Fall Update

The dry weather that has continued into fall has finally let up. 35mm over the past 3 days has noticeably given the turf a boost. Although temperatures and the length of our days has reduced drought stress compared to the summer, until this week we were still irrigating at a rate that was much higher than our typical autumn needs. After just over 100mm in about a 10 week stretch through August 31st, September only yielded 37mm and none in October until the 8th. 137mm in 15 weeks is well below the average of over 500mm in the same time period. Significant labor resources were needed to keep up with the needs of the turf. Simple overnight irrigation cycles were barely enough to get by. Additional cycles, hand watering, and wetting agents were key to our success. Diligent monitoring of turf conditions and weather forecasts were required to stay ahead of wilting turf. Thankfully, the weather appears to have finally relented. I feel that the team performed admirably and are excited to reallocate their thoughts and energy into other avenues.

We recently completed our greens “Aeration” this week. Instead of our usual core aeration we decided to aerate with solid tines (meaning no material being pulled out of the ground to clean up). We topdressed the greens ahead of this, and prior to that we dethatched the greens with our verticutters. This decision was based on review of soil testing done, specifically the organic matter percentage in the samples. I am happy with the results. Below are some quick videos showing some of the process.

Verticutting the Greens. Completed in two directions.

A good amount of sand. But not as much as required with our usual core aeration

Overseeding with a premium bentgrass. Also used the spreader to complete a nutrient amendment.

Rolling the green to help work the sand in (greens also brushed with a tow behind brush) and smooth the surface

We used the sprinklers to water for the most part. Handwatered the putter to keep the golf carts dry!

Within days the aeration holes were almost completely closed up and putting conditions met our standards.

With the season wrapping up in the next couple of weeks our focus will be on taking care of some work to prep the course for winter and to complete some small projects that we did not get around to earlier. Irrigation blow out will be taking place the first week of November. Our deep tine aeration is scheduled for the middle of the month. Our new sod nursery has been worked on for the past several weeks; grading is virtually complete. Drainage and irrigation installation will take place this fall with a plan to seed in the spring. We will also look at fine tuning some of the new bunkers on the course. Some drainage improvements are required and fine tuning some edge work will be completed. We have an inventory of sand we would like to get out to the traps before winter to allow for a quick turnaround in the spring. We will be spraying our winter fungicide and topdressing the greens at least once more before we get the tarps out and call it a season.