Course Update 7/31/20

The recent stretch of hot and dry weather has made it very difficult to keep the turf fully hydrated, and as a result we're seeing brown spots on the fairways.  Keep in mind the brown spots only indicate dry areas, not dead turf.  A natural defense mechanism for grass is to go semi-dormant which involves minimal top growth and a loss of green color.  The areas you're seeing brown out, normally occur when we have this kind of weather and will start to look better when the daytime high is below 85 degrees and there is more available soil moisture.  According to the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh we haven't had a stretch of 90 degree days this long since 2012.  With July ending today, we also recorded our third month in a row of below average rainfall.  We currently sit at 5.5" below our average rainfall for May, June & July combined.

We've relied much more on the irrigation systems this year as compared to the previous three years, and we're watering fairways, and everything else, every night it doesn't rain.  We then handwater or run heads during the day as needed to keep the hot spots moist.  A normal irrigation cycle is 10 minutes per head, but we've increased that lately up to 15 minutes in many areas.  Any longer and the water can't soak into the soil.  It will runoff and puddle in the low areas where it creates a higher chance of disease due to the excess moisture, and create soft, mushy turf where balls plug.  The run time may not sound like a lot, but each irrigation head puts out 40-60 gallons per minute depending on the nozzle set used.  Our irrigation system has good coverage of all the playing surfaces, but even the most modern system will never replace a steady natural rainfall.  Adding to the challenge is the fairways and rough are grown on mostly heavy clay, with very little topsoil.  Lakes fairways are especially bad with clay and rocks near the surface, that's why you'll see more dry areas on that course.  Aerification and topdressing have helped improve the growing conditions, but it's going to take several more years until we really see an improvement.

This is Lakes #3 approach.  It was constructed on a rock outcropping with minimal topsoil.  The shallow rock absorbs heat and dries out the soil, which leads to brown areas.  Our regular aerification and sand topdressing program are slowly improving this area.

This represents a typical dry area on a fairway.  If you look close you can see little green circles in the brown spots.  Those green circles are old aerification holes where the turf is healthier from deeper roots and better water penetration.

Ballmarks

The extended stretch of 90+ degrees and lack of rainfall has required us to water more frequently to keep the turf from wilting.  This has resulted in softer putting greens that are more prone to ballmarks.  A properly repaired ballmark will heal in just a few days, as compared to one that isn't repaired properly will usually take a couple weeks, if it heals at all.  The maintenance staff repairs what we can prior to mowing greens in the morning, but it is the golfer's responsibility to fix their ballmarks.

Click Here To Watch A Short Video From The USGA On Repairing Ballmarks

Here's a typical, unrepaired ballmark on a putting green.

Here's an improperly repaired ballmark.  The damaged center has been popped up and will remain in this condition for several weeks.

The ballmark in the first picture was repaired following the guidance in the USGA video.  The ballmark is in the center of the picture, but it's very difficult to distinguish since it was repaired properly.

Bees In The Bunkers

Some concerns have been expressed about the "bees" that invade our bunkers every year around this time. They are actually Sand Wasps (Bembix species) and surprisingly pose no threat to humans.  Keep in mind that our staff maintains the bunkers daily and we are constantly disturbing them.
NOT ONE STING!

Sand Wasp (Bembix species) burrowing in the sand

For a few weeks every summer we have visitors that take up residence in our sand traps. These fast fliers are officially known as the Bembix Sand Wasp. They dig numerous burrows in cool, moist sand (ie- bunkers) to lay their eggs. Juvenile wasps, known as larvae, emerge from the eggs where they remain in the sand and grow into adults. Adult females congregate together in large numbers when making nests to bait their prey. The higher populations of larvae in nesting sites attract flies, beetles, caterpillars and grasshoppers. These insects are captured by the female wasp and taken back to the burrows to be fed to the growing larvae.

The existence of these insects in the bunkers is a nuisance to golfers, but beneficial to the course as they help to control the population of flies and detrimental turf beetles by preying on them.

The greatest concern for golfers is that they will get stung by these wasps when entering a bunker to play a shot.  Studies have proven that this particular wasp is not aggressive and of no harm to humans.  Both male and female wasps will not sting humans unless they are stepped on or smashed between your hands.  When approached by a human the sand wasp will initially swarm, looking for food, and then go back to their burrows to protect their larvae.

Course Update 7/9/20

We vented greens and collars this week to allow for gas exchange and better water penetration in heat stressed areas, along with relieving surface compaction.  Venting is aerifying with small (.25") diameter solid tines that penetrate up to 3" deep.  The process involves mowing the green first, then venting, followed by rolling to smooth any imperfections on the putting surface.  We typically perform this process several times during the summer in addition to our traditional core aerifications in the spring and fall.  Most golfers don't even notice we did anything since the process causes very little surface disruption.

We use our regular greens aerifier outfitted with 60, .25" diameter solid tines spaced 1.5" apart.  This setup creates 72 holes per square foot, which sounds like a lot, but only affects 2.75% of the greens surface area.

This picture was taken prior to rolling so the holes look more pronounced.

The tool in this picture is a soil probe that removes a small core from the green that is checked for moisture content.  The probe is laying on a patch of Bentgrass on one of our greens.  The turf around the Bentgrass is Annual Bluegrass (Poa annua).  The greens were originally seeded and grown in with Bentgrass in the mid 90's, but the Poa eventually got a foothold and has become the dominant turf.  Poa does not like hot temperatures or high humidity, and needs a lot of TLC in this kind of weather.