As I posted earlier, the excessive rainfall coupled with stretches of heat and humidity have made maintaining our typical mowing, spraying schedules extremely difficult. We've fared well on sand based areas, as better drainage allows more pore space providing oxygen and gas exchange to the roots. This helps lower the typical late summer stress to the plants. The few areas in the fairways around or leading to drain basins have been hit the hardest. The constant flow of water and clay soil saturation reduced or eliminated the pore space providing oxygen to the plant. This strike coupled with high heat was more than the plants could handle.
Even with a well draining course the amount of rainfall in the past month has been unbelievable. In a 3 1/2 week span we collected nearly 17" of water in our gauge. The breaks in between storms were accompanied with warm and humid weather offering little chance to dry out.
The weather looks to be favorable in the coming weeks especially with cooler night temps. We will begin stripping the damaged turf and replacing with new bent next week. Through the next couple months we will focus on these areas by opening holes and adding topdressing. Over time the sand blend will increase water flow and provide greater pore space, just in case mother nature decides to throw another curve ball our way in the future.


I recently received a letter from the GCSAA. Our national group of superintendents rarely sends a public service announcement unless a large area of golf courses have been effected. Please take a look at the link provided below

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/8910233497473a5fbabd4be19/files/a71c795e-d697-4fb8-a31f-f72ce05d791e/GC_Notification_July2018.pdf

You can always have too much of a good thing

You'll probably never hear me say "the rain can stop now". Usually we are begging for it to help replenish the ponds, take a break from dragging hoses, and turning off the city water bill. This year has been a year of excesses. We've received 13+" of rain in the last 2 1/2 weeks and coupled with high humidity has caused saturated soil conditions with little dry down.

After patiently(haha) waiting and getting a slight break in the rain action we were finally, safely able to catch up with fairway mowing. Mike our mechanic had to raise all the mower heights so we wouldn't take off too much at one shot. This would put undue stress on the plants in normal conditions let alone dead of summer. We had to readjust the mowers three times and are back to regular height. Wheww!

With typical seasons of weather, the golf course drains extremely well. There's been many times were 2+" of rain has fallen overnight and by 1-2:00 I have put carts back on fairways with no damage. This year has been the exception. The clay soils on the property do not allow excess water to penetrate very well so miles of drain pipes and drain basins were added throughout the course. This has been a blessing for turf care and towards a play-ability standpoint. Many courses have had to close during this season due to swamp like conditions.

Even with this great design feature some damage has occurred. Last Friday we received almost 2" of rain in a short period. This, coupled with already saturated soils caused the drains to be overwhelmed creating streams and ponds to rapidly form on the fairways. This problem was compounded by the fact that immediately following the storm 90 degree blazing sun appeared. The standing water then acted like a magnifying glass rapidly increasing the temps around the plants. The second problem created is the stomates (pores) on the underside of the leaves couldn't open allowing a water vapor release which cools the plant. An analogy would be soaking in a 110 degree hot tub for the next 4 hours without coming out. Your sweat pores wouldn't open allowing you to cool down until internal temps went too far.

This past Monday and Tuesday we punched holes along these channels to help dry them out and get oxygen down to the roots. Throughout the day we will be spinning the heads 1 turn in these areas to help cool the plants without adding any significant amount of water. Once temps and humidity ratchet down a bit the plants should rebound quickly.

A very slight swale, which held water and snaked down to the basin

The contouring doing exactly what its supposed to; moving water towards a basin. Just not over and over...

Buckets and Buckets

In the last week the course has received over 8” of rainfall. At first, this was definitely a blessing with pond levels at an all time low and the city water pumping continuously. I had to drain the middle pond (by 4 tee) into the lower irrigation pond in order to have enough to water at night. The daily rains have helped to reset our pond levels and thoroughly hydrate the soil.

The issue now is that while we needed these rains to reset, they are now becoming a burden. When the turf and the soil below are completely saturated, trying to mow becomes an impossibility. Mechanical damage from mowers increases dramatically. The soft turf can easily be scalped, torn, and ripped from the roots leaving lasting damage for weeks. 

We will try our best keep good green speeds but the health of the turf always comes first.

The punching we just finished will help tremendously to quickly move water away from the surface but we still need to assess each morning whether its safe to mow.

As for the rest of the course, we are behind in our typical mowing schedule. Grasses in the rough and fairways have been unmowable this week with almost 4.5” of rain in the last 4 days. Hopefully we can catch a break, get some sun and wind to help dry things up and get back to our normal schedule.

This pic was taken a few days before venting the greens.

Almost identical downpours after slits.

The aerification with bayonet tines relieves compaction, allows gas exchange, and creates channels for new roots and water to flow.

All in a day

The weather finally warmed up about 2-3 weeks ago. The grass is now responding, oh boy is it responding! About .5" of growth per hour!! The close to 10" of rain in the last 2 weeks probably had a little bit of say in that and now we need to mow. I mean mow. "And when you guys finish hole 18, don't even think of washing the unit off, start again".
The warmth and plentiful moisture finally woke the turf up and it was all we could do to stay on top of it. This past week the rough machines logged as many hours as I've ever seen. The primary rough was cut 4 times in 5 days to stay fair for golf. The fescue areas were chopped down 3 times and raked up. Due to the slow start this spring, I've learned my lesson on using fertilizer to wake things up. I decided to hold off and let nature take it's course. I can't begin to imagine with a lb. of N on this rough what we'd been up against. Once we get some dryer, warmer weather heading towards mid summer we will apply a slow release product to keep the turf green and healthy through the season.

