In the spring we decided to let a few areas on the golf course go Native. We did not mow these areas at all this season (until recently). Leaving these areas unmowed reduces labour and fuel expenses. We did however apply a herbicide to some of these areas in the spring. This is not an extra cost, we would have applied in the mowed bluegrass regardless. We will be looking at interseeding these areas with a blend of fescues in the future. These areas proved to be a compliment to the property, adding contrast and framing of the holes in which they are on. We will be mowing these areas a few times this fall and once in the early spring. The reason for multiple mowings in the fall is to "chop up" the organic matter produced from mowing such tall grass. This practice is a form of weed control for some of the woody species that tend to grow in these areas. A mowing in the spring will wake up the grasses an get them growing early on. This process has started and will take a week or so to complete, the recent rain has set us back a bit. Although the areas are mowed, we would ask that carts are not taken into them.
A week has passed since our annual spring greens aeration. We have had a mixed bag of weather, hot, dry, cold, wet and even frost! These conditions make it challenging to aid in healing, but with the more recent consistent warm temperatures we are seeing solid recovery. We were fortunate to have decent weather to complete the process on time, allowing us to fill all the holes created by the 1/2” hollow tines. As there are some minor depressions within some of the holes we will be beginning our bi-weekly topdressing program early next week. Our team is mowing and rolling our greens daily, while slowly lowering our height of cut to our summer norm. We all know that spring cultural practices are not popular among golfers, but these all important tasks are the building blocks for high performance greens conditions throughout the heart of the golf season. Check out this video produced by the USGA on Aerations effect on putting...
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