Sixteen Days of Rain and Counting

Well we were in need of rain three weeks ago, now we can all agree we have had enough after 16 straight days of  precipitation. This many days without sunshine and having wet conditions has some affect on the turf.

The greens on holes 1,2 and 16 have small sections that are high traffic areas from walking on and off the green. These particular areas wear down easier in wet conditions.  We have used a tool to put some small holes in these areas to help get the water off the surface and help them dry out. We have added some seed to a couple of the worst areas. Once we get some sunshine and dry weather these areas will start to recover. Please do your best to try to avoid these areas when walking on and off the greens so they can recover faster.  You will noticed we also added a rope line to help keep everyone from walking in the same spot.

Left side of  #1 green 

Left side of # 2 green

Red Thread

In the roughs you might notice some grass that is red and thin looking. This is called Red Thread Disease. This will very rarely actually kill the grass, it just turns red and the affected area will get thin. This disease becomes active when we have a lot of humidity in the air for multiple days in a row. This is not something to be concerned about on the golf course, once we get some sunshine and dry days the grass will grow out of the disease. 

  

Red Thread on #9

PoaCure

So far we are seeing great results from the Spring trial of PoaCure. The 3rd application was made yesterday and the last application will be made in two weeks. The wet weather has actually accelerated the root uptake of the chemical into the Poa plant, which can kill the Poa Annua quicker. We will be fertilizing the trial area to help push the Bentgrass to over take the Poa voids and any seeding will be done during the June aerification. Thank you for your patience during this trial.   

PoaCure on #4, The bentgrass is green and the Poa is Yellowish brown.

Overall the golf course has recovered nicely from aerification. We still have some projects that will continue through May. For example we will be doing another bunker audit for sand depths and weeds in all bunkers The rains can move the sand off slopes and produces weeds on edges of bunkers. Hopefully next week will be drier so we can get a good dry cut on all surfaces. Thank you for remembering to fix your ballmarks and divots.