It has been a roller coaster of a year so far.  Too much rain followed by too little and then back to excessive amounts has made for a challenging season.  One positive is the lake is full which is not always a good thing.  Our roots in our fairways are very shallow.  Because of this we have been extremely cautious with golf carts and mowing equipment.  We have been successful reducing the amount of annual bluegrass in the fairways and should have success seeding the weak fairways if the weather cooperates in August.  We anticipate seeding to begin in mid-August.  Once seeding initiates carts will be restricted to the paths on specific holes.

 

Cart damage in the rough while the sprinklers are flying.

 

 

Turf decline in the 12th fairway.  Notice most of the damage follows the drainage pattern.

 

 

My guys are guilty for not staying on the path too.

 

 

A localized dry spot in the 18th fairway.

 

 

Fairway turf with one inch roots.  Excessive moisture deprives the roots of oxygen and the turf declines.  All the rain in June and early July was not beneficial.

 

 

Turf nursery showing heat stress in areas where straight sand was used to replace turf plugs.  Crazy!

 

 

Bad storm presented us with this throughout the course on Wednesday morning.  We received two inches and it actually perked things up.

 

 

A familiar scene of this summer.  The fun continues.

 

 

Using light weight mowers to do the perimeters of all fairways helps protect the turf.

 

 

One planting that has thrived this summer is the daylily bed on the 4th hole.  Here Armando and Jose pose behind a mass of color.  I don't believe they have ever looked better.

 

 

Summer camp kids enjoying a photo with Quincy.

 

Summer arrived with vengeance this week. Some of our turf is under quite a bit of stress so we would appreciate everyone pitching in by following cart rules and fixing ball marks and divots.  Our roots are particularly shallow at this time probably due to the amount of rain we have experienced.  The good news is most of the weak turf is annual bluegrass and we are trying to push it out anyway.  Seeding of thin areas in fairways begins in August.
 

 

Annual bluegrass thinning out in a fairway.

 

Pylex herbicide whitening the bermudagrass.  Very light rates are applied to suppress this weed.  We are seeing much less this summer compared to last season.

 

 

Cart damage to fairways and rough is evident on the course during this difficult weather pattern.  Please watch your turns.

 

 

This greeted us on the second green Monday morning.

 

 

Our mowers are sharp but won't stay that way for long!

 

 

I know I've said it before but put your insect repellent on when on the cart path. 

 

 

Our crew has endured a lot recently with all the rain and now the heat.  Here the operator avoided mowing through a low area on the 17th hole.  Experience is priceless!

 

 

Cart damage next to the path with emerging crabgrass following.

 

 

A peaceful scene on the third hole and a stress reliever!

 

This picture says it all... Three inches of rain the first week of July with ten inches in June.  If it gets hot we can expect some turf loss.

 

 

Lots of tree damage from all the storms.  The white oak by the practice green has finally been removed.

 

 

Meet James Earhart, arborist extraordinaire! James won the International Tree Climbing Championship in 2015.  He did much of our recent storm damage repairs that required climbing.

 

 

Stephen figured a swim suit was more appropriate than regular shorts given our weather.

 

 

Solid tine aeration of greens is occurring as often as possible to provide oxygen to the turf.

 

 

Light applications of Pylex herbicide have begun on fairways and tees.  The application rate is .125 ounces per acre!

 

 

Those nasty biting flies are back but applying bug repellents on the turf does this.  Put your repellent on while on the cart path!!!

 

 

Finally some bluebird success to boast about.  These babies will be fledging this week.

   

Its competition time and the weather has not been cooperating.  From a very dry May to an extremely wet June we are fortunate not to have too much heat or we'd be in trouble.  Ten inches of rain for the month with lots of tree damage have gassed our staff.  The long range weather looks favorable so maybe we can get the rough cut!

 

Heavy rain undermined the bridge on the 11th hole.

 

 

Here Erik and Jose do their best to make the bridge safe.

 

 

Lots of tree damage on Tuesday highlighted by this.  Our crew is our greatest asset and they proved themselves once again.

 

 

Logs and branches galore.  A contractor will be here Thursday to chip up the limbs.

 

 

We have purchased a new John Deere tractor and are saying goodbye to a relic.  Here Oscar tows our 1960's Massey Ferguson to the clubhouse.  We traded in three old tractors.

 

 

Three tractors leaving our club after many great years of service.  The Deere tractor is going in for service.

 

 

 

The practice green was closed due to too much play on Monday.  This green will be monitored regularly and closed on occasion so it can recover.

Enough rain already!  Excessive rainfall coinciding with high heat and humidity make this job especially challenging.  Hopefully the remnants of Bill will not hurt us too much as we get ready for  Member Guest.  Our greens perform at their best when rainfall amounts are minimal.  If conditions remain as they are it will be difficult to achieve desired green speeds for our tournaments.  Come on nice weather!

 

We have begun regular solid tine aeration of greens.  We try and do this every two weeks throughout the summer.

 

 

It is amazing how little this practice affects the putting surface.  This is before rolling.

 

 

Once we have rolled there is hardly a blemish.

 

 

Here are some observations of the course.  This is "soft" spike damage on the practice green.  I believe some of these spikes are no better than their metal ancestors.  Please try and walk carefully on the greens and tamp down any damage.

 

 

Poor practice on the left and correct on the right at the short game area.  The left side will take most of the season to recover.  Since the driving range tee is bermudagrass you may practice taking divots in mass!  Bermuda has below ground stems called rhizomes that will grow back in the damaged area.  Bent can not recover in this manner.

 

 

Correct practice.  Bent will recover with lateral growth in narrow divot channels.

 

 

Carts are restricted on holes 7 and 8 not because of poor drainage but concentrated cart wear.  The drainage works great!

 

We are applying wetting agents to our fairways and rough through our irrigation system.  This is a cost effective method to make water more available to the turf. 

 

 

This hot humid weather has our fans in use earlier than normal.  Fans are the best fungicide available!

 

 

We had some needed pruning and removals done this week.  Anyone miss this tree?

 

 

The bee population is growing.  This is called bearding and they are ready for more space before they swarm.

 

 

New space called supers and the bees have moved in.

 

 

A nice rainbow this morning.

We have experienced about every season in the last ten days.  Thankfully we received some beneficial rain last week and last night.   We have already recorded more rainfall in June than the entire month of May!  My how quickly course conditions can change.

 

Unfortunately this large white oak took a direct lightening strike last night.  It is hard to imagine it will survive.

 

 

From very dry to much too wet in a few short days.  This is black algae on the chipping green.  A fungicide was applied to all the greens on Friday once the rain ended.

 

 

A poorly repaired ball mark and another negative to all the rain.  Please don't fix ball marks in this manner.

 

 

Getting the driving range open in fifteen days was a relief.  We will continue to reduce the height of cut and it should be at fairway height by next week. 

 

 

Common bermudagrass growing through aeration plugs behind the fifteenth green.  I believe common bermudagrass, Poa annua, and cockroaches will all be here long after we are gone!

 

 

The new sod around the greens has blended in nicely.  Before and...

 

 

After!!

 

 

We have some new labor with difficulty in tee marker alignment so back to the basics.  Here Amy uses a T square to align the markers.

 

 

Some of our new equipment has arrived!  Here Jose proudly displays our new slope mower.

 

 

We also purchased another greens roller to make our greens smooth as silk.