Here at Highland we treat our greens, tees and fairways with a winter protection fungicide. The rough on the property is far to vast to treat with these rather costly fungicides. Therefore every spring we experience rather heavy snow mould infection in the rough. Above is a picture of the tee bank on #15. On the left you can see where the fungicide was applied and protected (for the tee surface). On the right is the result of severe disease infection on unprotected turfgrass. The rough will come back once the warmer temperatures arrive and some air and sunshine get down to the plants. But it is definitely set back from the treated areas.
Last fall we utilized a “new to us” method of revitilization for our practice tee. Our contractor TDS, fraize mowed the surface of the tee to remove organic matter as well at to aid in leveling. The tee was then aerified and seeded to a new variety of creeping rye grass. We chose this type of turf grass as research shows rapid recovery and a low growth habit. We were able to get some great growth in the fall, but the tee is still not ready for traffic and full use. The plan is to utilize the mats until growth has filled in some of the voids etc. We will then begin to slowly set up hitting areas on the grass tee. For a while we will alternate between grass and the mats with a 50/50 ratio of use. Once the grass tee is established and is in adequate recovery mode, the practice areas will be back to normal. As always our membership’s patience is appreciated as we try to improve these areas for use.
Are we still headed for an April 15 opening?
ReplyDeleteUnless the weather takes a dramatic turn for the better, we would be pushing it to open by the 15th. We still have snow on 50% of our greens covers. Please check in with the blog to see forecasted opening dates...
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