Poor conditions

 

There are several areas of the course that are in poor condition right now. There are a few contributing factors, but the weather has played an outsized roll. We have plans for short term repair and long-term improvements to help each situation in the future

Since July 22^nd, we have received 8.77” of rain. That much rain causes all sorts of issues, some of which we have just recently discussed, here and here. Sometimes the moisture can cause disease, prevent us from maintaining certain areas, or just be a nuisance. Other times, the excessive moisture can plain kill the turf. This July was the 3^rd hottest July ever. It set a record for the most 90+ degree days in any month, ever, with 28. The low temperature has not dropped below 70 degrees in 42 straight days…and counting. We do not post this information as an excuse, but rather to show how difficult the recent stretch of weather was and continues to be. We cannot control these factors and they are all working against us.

Right now, we are seeing several examples of excessive moisture killing grass on greens. The soil becomes so saturated that there is no oxygen available for the roots. The plants cannot transpire and overheat and suffocate. It does not take long in 90-degree temperatures for death to occur. This is mostly to blame for the bad spots on 4, 8, 9, 15, and 17 greens. 4, 8, 9, and 15 all are scheduled to have small drains put in this fall to alleviate a majority of these issues, similar to what we did on 17 green last year, though less extensive. Although it will not be an immediate fix, in the long term it will greatly reduce these issues from recurring.

We are also struggling with several areas in the collars. The collars are the narrow band immediately around the greens and include the slightly wider area that separate the greens from the Bermuda grass approaches. The collars receive a great deal of traffic: golfers walking across, mowers turning around and mowers cutting the collar itself. This adds up. Also, the collars are currently a mixture of several grasses, some of which do ok in the heat, some of which do very poorly. Add in too much water and selection starts to take place- the strongest survive and the others do not. We see this in the pinch points on 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, and 14 collars. Though several others have thin turf, these are the worst spots. In the short term, we will seed into these areas with grass that is continually bred to handle our conditions better and better. However, we are developing plans to also lay new sod in the worst areas once the busiest of the season passes. This new sod will serve as a test to see if it will be a viable option to possibly replace the collars on the entire course in the future.

Lastly, the rough around the greens has declined again this summer, though not nearly as much as years past. This is a positive trend, though still hard to deal with. The rain has less to do with in this instance than the heat. The immediate area around the greens used to be collar. Those of you who have been here many years will remember the collar being more than twice as wide as it is currently. When we resized it, we let the old collar turf grow taller and adjust to being rough. However, the soil underneath was still “collar/green” soil, meaning very high sand content, and it does not support rough height turf the same way as it would a collar, tending to dry out very quickly. And the rough grass was treated differently by us also- our watering practices were mostly to allow the irrigation system to solely provide the necessary water. However, as we have managed this issue, we have increased our attention to this area. Our full program of proper seed selection and twice-yearly seeding, twice yearly aeration, extra fertilization, and hand watering are all paying off. We will continue to adjust so that the improvement continues and work hard to speed up the process.

There is a reason our area is called the transition zone- there is no one type of grass that performs best in all areas. This why we have warm season tees and fairways (Bermuda grass) and cool season greens, collars, and rough (Annual bluegrass, ryegrass, bentgrass, and tall fescue). For our situation, it would not work to have all warm or cool season grass in every area. So, we continue to work hard battling the weather to provide the best course possible and repairing things when we fall short.

 

Please note, aeration begins today, with 9 holes open Monday and 9 holes open Tuesday. Thank you. 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please be conscious to not cut corners with your golf cart. The inside edges of turns are easily worn out after repeated traffic.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Bunker etiquette

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org