass. Then it got really hot during June's first week and that lasted (on and off) until August 2nd. Severe thunderstorms with high winds repeatedly dropped huge trees and we would lose power again. July was intense and it turned out the average dewpoint hadn't been at a higher level since 1980. 

I visited more golf courses this week than I would have expected - mainly documentation of July's after-effects. It turns out we experienced the Kitchen Sink - in a matter of words. We again saw what midsummer environmental extremes do to plant health and summer 2011 took our ability to manage plant health to the very edge. "...Another week of consistently warm days in the 90s and things would have gotten interesting." In the end we made it through and that's a good thing. We can write another volume or two in Encyclopedia of a Difficult Growing Season. Mine begins, "It began innocently enough after the snow melt when blades of grass..." 

Click here to view the August 12, 2011 Scouting Report. 

Have a good weekend and continue to enjoy the terrific weather! 

Derek Settle, PhD 
Director of Turfgrass Program 
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org 
Weather Blog 

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS 
Manager of Turfgrass Research 
630-685-2310 
tsibicky@cdga.org 
Research Blog 
Hopefully, we are through the summer heat at this point.  The recent cooler temperatures have been much more comfortable to work in and grow grass in.  We do several things through the summer heat to avoid damaging the grass more that necessary.  One is the use of carpets on our approaches near the greens.

This is an area of concentrated traffic where mowers constantly turn.  The greens mowers turn in this area, as well as the approach mowers.  The damage from the mowers rubbing on the grass while turning can be noticeable in stressful periods.

We will continue to use these carpets through the fall until our mowing frequency decreases.
We have a few areas on the course that have suffered from flood injury and pythium blight again this year.  Dr. Settle wrote about this in the August 5 Turf Scouting Report.  Here is what he highlighted:

Plants are in survival mode as July transitions to August. A difficult time on Chicago golf courses as it's our historical period of cool-season turf physiological decline.  We've been trough another difficult summer and weather is to blame.  Sound familiar?  As August starts, the coming weeks are important because further environmental stress will encounter plants with little roots, few stored reserves and abnormal physiology (respiration exceeds photosynthesis and roots are without growth).  A return of cooler night-time temperatures will help us begin to lose soil heat which has been building all summer.  Cooler soil will mean normal root growth will begin anew as photosynthesis efficiency returns.

On Monday this week several superintendents had scouted a few serious issues that followed our latest series of 90 degree F highs.  Pythium blight has been very active this summer because our high temperatures have not limited its developement.  Pythium commonly occurs during or just after a period of 90+ degree highs.  At one course that recently flooded, Pythium blight broke through a newer fungicide six days after application.  Others have experienced about a week of Pythium blight suppression during similar periods.

Our fairways that are most severely damaged from flooding and pythium are 11 fairway and 16 fairway.  Other fairways are showing damage around drainage basins or drainage patterns.  This damage occurred on July 28th after 0.90 inches of rain.  The soil was already very wet, so this rain had nowhere to go and sat on the surface for most of the day.  The low temperature for the day was 72 degrees, and the high was just short of 90 degrees.  This makes a great environment for pythium and physiological decline of the turf from sitting in hot water throughout the day.

This area on 16 fairway was flooded most of the weekend of July 23-24 and into Monday July 25th.  The standing water was off of the fairway by Tuesday the 26th, but the soil remained saturated through the heat a few days after.  This area is in the floodway of the course and is designed to take the overflow from the pond on 17.

This area on 9 is also in the floodway and was flooded on the same weekend as well.  This area did not hold water as long as the area on 16 do the damage is less severe.  This area will still require over seeding.

This picture is a great illustration of the importance of drainage to soils, and the superiority of bentgrass to annual bluegrass to varying conditions.  Click on the picture to see it better.  The drainage lines that were put in this area last fall are obvious to see.  This area was flooded the same weekend, but this drain was able to remove more water from the soil than the other areas that did not have any internal drainage.  The thin areas around the drain are comprised of mostly annual bluegrass, which is thinning from the prolonged high soil moisture and temperatures.  We are planning to add more drain lines this fall to areas in the fairways.

This is a drainage pattern in 8 fairway that showed pythium on July 28th after the 0.90 inches of rain and warm temperatures.

11 fairway has suffered the most damage from this bout of weather.  It is notoriously our most poorly drain fairway.  Pythium was the most widely spread on this fairway also.

