What happens when things go wrong II

There's never a dull moment here at Rivercrest. While prepping the greens ahead of the Club Championship field so not to change the conditions through out play we experienced this major blow out! The lead group was on 5 green when this little glitch occurred. We frantically raced to the shop to get the squeegees and a cup cutter before the first group arrived while alerting Jamie on the first tee of the change. Whew, just in time.

This geyser almost took Mike's head off!

Of all places to drain to, right over the pin placement for the final day

Just a Reminder

Please save our cart path edges! Over the years a tremendous amount of time and energy has gone into fixing these areas. Excess compaction coupled with radiant heat are the main killers of grass along the path. Parking the carts away from the edge will greatly help our appearance. Thank you.

Thatch, Thatch and more Thatch

The bentgrass cultivars make for excellent golfing surfaces especially greens but have a drawback with being prolific thatch producers. Managing this layer is extremely important as bentgrass can create a .5" of thatch every season. This will lead to serious problems such as poor oxygen and water infiltration, frequent wilt from shortened root systems, and eventually black layer. Black layer is a mass of decomposing thatch and organic material that is completely oxygen deprived and will quickly lead to surface death if not corrected.  The dense thatch holds moisture at the surface causing the roots to shrink as there is no need dive in search of water. With excess rainfall this year punching the greens and tees more often was necessary to allow a path for roots to follow but more importantly, introducing oxygen below.

The tees have been cored twice this fall to aggressively attack this layer. To keep the tees looking healthy and improve recovery throughout the season increased amounts of nitrogen are applied but with the downside of producing more thatch. We will attack this layer early next year as well with two aerifications in the spring.