Accident on #5 green

As many of you have already seen, there was a little accident on #5 green this past Monday.  A hydraulic hose ruptured on a riding green's mower while cleaning up after verti-cutting the green and spewed hot oil onto the putting surface.

The damage to the grass comes mostly in from the heat of the oil.  It is similar to what happens if you get a splat of hot grease when frying beacon on the stove.  Unless a large amount of oil is spilled the grass will come  right back.  If you get a considerable drenching of the soil, like what happened in the bottom of the above picture where all of the new plugs are, you have to replace the soil in the green along with the grass.

The good news is 95% of the damage is superficial.  The heat of the oil just scalded the grass blade and the putting surface should recover in a couple of weeks.  Notice in the picture below all of the green specs buried in the massive amount of brown.  The green is the new growth of the leaf blade that will continue to expand.  As the new leaf grows upward, we will mow off the brown part until it has all disappeared.

Just a reminder that we are closing again for 5 days so my maintenance team can aerify the golf course and do all the required maintenance practices.  I will post another blog of all the activities, so stay tuned.