We will begin to over seed these areas soon.  Like last year, it will take most of the fall for these areas to heal back in.  This weather today has made a turn for the better, and the 10 day forecast is very appealing at this point.
August Cools: We Catch Our Breath, Flood Injury, Pythium blight, Physiological Decline, Fairy Ring Develops, Tim's IS-AP18, and Peter says Microclimate 

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

It's now August and this summer now seems a little less ominious? Not a bad thing if you are a superintendent responsible for acres and acres of green. This week began hot as ever, but that all changed Tuesday night when cooler air moved temperatures 10 degrees in the right direction - that would be down. As the calendar page turned the statisticians went to work. Comparisons of each season help us understand where we are with regard to "average" or "normal". Nationwide this summer has already been written in the books as a hot one. It has broken records that were decades old - wettest July ever!?! With regard to high temperatures, Chicago has basically achieved its average number of hottest days but remember August hasn't given us her total yet. The good news (for now) is the heat has broken and we can now summerize, better understand, and assess the damage from a hot, record wet July which had our attention from the beginning. 

In the wake of July we learned that the air was very wet. In regions of our area, the average dew point value had not been higher in July since 1980. That can help us understand and explain why turf loss on golf courses has been widespread for the second summer season in a row. In nearly every case the situation is the same - areas that flood midsummer are unable to survive. Oh one more thing, the break also allows us to recover. May you rest well, nights are once again 60s. 

Click here to view the August 5, 2011 Scouting Report. 

Boy I'm glad it's August! 

Derek Settle, PhD 
Director of Turfgrass Program 
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org 
Weather Blog 

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS 
Manager of Turfgrass Research 
630-685-2310 
tsibicky@cdga.org 
Research Blog
This is a quick post to supplement the Divot Repair post from a month ago.  Erwin McKone is the Director of Golf Operations at Briar Ridge Country Club in Schereville, IN and has a YouTube channel, and World of Turf blog that I follow.  He has posted a good video regarding filling divots that I wanted to share.


Note: We do not have the divot bottles on our carts, and request that divots in the fairways be replaced when possible.  The Green Department will take care of any further repair.
What do you call a turfgrass disease that occurs during the summer months and shows itself in the form of reddish-brown patches?  Summer Patch.  The symptoms of this disease have been showing for 2 weeks now.  The weather conditions have been perfect for this disease to continue to spread throughout that time.  The pathogen that causes this disease is in the soil and becomes active during periods of high soil temperatures and wet weather.  We have has plenty of both the last 14 days.  Soil temperatures have regularly been over 80 degrees, and we have received just short of 7 inches of rain in that time.  The extremely hot temperatures before this stretch certainly weakened the root system which made them more susceptible to infection.  It's no coincidence that this topic was talked about last year in Intermediate Cut and Walkways.

Why only in the roughs?  This disease does not infect creeping bentgrass, the dominate grass in our fairways.  There are places where the annual bluegrass in the fairways is showing symptoms.  This is evident in the fairways with the most annual bluegrass - 5, 8 and 9 fairways.  This disease is difficult and expensive to control because it is a soil pathogen.  Because of the cost, this disease is not in our control program.

Why only parts of the roughs?  It is evident to you that some areas are worse than others.  This disease can be worse in areas that are more poorly drained or compacted from traffic.  These two situations will result in a less vigorous root system, that will result in more damage when the plant is infected.  This picture shows a different situation.  This is a picture of the red tee on 6.  You can see a strip of grass from the front of the tee to the bottom right of the picture that has no disease.  This area was sodded during the renovation project, while everything around it was seeded.

Many areas are showing no symptoms at all.  This is probably the result of no traffic from carts in these areas and better drainage.  This will create a healthier plant, and better soil conditions for rooting.
The following article recently appeared in the USGA Green Section Record. It was written by Ty McClellan. Ty is our USGA regional agronomist. We utilize his expertise on a regular basis; he visits Naperville CC regularly to evaluate course conditions. This is part of a program offered through the USGA Turfgrass Advisory Service. The article is very timely so I wanted to pass it along.


By Ty McClellan, agronomist, Mid-Continent Region
July 13, 2011



Randomly scattered divots (on the left) remove up to 50% more turf than practicing in a linear pattern (on the right) where each new shot is placed directly behind the previous divot. 


