Marcie's awesome, but rather ominous, picture above is a nice representation of the weather the last few weeks - is it going to rain or not? - or in this case, both at once! Thankfully this storm did not amount to much. We really lucked out over the last week as the majority of the heavy prolonged rains missed LedgeRock, which meant that the turf had an opportunity to finally dry out. However, the 1.58" yesterday has saturated the property again.
That rain brought another period of humid weather to an end; the upcoming forecast predicts warmer weather and for the humidity to return next week. The spray we applied to greens last week helped reduce the amount of visible algae, so overall they now look as good as they are playing. We sprayed them again yesterday before the rain arrived so they should remain in top condition going into the next warm spell. We added another fan to 4 green to help dry the approach side. It is one of our biggest greens and that area is furthest from the existing fan; it does not see all the benefits and as such is the worst area on the course. "Worst area" is relative, as this area is doing very well with respect to how it has performed in the past; adding the fan will make it even better. We will remove it as soon as weather permits.
The missed topdressing last week was frustrating, as I mentioned in my previous post. We were still able to needle-tine twice this week, which also helped the drying process and provide air for the roots. The needle-tine does not affect ball roll but the holes can be seen if you look closely, like the ones along the antenna in the picture below. The roller on the back of the machine smooths the surface and actually helps slightly increase speed.
The picture below, taken last weekend, is from First Assistant John Dale and shows how the algae dries out after being sprayed and deprived of water. Topdressing helps by breaking these areas up even more and providing clean soil for the bentgrass to creep into.
I mentioned in my last post about minimizing stress and prioritizing turf health during periods of high heat and humidity.
This article from the USGA Greens Section is a few years old but still applies and explains a little further why these conditions cause problems for golf courses. We were able to maintain our green-speed through this week due to the fact that the rain missed us. However, if the humidity returns, then I will have to err on the side of caution to protect the turf which may result in a slight decrease in speed. (As this USGA Green Section article explains in more detail.)
Speaking of green-speed, over the last few weeks I've been asked a number of times about green- speed and why we do not post our speed. There is a simple answer - it rarely changes! The other reason is that it can create competition/comparison with other courses and that is not fair as many different factors affect green-speed. The Stimpmeter (which is used to measure green-speed) was designed as a tool to compare greens across a course for consistency, not to compare one course to another, which inevitably happened. Turf species, greens construction, environment/ microenvironment, design intent, green contours, management practices, and budget are a few factors that are involved in why speeds vary and why two courses should not be directly compared.
The Stimpmeter works great as a consistency tool and the greens at LedgeRock are checked daily to make sure they fall within the desired range. The process itself is simple and unscientific, which again shows how little weight should be given to "the number." A Stimpmeter is a piece of grooved aluminum with a notch set into it. The notch holds a golf ball to a certain point as the bar is raised on one end and releases the ball at the same height each time. The roll is done three times and averaged over both directions while care has to be taken to ensure the area is relatively flat. The greens and the speed at LedgeRock make this hard to accomplish at times, as the balls roll further than the available flat spots.
The tractor with the big brushcutter worked extremely well last week at getting all the large fescue areas mown. We are currently working our way through the more challenging areas, along with the woodland areas, with our Ventrac. It will take a week or more to finish them up completely; they should stay reasonably short for the rest of the year, meaning that balls will be easily located in these areas.
The woods between 3 and one cleaned out
I mentioned in the post on the fescues that the main reason the edges are thick is due to overspray from the rough irrigation and fertilizer. After mowing the fescues this week, it was very obvious to see along the entrance road. The bluegrass is approximately 6ft. wide, but our spreaders throw 7 to 8ft. so there is a 2ft. band of thick fescue along the edge. Over the next few weeks I plan to try and thin these out, but if that fails, they will be mowed at rough height.
As previously mentioned, this weather is very favorable for the onset of disease. The forward tee on 9 is a perfect example of what happens when an area misses a fungicide application. Both guys spraying thought the other did it; the picture below being the result a few days later. It has been sprayed and there is green turf below the brown, so it will grow out over the next few weeks; however, it shows how effective the fungicides are and how much disease pressure there has been.
Lastly our intern Brandon Snyder has been taking some fantastic pictures with his iPhone so I'll be sharing some over the next few weeks. This is one of 14.
