Wet, sloppy, messy...

Those are some of the words used to describe the current golf course conditions. Over the past couple of weeks, the course has received a substantial amount of rain.

Walk up areas to the tees can be slippery and unstable. This tee in particular gets limited sunlight at this time of the year due to the lower sun angle throughout the day and the abundance of trees. It receives less than an hour of sunlight per day.

When combined with the mucky soil structure of a marshland environment, drying of the soil becomes a definite issue for the turf. Coincidentally, the tides are running at their highest point of the year causing everything on the eastern shore to drain more slowly.

Seed is being applied now to help fill in some of these spots throughout the course. Tree work will continue throughout the winter to help alleviate some of the airflow and sunlight penetration issues.

Pea soup?

So, just how thick is pea soup?  

Does anyone eat pea soup?

As you can see, the fog is thick this morning. Occasionally, we have a fog roll in after sunrise.

The day must go on...

The maintenance staff will begin deep tining the fairways this week. It will not affect play. There is no mess to clean up since this process uses a solid tine. Typically, the next couple of months are good for turf recovery; let's hope this holds true for this year as well.

Rain/Storm...

Rain fell overnight on the course... Almost 2 inches of sideways rain...

The wind gusts reached about forty miles per hour... Yet we are out this morning mowing greens.

Most soils would remain saturated for a few days after an event like that, forcing mowing schedules to be altered. Since the greens have been rebuilt to a sand based soil mix, they drain quickly and efficiently, allowing maintenance to resume uninterrupted.

Irrigation or irritation...

Similar words, only different by a singular letter... Irrigation in these days and times is measured by ET rates and volumetric water content percentages. Knowing what is present in the soil is one thing but applying the water is a different story. Tonight, Jason and I are running around; popping on heads because the irrigation computer crashed at about 2:30 this afternoon.

Since some fertilizer was applied today, it needs to be watered in before our scheduled mowing tomorrow. 

It sure beats the old days of 'night irrigation' guys running around kicking on water cannons in the middle of the fairways! I must admit... I have grown accustomed to clicking the mouse on the irrigation computer at the end of the day and going home.

Beautiful August...

As a golf course superintendent I really did not think that those two words could be put together in a sentence let alone side by side...

But yet again, another beautiful morning here on the course. Overall, it has been a good summer for bentgrass growth. The poa annua has still shown its aversion to summertime. It was affected by a pesty little creature known as the annual bluegrass weevil. For the most part we have stayed in front of it with much scouting and some timely insecticide applications.

The ryegrass has stressed a bit while battling a disease called grey leaf spot but nothing like we have seen in the past.

With a few exceptions, the only areas throughout the course showing any signs of stress are the high traffic areas (whether from cart traffic on the fairways or foot traffic on the tees.)

Post aeration...

Here we are one week out from aerating greens, tees and approaches.

The greens are by no means at their pre aeration state but they are healing well and should be back to the smooth playing surface very soon.

The tees and approaches are almost healed. Sand top dressing was applied and broomed in this week. It should help to provide a firmer playing surface later this fall.

My favorite season...

It's one of my favorite times of the year again. It's football time in Tennessee!

You Vol fans out there will understand. Three more weeks 'til college football begins. Growing up in a college town, Saturdays in the fall became sacred at a very early age.

Aeration of the course begins next week. The sand top dressing is being delivered this week. The soil amendments are here and the staff is ready to get it done. Greens, tees and approaches will be the focus next week.

The fairways will get deep tine treatment later in the fall as temperatures continue to cool.

I realize core aeration is an inconvenience to the golfers but it is a crucial step in the overall health of the turf. Removing thatch and replacing it with sand will provide better playing conditions for the upcoming months.