Irrigation upgrades

We continue to work on refining our irrigation system. This week we worked near the 3rd tee to replace several large area sprinkler heads with smaller, fine-tuned heads. This will allow us to irrigate this area more precisely while eliminating excessive overthrow and waste.




 

Seeding

We finally made some time to seed most of the thin/bare areas in the fairways this week. Most of these areas are historically poor performing areas that fill-in with Poa over the winter, only to die when the summer heat arrives. This is really just a band-aid to hold us over until we can buy some Bermuda sod to fix this perennial problem once and for all. Hopefully, we see some rain this spring to help the seedlings along.

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.