Prepping for the busy next three weeks of tourneys. Member/Member - Ladies Member/Member- Rivercrest Day Member Guest.

Just completed rough and fairway mows. See ya here again tomorrow!

Divot crew

Thank goodness for morning dew. Although the walk mowers hate when the triplex shows up ahead and steals it!

Final Day! We might just get lucky and get this in. Forecast looks rough

The dome was up! The tourney was a success and dry! INCOMING!! as the awards ceremony wrapped up

Unleashing!! 5 minutes after the picture above

Bunker Work II

The left bunker on 8 green was a difficult bunker to maintain. Members commented to me that a golfball hit towards the rear of the bunker wouldn't roll down to the flat and made for an extremely difficult  shot. We constantly checked optimum sand depth but this wasn't correcting the problem. The face just didn't have enough slope. Steepening the face was obviously a solution for playability but would lead to a amintenance nightmare. Every storm would wash this sand to the bottom adding hours to our tight schedule. I decided on sodding the face as we've done to many bunkers which will give golfers a smooth, flat stance to hit from and less time cleaning up after a heavy rain for us.

Good old eastern PA soil. Or should I say rock

Much cleaner appearance and better playability.

8 right side bunker. Reshaping the edges and prepping for new sod.

Great new finished appearance

Bunker Work

We spent most of the spring rehabbing bunkers due to appearance and playability. 18 greenside was one that was bothering me the most. The fescue face made mishit shots extremely difficult to play and overwatering from normal green applications caused difficult growing conditions. I opted to change to turf type tall fescue which will be maintained on a regular basis. The sod faces around the course we have improved have held up beautifully. Golf shots, if you were unlucky enough to end up there are much more manageable.
The before and after shots are dramatic!

I couldn't wait to jump in the backhoe and rip out this eyesore.

Lets Go guys!, sod will be here at 5:00 am. All hands on deck

When is it going to ever warm up? First pieces laid bright and early

Come On Spring!..........Really

Well, I can't remember saying okay guys, lets get out there and work between snowflakes instead of raindrops in April. Winter seems to have a wicked grip on the N.E. this season and looks like another decent snow coming this weekend. Lets hope they're wrong.
It was great to get a shot last week to begin mowing the course. Hearing the mower reels spinning gets my blood pulsing. We mowed and rolled greens and were able to get a first cut on the fairways. Easter weekend brought some mild temps and sunshine and gave the shortgrass a nice green up.
Luckily the snow didn't stick around too long Monday letting us cut and fertilize tees. Once temps get back to normal we should see a good growth spurt.

Instant green Up! Mowing off the top dormant blades.

Still dressed in winter attire but we're finally mowing

Pretty straight lines for the first mow in 4 months! Mower heights were bumped up to avoid scalping but we still bucketed a decent amount of grass clippings. Once we get a few more rolls to smooth out the greens surface the heights will come down and speeds will go up. Here we go 2018!!

Renovation II

5 green side bunker was another on our list for renovations. Members had commented to me that balls would get stuck near the lip on the right side and make for difficult recovery shots. We removed the liner to see what could be done to level or smooth out the uneven surface only to find solid rock. In order to keep a consistent playing surface or depth this rock had to all be removed. After the back-hoe loosened the edges, a great deal of hand work was involved to remove all the rock. The bunker was reshaped to a flat bottom with a sodded face. This allows us to keep a smooth consistent depth.

Nothing but rock.

Rock finally removed. Numerous carts of sub-soil added to smooth the bottom and finished with new liner.

Tee it up

Along with a few bunker projects, we are continuing the rehab of the tee edges. Over the years the "creeping bentgrass" has contaminated the tee surrounds. We have been re-wrapping, straightening the edges back to original specs. We will continue this through the season, weather dependent, until completion.

Laying Turf type tall fescue on 14

14 Black Before

11 Tees stripped and ready for new sod.

Finished Tees

Renovation

We have been renovating and repairing bunkers this winter to start the 2018 season. The practice bunker was the first we tackled. The face, over the years has been inundated with sand splashed up from practice shots. This covers the face and during hot weather quickly raises temps putting extra stress on the grass.Once we began digging down to the original soil base, we realized almost 18" of sand had accumulated.

 

Bare areas on the face from excessive sand. Notice the height at the peak heading down to the green.

The face was hand dug, reshaped, and then the backhoe re-contoured along the green-side.

The new edge smoothed and contoured. Then came dozens of carts filled with sand.

Almost completed, waiting for sod delivery. (the face is almost level with the green)

Finished bunker!!

We're Back

I wanted to inform the membership that the greens will be re-opened this Friday, March 2nd.
With temps the following week still in the 40's, low 50's, the tee covers will remain on. This helps to increase the soil temps giving us a little head start to the growing season.

Just a reminder; the crew will be hard at work with sod projects and bunkers on the course preparing for the 2018 season. Just give a heads up when you're on their hole and if you happen to land in a bunker they're working please take a drop.

Thanks,

Chris

SUPER BOWL LII

FLY EAGLES FLY!!!!!