Fairway work

This week’s blog was written by our Assistant superintendent Tyler Brunk:

This week has been the best week yet weather-wise for getting the Bermuda grass really growing. The sunny 80 degree days and warm 60 degree nights have helped a lot. This week we wanted to accomplish spraying, verticutting, and fertilizing the fairways because we had perfect growing weather for the Bermuda grass. These procedures are done each spring to provide healthy year round playing conditions.

This past week the fairways were sprayed with Negate. Negate is a herbicide that is labeled for controlling ryegrass, annual bluegrass, other cool season grasses, and tough-to-control broad-leaf weeds. While the weeds have been a problem all spring, we have waited because the Bermuda grass can’t be sprayed until it is actively growing and mature. Bermuda grass is tolerant of the herbicide but young or weak turf may be injured. Also, driving a heavy sprayer on wet fairways will cause too much collateral damage. These warm, sunny days also help the Negate provide quicker results because the weeds are actively growing and therefore take the herbicide into their system very quickly.

All of the fairways have been verticut this week to help increase density, promote better plant health, and provide a better playing surface. Verticutting is different from regular mowing because instead of cutting horizontally, the mower blades are cutting vertically and cutting the stolons and shallow rhizomes instead of the leaf blades. Cutting vertically removes dead plant material and allows oxygen and water easier access to the roots. This helps the Bermuda grass become denser because instead of growing long and skinny stems, the turf can grow many more shoots that are short and thick with an upright growth habit. Having more shoots that are short, thick, and upright will provide a better ball lie.

The fairways received a recommended amount of ammonium sulfate fertilizer. The reason for this application after the verticut was because the stolons and rhizomes were cut in the process of verticutting, which in turn will become new leaf shoots. The nitrogen applied will help with quick growth to the new shoots. Also, this application will help the fairways grow more uniform, help heal spring dead spot, and get into prime condition for the summer.

After a lot of work on the fairways this week, they will get a short break until the growth regulator spray. This spray will also help produce short and thick shoots providing better ball lies. Not only will this growth regulator spray help with ball lie, but it will also help us reduce mowing frequency. If we did not spray growth regulator on the fairways, we would have to mow twice as much. Therefore, we are saving a lot of time and labor that can then be spent elsewhere on the property.

We accomplished many things needed to be done to the fairways before the growing season really starts. Many of these tasks are very time consuming because of the acreage of fairways, but are a necessity for providing healthy turfgrass and the best possible playing conditions.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org