Fall Conditions Arrive Early

Fall weather has arrived early and has blessed us with some mighty fine playing conditions.  The cool season turfgrass (fescue, bluegrass, and bentgrass)  has responded nicely and is in a very nice and relaxed state.  Our new putting green has been doing well and has recovered nicely after the aerification.  We are continuing to take it slow and easy on it to allow the grass to mature and develop before we start treating it like the other greens (mowing heights and rolling).  So the putting speed remains a little slower then the other greens as we are mowing the new green at a higher mowing height.  This week we applied our pre-emergent and zoysia patch prevention to our fairways and tees to prevent any poa annua germination and fungus from growing during the wet fall conditions.  Also we have done a few more areas of seeding and sodding in some high traffic areas around the greens on #1 and #17.  We are going to be patching a few more areas around holes #2,3, & 4 before the end of the week.  These are areas that have high traffic from mowers and foot traffic and are hard to get seed to germinate.  Speaking of seed germination the areas in the rough that were over seeded have really started to fill in and grow.  There are a few areas where the cart traffic is heavy that we may need to reseed eventually if the seed doesn't germinate good enough over the next week or so. Our plan going forward is to start mowing our fairways once a week as the growth has really slowed down.  Like I said in my last blog post we will monitor the growth and once we see that the Zoysia is getting close to shutting down completely we will let the fairways and tees grow up a bit to give it some insulation and protection for the winter.  Tomorrow we will be spiking our greens to open up the surface to allow the water and air to get into the profile.  Typically after aeration the surface of the greens starts to seal off as they have had a lot of machine traffic on them from all the rolling and topdressing that occurs getting the greens healed after aerfication.  After we spike and mow them we are going to apply a thin coat of topdressing sand to help keep them smooth and fill in any voids that still remain from aerification.  Enjoy the fall weather and I will take some updated photos of the greens and post them.  Have a great week!

Course Update Post Aerification

Today we are applying another thin layer of topdressing sand to continue to fill in the aerification holes as they have settled over time with the rains and watering.  As you can see in the picture below the healing process has really been good and the greens are healing rather quickly.  Our plan moving forward is to continue to monitor the healing process and once the holes are pretty well filled in and minimal sand is exposed we will put the walking greens mowers on them and mow.  First however we have to get the holes filled in completely with sand and the turf has to fill in the holes or we will destroy our good greens mowers with the sand.  Also today we are rolling the greens to continue to smooth the putting surface out, but also to help firm the surface up.  Like I have mentioned in past having firm putting surfaces is of the up-most importance to me and my staff.  Firm greens are easier to manage and perform better under all conditions.  The fall season is a great time of the year to be on the golf course as the turf is able to relax and playing conditions are firmer and faster due to root structure being longer, less moisture from irrigation needs as the plant doesn't require as much to survive and keep cool, and the humidity in the air.  As cooler weather and shorter days  have moved in the Zoysia grass has really started to slow down its' growth.  We are now mowing the fairways and tees twice a week as opposed to three times a week.  Soon after the Friends/Foes event next week we will start letting the fairways grow a bit to build up some thatch and get a little protection for the plant moving into the winter months.  Over seeding in the roughs has been completed and we are now waiting on germination in the few areas that we seeded.  We are starting to see some nice germination in the areas we seeded first and are just starting to see seed pop out of the ground in others. Another project we completed this week was hauling sand to some of our bunkers that had shallow sand..  The ones we added sand stick out like a sore thumb now as the new white sand is quite a contrast to the older white sand that is already in the bunkers.  Over time the sand will get raked in and the contrast won't be as noticeable.   Looks like the weather is going to continue to be in our favor over the next couple of days.  I hope all of you can get out and enjoy the golf course! It is setting up to be a really good Fall here at Wolf Creek!

