Week of Dec. 5th
- matthewbehl
- Dec 9, 2022
- 2 min read
After closing the golf course most of this week was spent on green maintenance. Monday we topdressed greens with sand. With rain predicted on Tuesday night and Wednesday our goal was to utilize the rain to wash the sand nicely into the canopy. The rain did just that!
On Wednesday we went through the greens repairing ball marks. We had very few unrepaired ball marks to fix, but a fair amount of work to do after a week of play on frozen greens. We were just basically tightening up the old marks to help with healing and try to prevent poa contamination. In some of the worst ball marks a small bit of bentgrass seed and sand was added.
Thursday we were treated to no frost and relatively light winds. We took advantage of the day and put out our last fungicide application on greens for winter disease prevention. This spray will give us some extra protection with the weather fluctuations we have had and the amount of moisture we have experienced the past couple of weeks.
Greens are fully prepared for winter with many of these preparations started in mid August. The last of the green drains were cut in today and we are now at the mercy of mother nature. The only thing we may still do to greens this year is another topdressing if conditions allow. Late fall and winter after mowing has ceased for the season is the perfect time to incorporate sand into the canopy. Not only does this sand help dilute organic matter, but it can protect the crown(growing point) of the plant during adverse winter weather.
I have been asked about covering greens by a few members over the last week. Greens covers have their place in certain situations, but I do not believe in the widespread use of turf covers (especially permeable covers). With mild winters becoming more of the "norm" the chance of the turf waking up from dormancy too soon in late February/Early March is a real concern and can lead to damage. I also believe turf covers can increase poa annua (less desirable turf species) populations over time. There is no situation where I can see a benefit to covering any of the greens at Ipswich.
The rest of the week we focused on some cleanup of areas and some brush removal on 3. One of the areas we cleaned was the steep hill to the left of the rough on 8. It is hard to believe how far this hill has improved over the past couple of years. I wish I had a few before pictures of this area.
Pictures of brush work on 3
