August is winding down and fall course maintenance is ready to begin.  The course had an excellent growing season, (fingers crossed) and our renovation will be minor compared to other years.  Some ask why aerate greens when they are in such great condition?  Healthy greens are that way because of carefully planned and executed cultural practices, the most important being core aeration.  Healthy greens handle the stress of aeration and topdressing better and allows them to recover faster.  Expect great greens before you know it.

Not bad for late August.

The course is exhibiting some typical August stress.  Here is the 1st fairway showing heat stress.  Many of our fairways have really poor soil, and lots of rock.  When roots shorten as they naturally do in summer, this is the result.  This is heat stress with no cart traffic.  Put carts on this turf and its bye-bye time.  Our recent purchase of a fairway deep tine aerifier in conjunction with a compost program will dramatically improve our fairways in the future.  It's nice to finally own this piece of equipment.  Expect to see it used plenty after the golf season.

Dying trees continue to be a problem.  This white oak is a suspected lightning hit and will be removed during course maintenance.

This leaning white oak finally fell unfortunately into the lake.  Removal is scheduled next week as well.

There is too much of this on the course.  No turf should ever be taken with a practice swing.  Help spread the word, please!

This too shouldn't happen.  Easy to repair if done immediately with minimal scarring, but up to two weeks to recover from if not.

Vegetables have been bountiful from our garden.  

Approximately ten pounds of honey were extracted from our beehives.  Look for specials in the restaurant.

New front tires for the rough mower.

Morning reflections.

Picture of the year?  Richard Purple took this one.

 August has arrived with another heat wave this week, though it looks to be short.  It has been extremely humid over the last few weeks.  This and fairly warm nights have been taxing on our cool season turf.  Let's hope for some moderate weather as we enter summer's home stretch.

July 25th and the warmest night this summer.  Too much of this is havoc on cool season turf.

We are doing what we can to help the turf survive.  Here Luis bayonet tines the first tee last week.  We solid tined all the greens on Monday.

Spraying fairways on Monday which included a green pigment that helps turf endure heat stress. 

Some observations from the course.  Here is an improperly repaired divot using the sand divot mix.  Everyone has encountered hot sand on their feet at the beach.  Turf doesn't like it either. The sand heats up and causes turf decline.

This is the same divot after I repaired it.  We must do better.

This problem began showing up the past few seasons-Leaf debris in the irrigation lines clogging up sprinkler heads.

Here's the lower screen of a fairway sprinkler showing debris that restricts flow.

'Catawba' crepe myrtles showing off.

Red tee on hole two showing no stress after winter tree removal.  This tee always struggled in summer from tree roots.

Early morning payoff!

 

 

 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

  

  

The first day of summer has arrived.  What a crazy weekend of weather we just experienced!  Friday it was 95 degrees with 35 mph winds followed by a cool weekend with similar winds.  Those winds have dried out the course considerably so a little rain would be perfect about now.  Of course, it is Member Guest week.  The course is in excellent shape and should present itself well for our guests.

Monday morning it was 47 degrees when I left for the course, almost 50 degrees cooler than Friday!

This spring has had an unusual amount of clover in the rough.  It has been difficult applying herbicides with golf, weather and mowing schedules.  We finally sprayed nearly 20 acres which is about half of what is required.  The yellowing area in the picture is the clover saying goodbye.

Member Guest preparation begins weeks before the tournament.  Here Shawn applies sand topdressing to spruce up the driving range tee.

Repairing a wet area near the 11th green tee.

Our fairways are playing firm and fast.

Benefits of tree removals are starting to show.  Here is the rough-fairway perimeter on the first hole.  This use to have thin, weak turf caused by the large oak that was growing nearby.  What a difference!

This is an improvement happening before our eyes on the tenth tee.  The yellowish areas are Poa annua saying goodbye now that there is a better environment for perennial grasses.  Eventually these voids will fill in with bentgrass.

The two-year upgrade of our pump station is complete.  To the left is a new 30 HP pump and motor.  The pressure maintenance pump is on the right.

Foxes continue to be a nuisance, even in our Better Billy bunkers.  Fortunately, they can't dig through the polymer layer.  

Unrepaired ball marks continue to be an issue.  This was 12 feet from the pin on 18 green.

The wildflower bed on the 11th hole is astounding.  I counted ten different species blooming when this picture was taken!