As the end of summer approaches it seems like a good time to
reflect back on our season. On a
positive note the Bermuda was awesome once it got going. We are growing grass in areas that have been
thin or were dirt for a long time. The
sod work on the range, number 5 and number 6 looks awesome. The other thin areas on the course are much smaller
than last year. Quality on the fairways
has been good with a much farther ball roll.
We have raised the height just a little this week to prevent scalping. The rough is also very thick and is being
mowed at least twice a week. Even on the
second pass after only 2 or 3 days we are having to blow off the clippings
everywhere we cut. We have held the
height the same all year long, but it is playing tough right now due to the
density.
The greens have been a struggle for us this July and August. Early wet weather in May and June led to some
disease problems, anthracnose in particular.
This is not a common disease of bentgrass, but is a difficult one to get
rid of once you have it. The extreme
heat followed up in the last couple weeks of June causing some turf loss due to
direct heat kill as well as some loss due to wilt. The putting green in particular dried out on
a hot windy day, and even though we got water on it that day, it never
recovered. The roots on that green are
never good and the turf just wasn’t strong enough to recover in the poor
location where it sits. We did vent
greens on a frequent basis, we did adjust fertility, growth regulator and
fungicide applications for the weather.
We did raise the mowing height on the greens on July 25th, in
hindsight maybe sooner might have helped some?
No way to say for sure. We were
not seeing any damage from the mowers even when we raised the height. Going into next year we will make some
changes to our programs in the event that mother nature hits us again with a
once a decade heat wave.
Good news is that September aeration is right around the
corner. The cooler weather this week has helped tremendously in just a couple of days and the greens are already
happier. Hopefully next year we won’t have
as many dog days of summer.
