Monday, April 21, 2014

Perfect temperatures

The Bermuda grass on the golf course loves the same temperatures you do. The mid 80 days and the cool 60's at night are perfect....I call it the 150 rule. That's when you add the day time and night temps together and the closer you get to. 150 the better the growing weather it is. Funny, it's also the perfect temps for us too!

All this growth doesn't come without some negatives though. As we transition out of winter survival mode and back into active growth control there's a little transition period the course goes through where if you know what to look for you can tell this are happening. One of those things is very light scalping of the grass as we begin to gently dig into the grain as seem in the picture below. 

Notice how the scalping isn't all the way across the fairway as is just in the one mower width. This is where the machine was digging into the grain during that specific direction of travel. When the machine traveled the other direction it was going with the grain and didn't scalp. 

As the summer progresses I will have my staff slowing intensify on grain control, culminating when the course closes and we heavily verticut the fairways. For now though, don't worry if you see a tiny bit of scalping...it's on purpose 

Friday, April 11, 2014

Augusta National Syndrome

This week is hell for Superintendents some times. Some golf members watch tv and see the holy place of golf and then think to their own course and wonder why their own course doesn't look like Augusta National. It can be a trying time to explain to someone that it's like trying to compare apples and tomatoes. Both are red, but in totally different categories.

This morning as I was scanning my social media outlets I saw this great picture of Augusta National mowing their fairways. I have a great friend who worked at Augusta National and when asked why there are no stripes in the turf he said, "It's simple, anyone can mow stripes into the turf. It takes extra effort to not mow stripes."  During the course of regular play the fairways are cut from the tee to the green, but during the tournament the direction is reversed and the fairways are cut from the green towards the tee. 


And if your wondering about the apples and tomatoes thing....there's almost a million dollars of fairways mowers in this one picture. I use 2 mowers regularly, sometimes a third for a special occasion. 

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Operation Pollinator

I've always thought of my job as part grass grower, part artist, and part environmental steward.  So when an opportunity came up to get involved in a project to help the native environment I stepped right up.  The project I am referring to is to help native wild pollinators....yep, bees.  Many are unaware that the numbers of pollinating insects have declined significantly in recent years. The decline has been linked to habitat loss, diseases and viruses, changes in agriculture practices and urban sprawl among other factors. While farm landscapes often lack the diversity and abundance of flowers that pollinators require, recent research has shown this trend can be reversed.
Requirements for supporting a pollinator community include a range of foraging habitats, with diverse, rich nectar and pollen nutrition, as well as adequate nesting areas. This is where Operation Pollinator provides a multifunctional landscape solution and golf courses are perfect for this.


The Club's role in Operation Pollinator is really just one of public awareness.  The golf course already has all of the multitudes of habitats, and with all of the flowers all over the place there is an abundance of food for the pollinators.  If you have ever stopped to admire the flowers around the property you've seen all the bees flying around.  The one things that the golf course provides that is essential form any public awareness campaign to be successful is a great audience.  So like many of the things that are done around the golf course, there are secondary benefits to having the beautiful flowers other than the obvious. 

In the next couple of days my staff will put out some signs like the one above. The signs will help give awareness to one of the many great environmental things that are being done on the golf course that probably would go unnoticed.