True to form, July has arrived with all of its heat and humidity.  After Monday this heat wave ends for a bit with hopefully some needed rain.  The course continues to excel.  Most of the turf is performing well but this heat is showing some areas of weakness.  Our members are to be commended for keeping their carts on the path in the afternoons this week.  It really does help, and the grass and my staff thank you!

The water has been flying this week for the first time this season.

You see some unusual turf diseases when it is so hot and humid.  This is called slime mold and is fortunately pretty harmless.  This was on the 7th green.

The course has been busy.  We finally were able to get some oxygen to our roots on Monday.  All the greens were solid tine aerated on Monday.  I bet you didn't even know we did this.

Here's a shot before rolling.

Once the greens are rolled, they look like this.  We try and do this every other week.

How about our rough?  When I hear complaints, I know we must be doing something right!  This is on the first hole where the large willow oak was.  The turf is thriving in its new environment.

Remember the magnolia at the practice green?  I don't know, but this looks pretty awesome as a replacement.

I saw this dinosaur near the 5th tee this morning.

Say goodbye to our purple martins.  They are headed back to South America after raising their young at our club.  We'll see them again in April.

 July 4th and the Bowers are over.  My crew can finally breathe a sigh of relief and get back to basic golf course management.  Weather has been especially nice this summer with timely rain and minimal heat stress.  This can change rapidly and probably will at some point, so no time to let our guard down.  Overall, the course is performing well.  The reduction in heat stress is noticeable.  Senior Club Championship is next on the docket in two weeks.  Let's hope this nice weather continues.

This versatile mower was just purchased.  We expect some labor savings and a better quality of cut in green and tee surrounds.  

There are several things going on in this picture.  The first is irrigation.  In this instance a wetting agent is watered in to prevent possible turf burn.  The second is that there is a lot of green grass with plenty of clippings seen in the foreground.  We have received timely rain which is making our rough very healthy!  July is usually the month we irrigate the most and so far, this is not the case.  We just raised the height to 3" which will remain until September.

Here are two pictures illustrating nice definition between fairway and rough.

What a great look!

Did you know we created a grass tennis court in about two weeks?  Here Shawn rolls the turf a gazillion times several days before the big event.

Did you know we also do our own flowers in house?

Lastly our pollinator gardens throughout the club are doing their thing.  Here honeybees are enjoying the bee balm we planted.

 Member Guest was a resounding success.  Special kudos to my staff for all their hard work.  The three-inch deluge was an unexpected hurdle, but they did a remarkable job putting the course back together and making it a memorable event for all the competitors.  

Thursday morning.

Growth regulators in action on the practice green.  This picture shows bentgrass spreading laterally into a small area of annual bluegrass that is suppressed by the regulator.

We are having some success suppressing bermudagrass in the rough.  This is after a second application of Turflon Ester and Acclaim.  Temperatures have been favorable for cool season turf so far this summer.

Another view behind 17 green.

Finally getting this bed at 15 tee cleaned up.

Our wildflower bed on hole 11 has taken off.

The SGCC bed is doing well.  The flower in the foreground is blue salvia and the reddish-purple plant is Brazillian Red Hot Alternathera.  

We are grooming the front of the driving range tee to play tennis on next Sunday.  Here Richard double rolls it after a heavy dose of sand and water.

This was followed by some post-emergent weed control.  Next week some serious mowing and rolling!

Forty-two years in the golf business and have never seen this.  A red tail hawk trapped in a crepe myrtle.  Our staff rescued it and he flew into a nearby tree minus a few feathers.  Check it out on You Tube- Red Tail Hawk Rescue