A New Threat

If the drought, poor water quality and inefficient irrigation system wasn't enough, we are now seeing a new threat in the form of Black Turfgrass Ataenius. These little buggers can be quite destructive to the poa in our fairways; feeding on the roots resulting in irregular dead patches. We will be making an insecticide application on Monday to rid ourselves of this problem.

It's hard to believe that fairways 1-5 were completed just two weeks ago. Rooting is at about 1.5" - 2" and plant density is improving almost daily. Although not to our desired height, we are mowing three times a week. Next week we will begin spiking, rolling and fertilizing to help push the grass along. Before the end of the month we hope to topdress to smooth the surface and fill the seams.

Unfortunately, the poa in some of our fairways is starting to decline due to drought, disease and salts. Try as we might, our efforts to save these struggling areas usually ends in failure as the fickle poa is too weak to recover. However, considering that we were seeing these conditions last summer in the month of June gives me a little bit of peace of mind.   

Project Update #4

We were able to get a fairway mower on the new sod yesterday, cutting holes 1-3. Although the sod came in a little inconsistent, we are seeing good rooting on all the holes and everything will even out with time. Our goal is to mow all the new fairways on Friday, opening for play Saturday. Please keep in mind that we are mowing holes 1-3 and 5 at a much higher height of cut as we allow the sod to tack-in. Once firmly established we will slowly reduce our height of cut to match the other fairways. Carts will be restricted to the paths for the next several weeks as we want to minimize wear due to traffic.