Good morning!  The rain has ended and the course is on the mend. Sun and some wind will help our course dry out but don't expect miracles when you play this weekend.  I can not stress just how wet we are-In my 21 years this course has never been this saturated for such an extended period.  Conditions will get better each day with the beautiful fall weather we will finally experience.

Is this a good omen or what?  This rainbow was above our course this morning.

I hope you can appreciate the stellar job your greens crew has done this year under some exceptionally trying conditions. We certainly appreciate your patience.  On Thursday most of the fairways were mowed with minimal damage.  This takes extreme skill and care.

  

Two fairway after mowing.  We raised the mowing height again and changed our mowing pattern to minimize turns.

Before mowing many of the fairways had to be blown by hand.  Here's Josh getting it done.

The bermudagrass on the driving range is slowing down to a crawl and will force play to mats soon.  One way we can stay on it longer is if we practice correctly.  Here Jack Morgan admires a perfect line of divots that will heal laterally in the spring.  Jack tell me your not going to hit another line next to it!

Perfect practice technique by Golf Professional Ian McConnell.

Ugh-this may have to be sodded.

 

Can you feel it? That my friend is dry air, something we haven't experienced in a long while.  This is the weather the course needs to recover, and recover it will.  We are expecting rain later today but it looks as though this extreme wet, humid period is past us and we can begin to get back to some normalcy.

We mowed greens for the first time since Saturday and it came out pretty good.

At least half the tees were dry enough to permit mowing.  The new tees perform so much better and illustrates the need for additional renovation of many of our tees.  The 8th tee is scheduled for renovation in November!

Look at the water in the cup that hasn't perked through the soil.  Our greens do not perform well when we experience excessive rainfall.

Improvements are happening.  This is Gray Leaf Spot blight around the 12th tee on September 17th.

The same area on September 25th.

Just another dismal day in Springfield.   Morale is surprisingly good considering the dreary weather.  We share your frustration but what can we do?  Just a brief blog of what our crew did today while the course was closed.  Much more rain and we will start sending guys home till we can work on the course-plenty to catch up on!

Part of the crew cut back the daylilies on the 4th hole.  This took all day.

Sprinklers and valves were edged on all fairways, greens and some tees.

Three trimmers worked around trees and creeks.

Lastly Richard could be heard singing "Seeding in the Rain."

 

Friday morning and another .25 inches of rain on a "sunny" day.  I believe we all can do as good a job forecasting as the weatherman.  Anyway the course is showing signs of recovery and next week true fall weather arrives(so the weatherman says).

Not again. More rain and swales are swamped again.

Reseeding some tees damaged from too much rain.  This is the eighth tee which was approved to be rebuilt this fall.  Thank you Board of Directors!

Seeding rough areas with tall fescue/bluegrass previously treated for bermudagrass encroachment.  This morning's rain was perfect for these areas.

Tall fescue germinating where seeded last week.

The sixth green flagged to reduce its size in areas that perennially fail.

This is the area we will convert to collar and rough.

  

Another 1.6" and rising with no place for it to go.  Rainfall total since July 17th is now over 24 inches.  The sun is supposed to shine tomorrow but don't expect the course to be dry yet.

Its becoming a bad habit checking the rain gauge in the morning before scheduling work assignments.

Fifteen collar soaked again.  New seedlings were emerging all over before the deluge but will they be there tomorrow?

Sixteen tee with standing water.  No wonder this tee is so weak. 

Eight tee soaked and needing a rebuild.

Opening a clogged drain on the ninth hole. 

A very chlorotic green in need of some sun. 

Here is some disease damage to the 12th tee rough surrounds.  Notice how the bent tee surface is unaffected.  The disease is called gray leafspot and it affects ryegrass and to a lesser degree tall fescue.  These damaged areas have been reseeded.

Earthworms seeking dry ground.

Richard and Josh plugging areas on the practice green.  This green will reopen Friday.

A closer look at Richard's plugging masterpiece.

Let's not forget about our unsung hero Rony.

 

Edging bunkers throughout the course.  No mowing except the greens tomorrow.  Too wet! 

Oscar sharpening greens mowers for a sharp cut on Wednesday.

Jose B giving a hand.

I wonder if Chef Francesco can make use of these?

Not everything is grim.  Here winterberry is thriving by the sixth green.  Planted in 2017 these plants will put on a real show in a few years.

Just a quick update Saturday morning.  The course is trying to recover but without sun it is difficult.  Humidity levels have been unusually high as well.  Using air circulation fans this late in the season is an indication of the moisture levels we are experiencing.

Greens were mowed for the first time after aerification on Thursday.  The height of cut has increased but will gradually be reduced this week.

Seeding rough where bermudagrass has encroached in tall fescue sod.

Turf that was lost around specific tees has been seeded.

Repaired damage from foxes on the third green.

Consequences from a very wet fairway.  This is a size 14 beaver pelt.

Notice the water when I put weight on my foot.

  A proud Mr. Julio doing some nice work at the 17th tee.

The finished product.  Plenty of edging will be installed to spruce up these areas this fall.  New mulch will be added as most of it washed away.

Another blog, another entry concerning too much rain and excessive humidity. Such is the norm for 2018. Maybe the next blog will feature weather positives.

Recovery begins.  Using bayonet tines the first fairway receives some needed oxygen.  Roots were too shallow to allow more aggressive aeration.

Minimal disturbance on fairways certainly makes players happy.

Greens aerification went terrific.   Here the entire crew clears cores and readies the green for sanding.

After sand is added it is gently brushed into the profile.  The crew then uses blowers to better disperse the sand as too much brushing damages the turf.

When complete the green should look like this.

  

Rain after aerification is usually a good thing but not this much.  

The crew did an awesome job building a new greens nursery.  Here Richard presses in the seed with his knobby tires.  When finished we can water.

Unfortunately Mother Nature had to help- and as has been the case for 2018 too much at one time.

Of course we had deer flies throughout this gross weather.  I understand why repellent was applied but why on our fairways???

During the week before Labor Day we had four really cool spectacular days which allowed us to spray some herbicides to help eradicate bermudagrass encroaching in some of our rough.

Two weeks later we have some really sick bermudagrass.  The fescue/blue will eventually fill this area in.

This is not sick bermudagrass.  This is damage from a disease called summer patch in the 14th green surround.  We apply fungicides for this but sometimes the weather is just too extreme.

While the course was too wet to work on we attacked an invasive weed in the wildflower bed on the third hole.  The light green plant is called horsetail and needed to be removed by hand.

Look close and you'll see some of our crew on a horsetail removal party.  Mission accomplished!

This year has not been much fun managing the course.  Weeds, insects, disease were all winners for the most part.  Fortunately there is better weather forecast and the course is on the mend.