RiverCrest Golf Club Grounds: Fan On 1 Green

The fan is installed! 1 green has always been a difficult green to manage. The main principle superintendents will agree on when caring for greens is proper sunlight, good drainage, and good airflow. When one or more is disrupted trouble will occur. Bentgrass loves it dry and sunny. When those are deprived the plant compensates by slowing root growth and increasing shoot growth to catch all available sunlight. When roots suffer you are removing the lifeline to the plants. Roots gather nutrients, water, and oxygen to support whats on top. When roots are damaged the plant will take much longer to grow and heal. On one, we've removed the majority of trees to the right side of the green to allow more sunlight and that has helped but another component is proper airflow. The maintenance building as well as thick woods to the left of the green block all typical westerly breezes. When the heat of the summer rolls in this will have detrimental effects on the turf. The first is overheating. When it's very humid and the area does not have adequate airflow the temps rise rapidly on the surface. The second especially after rainfalls is the plant can't dry out. This leads to the formation of black algae, increased disease pressure, welt wilt, and thinning turf.

The installation of the fan on 13 in 2012 has helped dramatically with the health of this green. Due to trees used as a barrier for the pool area airflow was cut off and the green suffered year after year. Losing patches of grass on this green during July and August was commonplace. The fan gives just enough breeze to cool down the canopy and help it through the summer

After deciding on a position that would effectively hit the majority of the greens surface as well as not obstructing golfers view too badly, it was time to dig.