Slow and steady

It's been awhile since my last post. Things have been extremely busy and time for writing has taken a back seat. I wanted to take a moment to update you on our recovery progress so far. We have finally got the warm weather we have been looking for. Soils have warmed and turf recovery is progressing. Here is a comparison taken over the last 3 months of 1 green.

            1 green -- A prime example of how shade and poor drainage equals winter kill 

As you can see things have come along way. There has been substantial seed germination on 5 green along with parts of 1 and 4. The larger areas on 1 and 4 have seen some recovery, but not what we are looking for. Germination has been very slow and the process is taking a lot longer than anticipated. I met with ownership and have come up with a plan. We are giving the greens until Monday to see if we get some substantial germination from our latest seeding last week. If we don't get the catch we are looking for then we are going to sod the large areas on 1 and 4. We will harvest the sod from the practice green on the south side of the clubhouse. This will insure the sod will match perfectly with the existing grass. Prior to installing the sod we will regrade portions of the rough, collars and green to promote surface drainage. This will help prevent water from sitting in these areas and help to avoid damage in the future. As for the practice green, we will restablish it with seed and aeration plugs. The price of closing this practice green to in order to get the greens back into shape is a small one. I will let you know next week which way we decide proceed. If we sod, a realistic time table to open the greens would be three weeks from the time of sodding. This gives the sod a chance to root and be able to with stand foot traffic. 

Those of you who have been following the blog, you have learned that winter kill has been a hot topic thoughout the industry. Here are two more great articles explaining how the recovery efforts are going around the region and what to expect moving forward.

http://www.golfcourseindustry.com/gci0514-winterkill-impact.aspx

http://www.usga.org/course_care/regional_updates/regional_reports/northeast/And-Recovery-Continues%E2%80%A6-At-A-Snail%E2%80%99s-Pace---May-2014/

As for the rest of the course.....

We had perfect weather to aerate greens the other week. With warm weather and timely rains, it helped the greens to heal extremely quick. We are starting to return to our normal mowing schedule and height. Green speeds and smoothness will follow soon after. As part of our agronomic program, each spring we make an application to prevent poa seed heads on greens. This application has a tendency to slow the plants growth. With the greens in the condition they are I decided not to make the application. We are solely focused on promoting recovery right now. This application would have hindered our progress. If you see the white seed heads out there and the greens are a bit bumpier, that is why.

We are making progress filling stump holes. More than half of the holes have been filled to date. The holes have been seeded, fertilized and covered around 6 green. We should start seeing grass popping very soon. The large area to the right of 6 green has also been sodded.  With the recent rains the sod should root very quickly and be ready for play.

All and all things are starting to come together. I estimate we are about 3 weeks behind a normal season. We are doing things now that should have been weeks ago. It has been a tough spring to say the least. The flooding rains today haven't done us any favors. All we can do is put our heads down and continue moving forward. As always I'm here to answer any questions you may have.