It's already wet out there...

Irrigating the day after an inch and three quarter rain??? Are you crazy?

I'm not going to answer that last one but I can explain syringing the greens after a rain event. USGA greens are built to flush. Think of them as a bowl... You fill up the bowl (through rain or irrigation) and once the head pressure reaches a certain point they will release the water through the internal drainage and out of the cavity through the outfalls. This will take nutrients out of the soil; some good and some bad. Within a few days after a flush, the good nutrients need to be replaced in the soil profile.

We apply a product that I call 'the kitchen sink.' It replaces many of the good nutrients that go out with the bad. The irrigation will help knock this product off the leaf and down into the canopy.

This is probably information overload at this point! Just know that I may still be a bit crazy but irrigating after a big rain event has some logic behind it.

'Singin in the rain...'

Poking in the rain is more like it! If you ever wonder about the weakest areas on the fairways...

Travel around in the rain or right after the rain and take notice of where the water is sitting on the surface. These puddled areas hold water and will boil in the heat or are more likely to get disease. 

In poking around some of these low lying areas yesterday, some small drain covers were uncovered. So during today's rain event, we sent out some of the guys to poke around and see what we could find.

 The next part of the equation is tracing the lines to find out where the water can exit. If we can locate a good exit point and the elevations work, we can clean the existing lines and/or add to them to pick up some of the surrounding low areas.

Holding pattern...

I'm not sure the weather could be any less conducive for core aeration... 

The turf canopy is wet, the fog has rolled in and rain showers are sporadic.

Our aeration schedule will have to be modified this time around. With the added moisture, the sand top dressing will bridge over the aeration hole instead of filling it.  We will continue to update...

A (not so) long winters nap...

Spring is definitely in the air today!!! With the next few days forecasted to be much of the same, the golf course should be full of excitement.

It is great to see golfers on the course enjoying this fantastic weather!

This would be a good time to give a brief  update on some of the happenings around the course over the past couple of months...

-The staff continued the tree canopy reduction program throughout the course to allow a better growing environment for turfgrass.

-We began raising irrigation heads to bring them level to the ground.

This should help alleviate some of the 'birdbath' areas immediately surrounding some of the sprinkler heads.

-Your Public Works Department has updated and upgraded the on course bathroom facilities.

You may notice some extra wear and tear along the cart paths from the wider trucks. The added traffic around the cart paths giving access to these few holes will be repaired in the next few weeks.

Get out and enjoy this beautiful weather... This time last year it was still sub freezing temperatures!

Dollar spot in December...

To a kid, any mention of dollar in the month of December will probably bring about smiles and some form of giddiness... But to a turf guy, dollar spot in this month means some sort of weather anomaly.  Generally speaking, the last dollar spot application will come around Halloween, not Christmas.

The sprayer is out today (14Dec2015) making an application for those spots you see in the picture just in front of the boom.

It was in the upper 50's to low 60's this morning with the dew point about the same. Anytime the dew points are able to reach that level for a few nights in a row, dollar spot will occur in this region. 

I still believe winter will be here in the next couple of weeks but get out and enjoy this weather while you can. Maybe it's an early Christmas present!

Who'd a thunk it???

Still mowing greens and getting BUCKETS FULL of grass on 02Dec2015!!!

With the higher than average temperatures and a warm rain over the past few days, the turf is still growing strong. The weather pattern doesn't look like it is going to change anytime soon.

We will continue to monitor the growth rates and determine our mowing schedule accordingly. I still think winter will have its turn but it is nice that it is taking its sweet little time getting here!

'Leaf' us alone...

Leaves, leaves and more leaves... Every year about this time, the maintenance staff will spend the majority of the day cleaning the playing surfaces here at 'the Pines.'

With 80-90% of the leaves on the ground, we will be concentrating our efforts on blowing and chopping leaves this week.

With the the gusty winds, it will be hard to keep up but by the end of the week we should be able to get through the course thoroughly.

This will make for slower rounds while searching for errant shots but should be much better by week's end.