Last of the Temps

 Hey folks!

Great news! As of June 7th, all of the temporary greens will be back into play! It's been a long difficult spring and most of the members have shown great patience and kindness in waiting for the recovery. I'll remind everyone that the greens just recently opened 3, 7,11,12,13,17,18 will be playing slower than the greens open since the beginning of the season.  

There will be quite a few areas like this where the the plants have germinated and the recovery is moving nicely in the right direction.  There are still some gaps in canopy as the plants grow together, but with some heat and attention they will improve quickly. 

 As part of the process, the closed greens were maintained at a higher height of cut, and over the next little bit we will be working them down to our regular summer height.  

Here's a look at our progress over the last few weeks.

Number 13:

April 14th.  The two portions of the green with the green rectangles are where our black matts were over the winter.  We intend to expand this process but that's a different blog post.

April 14th

April 20th

Mid May.

June 6th.

Number 7:

Not all of the areas are at 100 percent so you'll probably see the pins in the same locations for a little while as the weak areas continue to improve, but with a little bit of heat things will get better quickly. 

 A few members have asked about the rain in the last few days and if that will have a positive effect. 

 With Bent grass, very little growth occurs below the 12 to 15 degree range, especially when overcast and windy.  At these temps fertilizers don't work and, growth is ground to a halt. These temps don't hurt the plant directly however, the combination of constant moisture, weakened cell walls from earlier excessive fertilizer (from growing in) and lack of sunshine can lead to the onset of disease. 

Here's a photo of "Leaf spot", taking from Number 9 yesterday.  We plan on treating for this disease as soon as it stops raining (if ever). 

Healthy adult plants would obviously be able to better withstand disease but the seedlings can suffer from the pressure that the current environmental parameters present.

The fairways continue to also improve, and the constant rain over the last few day will help the seed to germinate.  Kentucky Bluegrass, the main species we use on the fairways, does better in lower temps than Bent grass, but like the Bent the progress is slowed. Generally speaking, the best benefit this weather provides is the lack of traffic on the course, which is of course ironic, because we need the traffic to sustain the golf course.

The carts will remain on the cart paths at least until Friday and when it stops raining (if ever) we look forward to finally lifting all restrictions. Stay tuned for more!