Week of August 7th
- matthewbehl
- Aug 11, 2023
- 2 min read
The bentgrass portion of the range tee will once again be open this weekend for use. Some adjustments to the hitting area setup have been discussed and will be implemented. Please remember to take a look at the sign on the range tee showing the proper divot pattern for range use. The pattern of taking divots in a vertical line with strips of turf in between each line allows the area to recover quicker then with a more random pattern of divots. Taking divots in a strip also minimizes the amount of turf removed with each swing in comparison to spreading out the divots which removes a larger amount of healthy turf. Here is a Golf Digest article explaining the drawbacks of a scattered or concentrated divot pattern in comparison to a linear one: https://www.golfdigest.com/story/this-is-the-proper-way-to-take-divots-on-the-driving-range. Below is a picture taken from short game of a member implementing the desired pattern of divots.
As has become the norm for this season Ipswich received another heavy rain event Tuesday to start off the week. Several inches of rain fell in a fairly short amount of time before the sun came back out for the afternoon. We had closed the course during the heaviest of the rainfall, but some members asked why the course could not be reopened for the afternoon. Multiple inches of heavy rainfall resulted in some of the drainage pipes around the course being overloaded and water backing up. This is expected and normal for such events, but time is then needed after the rain stops or slows for the accumulated standing water to drain off into the pipes and outflows. Allowing golfers back onto the course in these conditions is a recipe for turf damage and even poses safety concerns for golfers slipping and falling. Thankfully the course was already back to normal cart traffic rules for Thursday.
Other work completed this week:
Step-cut around greens and the approaches sprayed with fungicide
Greens sprayed with a wetting agent and with soil fertility
Some greens drains exits cleaned out and checked for functionality
Greens double cut and double groomed
Bunker faces cut
Bunker edge work on the 16th hole
Greens, perimeter,and approach irrigation heads edged
Tee divots filled
Pictures from the week:
A big thank you to Colin and Jack Randall for all the help this summer. Sunday will be the twins last day this season with us before heading back to school. We hope they enjoyed these last few months even if it involved more weedwacking then I think they would have preferred.
Greens aeration is scheduled for August 22nd and 23rd. We will be trying out a few different tines next week on short game before finalizing which ones will be used this year. This decision is also based on ISTRC testing results from earlier in the year which give a detailed breakdown of the soil conditions of our greens. Information from these tests like water infiltration rate, soil porosity, organic matter content, and much more helps guide us in our decision making.
Finally some animal pictures this week:
