HIGHLAND CC GROUNDS

At this time of year the collars start to show some wear and tear from the traffic, compaction and the heat and humidity of the summer. Collars typically recieve twice the wear of a green. Golfers tend to walk on the collar, we go over it with the greens mower, collar mower and the roller. Often turning is avoided on the collar, but sometimes bunker placement and greenside mounds make turning on the collar unavoidable. This morning we vented the collars with needle tines and followed up with an overseeding of bentgrass and a roll. This is a very nondisruptive process and will show great benefit in the long run.

As many members have noticed the large Elm tree on #5 is looking stressed these days. Once we noticed some decline we brought in our Arbourist to evaluate and recomend further action to protect and save this specimen. Upon further inspection we have not found any direct signs of Dutch Elm disease. Typically you will find canals or tunnelling from the Elm Bark beetle in infected wood. The beetle creates voids and carries the disease to other parts of the tree. Trees can be stressed for a number of reasons, drought, heat and humidity are all very detrimental to trees. At this point we are going to do our best to allieviate as much stress on the tree as possible. We will be roping off the area to the left to reduce cart traffic and compaction. We will be aerating the turf around the tree to help with nutrient and water penetration down to the rootzone. This winter we will be doing some pruning and further inspection of the wood. Next spring, we will begin a preventative Dutch Elm disease

On Monday we will be resuming our greens topdressing program.We have been postponing our regular program due to the high temperatures and humidity. Topdressing greens helps us provide a fast, firm and smooth putting surface as well as reducing the thatch level. Thatch levels that become excessive can be detrimental to putting green quality in the long run. Scalping, puffiness and inefficient consumption of fertilizers, plant protectants and water are all undesirable results of excessive thatch. We will be applying a light topdressing followed by a brushing, then a rolling and finally a light watering. The watering helps to "knock" the sand into the canopy of the green and also reduces the stress caused by the previously mentioned practices.

The Golf Committee has decided to mark the gully off of #15 tee as a lateral (red) hazard. I marked this area this morning. The hazard will remain permanently. This was implemented to speed up play off of the 14th (lost balls from errant approach shots). Please take note during your next round.

Here is a video explaining the factors contributing to turfgrass loss, particularly in the weather that the Northeast is experiencing this summer. http://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf

During the past 2 days we were able to complete a lot of work that would be unfeasible if the golf course was not closed. On Tuesday we core aerified greens, removed the cores and applied a light topdressing of sand. On Wednesday we applied a light fertilizer and rolled the greens smooth. We were not able to fill the holes with the first application of sand, simply because having a lot of sand on the greens in 38C weather could be catastrophic. Sand on greens heats up very fast, much like the sand on the beach. This heat can cause very rapid wilt of turfgrass, therefore I did not feel it was worth the risk. The forecast is for cooler temps on Friday, so we will be applying another topdressing of sand to our greens very early in the morning, in front of golf. In combination with our rolling program, this topdressing will help the greens heal relatively fast. During the closure we were also able to deeply verticut our fairways and approaches. This process is long and labour intensive. Ou

Tuesday, August 3rd and Wednesday, August 4th the golf course and practice facilities will be closed. During these days we will be completing the following (weather permitting) : Core Aeration of Greens and Tees Verticutting of Fairways and Approaches Topdressing of Greens, Tees and Approaches Fertilizing of Greens, Fairways and Approaches (Tee were fert. last week) Bunker Weeding and Smoothing Mowing of all playable surfaces With a little luck and some cooperation from our equipment, we should have the golf course cleaned up by the time we reopen on Thursday morning.