Late July is usually the time when there is a lack of turf coverage on practice range tees established with cool-season turfgrasses, such as creeping bentgrass or Kentucky bluegrass.  Heavy play removes divots faster than the turf can recover, and hot, dry summer conditions leave little opportunity for seedling establishment or regenerative growth of surrounding turf.  Poor turf coverage that comes in mid-summer generally indicates that the practice tee is simply undersized for the amount of play received, i.e. there is not enough time for turf to recover before tee stalls are returned to previous locations.  It also indicates that tee stall rotations need to be reviewed for efficiency and that synthetic turf options should be considered at the rear of the tee to provide the additional time needed for turf recovery.
With the exception of an efficient tee stall rotation, enlarging the tee(s) and adding synthetic turf are improvements typically left for the off-season when time and funds become available.  So, until then, what can be done?  The solution resides with golfers.  Since randomly scattering divots can quickly destroy a practice range tee, the better approach is to shrink one’s divots by removing them in a pattern just like the professionals.  More specifically, this includes placing each shot directly behind the previous divot.  This can easily be repeated for up to 10 shots resulting in much less turf being removed.
Let’s take a look at a practical example that was provided by Golf Course Superintendent Chris Pekarek at The Village Links of Glen Ellyn in Illinois.  Mr. Pekarek estimates more than 2 million shots are taken annually from the 1.25-acre Kentucky bluegrass practice tee and that 1.5 million of the shots result in turf removal.  Although divots come in all sizes, the average iron shot is believed to remove a divot 3 inches wide by 6.5 inches long for a total of 19.5 square inches.  After just 30 shots, or a small bucket of balls, 4.1 square feet of turf are removed, given a typical practice routine (30 shots x 19.5 in2 = 585 in2 / 144 in= 4.1 ft2).  Therefore, after an entire season, 205,000 square feet of divots are removed from the tee. That's more than 4.6 acres of turf from their 1.25-acre surface.   
If instead each shot is played directly behind the previous divot, subsequent divots are reduced to an average size of 3 inches wide by 3 inches long, or 9 square inches.  After 30 shots, this pattern removes only 2.1 square feet of turf. (As the first divot removes 19.5 square inches and the subsequent 9 divots remove 9 square inches each for a total of 81 square inches, a total of 100.5 square inches is removed for every 10 shots, which is typical for this linear pattern.  For 30 shots or a small bucket of balls, 3 x 100.5 = 301.5 in2 / 144 in2 = 2.1ftare removed.)  If everyone adopted this method, the annual number of divots removed would be reduced from 205,000 square feet to just 105,000 square feet.  That’s nearly a 50% reduction in the amount of turf removed.
Implementing this simple divot pattern into your practice regime has significant season-long implications at your facility.  So, rather than voice a complaint about the turf during oppressive conditions in July and August, do the turf a favor and practice like a pro!
Record Wet July: Brown Patch Peaks, Pythium Blight, Physiological Decline of Bentgrass and Poa, Type 1 Fairy Ring Begins, Tim recaps Wisconsin's Turfgrass Field Day, and Peter sees and says Agrostis ipsilon 

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

A week of plant health fallout. It was not entirely unexpected because as of last week we had just experienced our hottest air and soil temperatures. But one more thing happened that tipped the balance and on Friday, July 22 it began to rain. When the deluge was over, July 2011 had become Chicago's wettest since 1889. It was almost unbelievable since nearly all precipitation had occurred in just 6 days (9.75 inches at O'Hare). Not surprisingly strange things began to happen in the landscape and certain fungal diseases went wild. For example, brown patch development in fairways went beyond what seasoned superintendents had ever experienced. Then there's why overly wet rootzones are our worst enemy. Midsummer is never a good time for cool-season turfgrass because any additional downward spiral of turfgrass health can be difficult to reverse until cooler weather returns. Root biomass/length are at their lowest levels and what's left root-wise has impaired function because of high soil temperature. Turf plants in physiological decline display abnormal photosynthesis and respiration, yet concentrated wear continues on a daily basis (the life of a golf green). Often the only recourse is a well-timed cultural method such as needle-tine aeration. If it sounds as if I'm exaggerating or blaming the weather too much, guess again. Though today I did learn it could be worse. My colleague Dr. Megan Kennelly relayed Kansas had just experienced 11 of 14 days with highs of 100° or greater. I then checked and saw Wichita, Kansas hit a record high of 107° - even my mom is hot! 

Click here to view the July 29, 2011 Scouting Report. 

Hang in there as good news is on the horizon. The extended forecast is showing a slight cool-down (highs in mid-80s) is to begin next Tuesday. 

Derek Settle, PhD 
Director of Turfgrass Program 
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org 
Weather Blog 

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS 
Manager of Turfgrass Research 
630-685-2310 
tsibicky@cdga.org 
Research Blog 
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