Newsat Mountain Woods

August Newsletter 2019 for Mountain woods Golf
           

            So, its September already, and heading to October rapidly!!! Where did August go??? I am trying to recall August but just can not seem to remember most of it for some reason. Maybe my dogs have taken control of the brain. LOL. In the turfgrass industry, August is often seen as a transition month, where you tend to get into cruise control, which leads to some pretty uneventful moments. The truth is that August was a great month for the course, in terms of weather actually cooperating with certain cultural practices that had to be done, and we had just enough rain from time to time to help keep things green out there. I did not have to irrigate very often either, which is always a bonus. Some are saying that this is the best they have ever seen Mountain woods, which is great for the reputation of the club and gives you folks bragging rights!!!! I will always say that it has a long way to go!!!
            Greens:            I must say, it has been a lot more fun maintaining the putting surfaces with the new foliar program. It has allowed healthier surfaces, with growth control in humidity, which has led to better cut quality and overall better surfaces that are consistent throughout the day. Because the weather actually did cooperate, we were able to topdress heavily twice, which really smoothed the greens surfaces. Maybe a bit too quick for some, but the speed we ran the past 4-6 weeks is really where I like the speed to be. For the upcoming Rodger Burns Invitational, they are going to be as fast as the weather permits. Hoping to be around 12-13 on the stimp for this tournament!!! I hope you have been enjoying the greens this year. They are not perfect but are pretty good. One thing I would like to share with you is my feelings, and the industry’s feelings on the flagstick left in while putting rule change. I feel that this is by far one of the dumbest rule changes that the PGA has ever come up with. There was no consideration for the turfgrass maintenance departments who have to deal with torn cup edges. When the flag is left in, there is no room to put your hand in and pull a ball out, without tearing the cup edge. Also, a lot of golfers use the flagstick, in a rapid upward movement, to remove the ball, which really tears the edges. Most golf courses do not have enough staff to change cups daily, this one included. So please take the flag out. The laws of physics dictate that if a hole is smaller, then there is statistically less chance of the ball going in it!!!
            Tees:                just recently I have been testing a new wetting agent for the tees, that allows for better water penetration, and retention, which has allowed better divot recovery. It is an inexpensive option for this club and is something that is sustainable.  After the application was done, there was an immediate response in the turf health, and filled divots germinated much faster. The tees also required less water and were still able to stay green. Unfortunately, many of our tee decks are actually too small to handle the amount of traffic that goes through Mountain woods, but there are long-term plans to improve some of them. Don’t forget to fill your divots. One person I should mention is one of our hardworking staff named Louis Snyder. Louis has the morning routine job to get tee deck areas ready, and divot mix made and topped up. This year Louis decided to ramp up his efforts and has been filling divots as part of the morning routine. Its has made a huge difference. Thanks, Louis.
            Fairways:          This year, with just a little bit more rain, we have been able to provide better fairways, than any other year. There is still a lot of knot-weed problems, but turf is winning, and the knot-weed will be sprayed on specific fairways shortly. I have also been testing the same wetting agent used on the tees, on a few trouble fairways we have. The fairways 1,3,4,5,6 were treated recently, and there have been some great results, that make the future management of these areas a lot more promising. We are always trying something on these areas to improve the playability. Thanks for following the 90-degree rule!!!
            The last few weeks of the season, as we progress into Fall, are often the ones that the crew enjoy the most. Temperatures are cooler, and the turf is actually a bit easier to maintain. Over the next few weeks, there will be a lot of preparation for the Rodger Burns tournament, and we are still trying to clean-up from the weekend tropical storm. I would like to thank the volunteers, Don Perron and Danny Morash, for coming out and helping us with cart path washouts.  I hope you guys didn’t need too much physio after that day!!! And we didn’t even get you a coffee!!! Anytime, if any of all of you fine folks feel the urge to get some physical exercise, just let us know. We have an entire forest full of branches, down-falls, etc… Until next time!!!!

A lot of the course looked like this after the storm!!!

Shop area after the storm.. This is a lot deeper than the picture shows. The shop flooded also.

Part of a color test done this year on #8 green. Looks pretty good..