How to Practice

To save what precious little hitting space we have, everyone has the responsibility to practice in a way that will minimize healing time. The pictures to the right say it all.......

Poa

We are starting to see the existing poa annua flower. This directly coincides with seed production, with each poa plant producing 80 viable seeds per plant on average. Therein lies the problem in controlling this pest in an environment that supports it growth for 8 months of the year. The upside is that many of the thin areas around the course will soon begin to fill-in and playing conditions will improve. Unfortunately, poa is a true annual and will begin to die as summer arrives.

El Nino is finally here

The first real rains of this years El Nino have finally arrived packing some punch. We were fortunate to be able to prepare as forecasters were very accurate on the time and amount that these first few storms would deliver. Tuesday we received 1.35" and Wednesday we got another 2.10". Understandably, the course is very wet, with surface water still draining at this moment.

Waiting on the rain

We continue to wait on some significant rain to help heal the golf course. With absolutely no rain in November and just a trace amount in December, the course continues to struggle. If and when this El Nino does occur, I think you will see a rather swift change in the condition of the golf course. Not only will a good rain provide a uniform shot of water, it will also, and perhaps more importantly, flush the salts from the surface allowing for a much improved growing environment. With our heavy clay soils, we have a very slow infiltration rate. Thus, we see an accumulation of salts near the surface when relying upon our well water for an extended period of time. Once we get a good, soaking rain, we will leach the salts below the rootzone, finally balancing the soils for optimum plant growth. I think the photo below speaks volumes....

Note the salt accumulation due to poor infiltration

Bermuda Dormancy

Although winters official beginning is still a few weeks away, we are definitely seeing the effects of the cool weather. With average soil temperatures hovering around 56 degrees we are seeing much of our Bermuda going into dormancy. The picture to the right was taken last week and shows the common Bermuda already has a straw color to it. Some of our hybrid Bermuda cultivars still have some color, however neither the common or the hybrids are growing much at all.

Irrigation Problems

With deteriorating water quality we are seeing an increase in irrigation related problems. Many of our isolation valves are failing, requiring us to shut down our mainlines to fix leaking or broken heads. In turn, the pressure fluctuation in the mainline is creating another break. This weekend alone we had one head and 2 mainline breaks. I sure hope this is the last of our irrigation problems for awhile......

6" mainline on #10

Overseed Germination

Rough overseeding was completed a week ago and we are already seeing quite a bit of germination around the course. At this point it is relatively spotty and inconsistent, largely due to our lack of thorough irrigation coverage. Once we get a little help from a rain event or two you will see much more consistent germination. Until then, we will continue to do the majority of our irrigation at night, with supplemental spot watering during the day to nurse the new seedlings along.