Week of July 17
- matthewbehl
- Jul 23, 2023
- 2 min read
This past week has been full of challenges. 3.4 inches of rain fell last Sunday and another inch fell Friday evening and night. In between these two heavy rains featured a lot of humidity. Most of the week was spent solely on agronomy with the focus on fungicide applications. Heavy rain and humidity are perfect conditions for a variety of turfgrass diseases. The same conditions cause the fungicides we apply to metabolize faster and breakdown quicker. This means we need to apply our preventative applications on shorter spray intervals. Spray tanks were out spraying everyday this week. In addition to all the fungicide applications, we also applied wetting agents and preventative insect controls to greens and tees. The wetting agents were applied to help move some of the excess water through the thatch layer and into the root zone. It sounds contradictory, but when used properly wetting agents can facilitate drying day of the playing surface.
One thing all this rain has done is left us with a full irrigation pond going into August. At this point, I can't see having any water issues for the 2023 season.
Other work completed this week:
Cart path repair - had some washout from the heavy rain on Sunday
Greens venting - some will continue this week
Some house keeping items to address:
Greens are a little softer then usual due to all the moisture and humidity. Obviously, this leads to more and bigger ball marks. Each morning we are addressing a good deal of ball marks that are not fixed. Also many ball marks are not being fixed properly. Please remember to just push in from the sides and not pop up the middle. A ball mark improperly repaired or left unfixed is an avenue for poa annua to get into the greens. Poa annua is something we work very hard at keeping out of the putting surface.
Please remember on the practice green to putt only to the pin locations for the day. In doing so we can give the upper tier of the practice green a rest when needed and mange wear to the best of our ability.
The range is getting very close to opening. We still have some agronomy work to do to the tee itself and the field. As soon as the field is ready we will be opening the range.
We have a number of foxes on the course with many younger animals present. Please refrain from feeding the foxes. It has been brought to my attention that some homeowners are feeding the foxes. This is not helping the foxes in any way. They are losing their fear for humans and sometimes appear to be looking for a handout. The young foxes need to learn to hunt on their own and will be fine without the handouts.