With over 20 inches of rainfall in 2015 so far and close to 10 inches of that coming in April alone, the golf course is greening up at a slower pace than normal. Areas which have been completely saturated over the winter months with little to no sunlight to dry them out are coated in a combined layer of algae and thatch/clippings which have floated up in all the rain. As you can see in the picture to the right where there are breaks or cracks in the algae as it dries, there is green grass under there we just have to work to get it to the sun.
We have been fortunate this week that the algae/thatch layer has begun to dry out in sections. In an effort to remove the material from the fairways we began vertical mowing these areas to bust up the layer and then used our turbine blowers to blow it into the roughs. The vertical mowers, or verticutters as they are called, have blades which are positioned vertically and cut or slice into the surface, lifting and breaking up this layer.
Hopefully the sun will continue to shine and the soil temps will climb which should generate the growth in the turfgrass that we all want to see. We will have some areas which will have to be sodded or seeded so we will have to ask for your patience as we work through these areas. Patience is the key word here, both on the part of the golfer and for us as well, as we want to provide our guests with the best possible playing conditions just like they want to play on the best possible playing surfaces.
One practice we will be doing over the next few weeks will be to solid tine the tee boxes and the approaches. This cultural practice will help to allow water to penetrate into the soil and will also allow for sunlight and air to reach the soil surface and the root system. Just like aerification of the greens this is a vital process in the success of our golf course.
The tines we will be using for this process will be 3/4" solid tines which will be set to penetrate around 2.5" into the soil. Following the venting process these areas will be mowed or rolled and should not affect your ball roll or play in any way but will pay off in dividends as the grass starts to grow.
We have also begun the process of leveling the irrigation lines around the holes which were renovated this winter. Adding sand to the trench lines will help smooth out the area and will eliminate any disruption to your ball roll. It will take a few topdressings to completely eliminate any evidence of the trench lines but they will be gone before you know it.
As I stated before, please be patient as we work to repair the golf course from the damage caused by the four wettest months I can remember in my career. By the end of the summer this will all seem like a bad dream.
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