Greens recovery 8 days after they were aerified

Rolling the Putting Surface to smooth and firm them up

Aerification Completed

It wasn't without some challenges from "Mother Nature" and equipment issues but we were able to get our greens aeration completed on Wednesday late afternoon.  We had some challenges getting started on Tuesday morning after we received about .5" of rain the night before.  This made the process take a little longer as we had to let things dry out a little bit before we could start and getting the sand dry enough to drag into the holes took some patience.  However it is done and we couldn't have timed it any better as we received another 1.75" of rain last night bringing our weekly total close to 2.25" of rainfall.  The rain last night really helped to settle the sand into the holes and as soon as course conditions dry out we will topdress the greens again to fill the holes back up that settled after the rain.  We finally got the new putting green aerified this week and our plan is to open the green this weekend.  It will once again be a bit slower then the other greens as we are going to take it slow on getting it down to the mowing height of the others and let it slowly adjust to the foot traffic and mower stress.  Today the ALL-STAR crew is busy trying to get the bunkers repaired after the storm last night.  Most of if not all of the bunkers took a hit last night and it will be a slow process getting them repaired.  Earlier in the week we were able to get our seeder back out and were able to get holes #10-16 seeded before the rains.  Any time you can get a nice rain on new seed it does wonders for your germination rate and extremely beneficial.  Obviously course conditions are very wet today and we are going to be unable to have the mowers out on the course.  This may cause the roughs to get a little tall and thick over the weekend.  However we will get them out as soon as conditions allow.  We were able to get the entire golf course mowed at least once if not twice in spots even with all the rain this week.  I have attached some pictures below showing the greens as they looked today and showing the damage to the bunkers after the big storm. Have a fabulous weekend and keep your coats handy as it looks like things are going to be pretty chilly over the next couple of days with lows in the middle 40s and highs in the upper 60s and low 70s.  Perfect weather for a turf manager!!

Aerification holes full of sand

Bunkers Washed Out!!

Holiday Weekend Prep.

"Mother Nature" has continued to work on our side so far this week.  Temperatures have been higher but with the shorter days the hot temps don't cause as many problems as they do during July and August.  Also with the shorter days and cooler night time temps the zoysia grass has slowed down its growth considerably.  We are now only mowing the fairways and tees two times a week as opposed to the three times that we were having to do a few weeks ago.  The zoysia still has great color and is still growing but it just isn't growing as aggressively.  Seeding of the roughs has taken a bit of a break this week with the warmer temperatures.  However the seed we did get down last week during the cool weather got a nice rain and is really germinating nicely.  We hope to continue doing some spot seeding next week after greens aerification is completed.  Speaking of aerification a reminder that we are scheduled to do our fall greens aerification on Tuesday September 8th.  Hopefully we will be able to get majority of the greens completed as the forecast doesn't look too favorable right now with rain chances in the forecast for most of next week.  We are going to keep our fingers crossed and hope that we get a break in the weather to allow us to get them done.
As the holiday weekend approaches the maintenance staff has stayed very busy this week. Our maintenance team has been hauling new sand to some of the bunkers that were low on sand.  Bunkers that need sand are ones that routinely wash out during heavy rains, receive a lot of play, or are exposed to the wind and the sand actually gets blown out of them.  We checked each bunker a week ago and made a list and started filling those bunkers today.  Also today we have been push mowing around bunkers and pulling all the zoysia grass runners that have grown down into the sand.  Pulling the runners takes a tremendous amount of time but the bunkers look awesome when they are done!  Another project we completed this week was flushing all of our drain lines in our greens.  This helps get all the old nasty water and debris that builds up over the summer in the drains out and lets the greens breathe a breath of fresh air and helps them drain also.  We try and do this about three times a year at the beginning of spring, middle of summer, and beginning of fall.  Doing this helps us to know that our drainage is in good shape in the greens and also helps us to keep all the exits in the creeks and catch basins in good working order.  We weren't able to get the new putting green aerified last week like I was hoping due to the heavy rains that we got on Thursday.  Our plan is to do it next week when we do the regular greens and then open it for play after that.  Well I hope you all have a very safe holiday weekend with your family and friends.  Looks like the fall weather is going to be back next week with some rain chances so hopefully you can get out to the club this weekend and take advantage of your time off.  I am going to keep my fingers crossed that the weather holds off next week so that we can get the aerification done on time so that the greens will be fully recovered in two weeks for the Friends/Foes event.