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Golf Course Update...

It has been a busy month for our department so I would like to update our membership on a few topics of choice.
Golf Course Aeration dates rescheduled: We have decided to reschedule our course closure for aeration to September 24th & 25th. A number of factors were considered while making this decision. Our current aeration program of core aerating in May offers us the opportunity to both inter seed our greens with creeping bentgrass and remove a decent amount of organic matter. Previous to this year we only performed a single core aeration per year. This early season event allows us more flexibility with our second scheduled aeration. September is a much less stressful month for aeration. Both heat and drought stress are minimal in the early fall allowing for a speedy recovery.
Drier Weather: We have experienced some drier more typical July weather and it shows. Green speeds and firmness that our member expect and enjoy are back to normal. I often tell people that we perform many of the same tasks on a daily basis from season to season. The biggest influence on golf course conditions is the weather. Our regular greens management program has been in full effect for some time now, the difference has been the warmer, drier conditions that mother nature has provided for us as of late.
Rough Height of Cut Lowered: In the last 2 weeks we have lowered the height of cut of our rough from 2.5" to 2". This is an effort to combat the rapid growth of the rough this season. At the 2.5" height by the time the second mowing of the week was happening the rough was up over 3". Making it very hard for our members to find the ball, let alone advance it. We will stay at this height as long as the weather allows. If we go into a long period of drought, we will raise it back up to allow for reduced thinning etc.
                                                                    
  
Insect damage on some localized fairways: As you can see from the picture above we are experiencing some insect activity on a few fairway spots. We do apply an early season insecticide application to prevent this, but have never treated all fairways. On the fairways that we did not treat, we have experienced some minimal damage. We will map these areas in our IPM records and treat them next year with a preventative application.
The Heat Wave: The week of July 14th was a hot one! Day time highs were nearing 40C and night time low were only down to 26C. This kind of weather trend reeks havoc on golf course turfgrass. Extremely hot temperature coupled with high humidity is the perfect recipe for disease. I am happy to say that we made it through the week relatively unscathed. A dedicated staff and a lot of time on hoses kept our greens and approaches rolling well and disease free. We did however experience some disease outbreak on a couple of tees. The 14th and 15th tees were infected by a disease called Pythium. Pythium spreads very rapidly by mowers and foot traffic. We were fortunate to catch and treat the infection first thing in the morning before any spreading of the disease. We have overseeded the areas affected and expect a rapid recovery.

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