Course Update And Other Thoughts - April 22nd

A brief update for the membership:

• All the greens and tees are clear and have come through winter in good condition. They may have issues here and there until it really warms up and we have the irrigation system operating but as of today Eric and I both feel a sense of relief (especially myself).
• The fairways look fairly good but some are still snow covered and most are still very wet. The Poa annua/Kentucky bluegrass blend prevalent at our club results in a mix of early season colors. As long as most of it isn't grey thats a good sign. The Poa will tend to lose the green and go almost an orange tinge until the weather improves and we can really start aggresively managing the turf.
• My approach to the beginning of any golf season is to go easy on the turf until I am confident that any work we attempt will not result in a setback. This is a crucial point in the season that can go a long way in determining conditions for the summer.
• The application of some fungicide around the greens in the rough has held back the snow mold. When you get on the course you will notice the spray perimeter. Greenish on one side; matted, moldy and greyish on the other. Can you imagine the damage if we could not use fungicides to protect the turf in the fall?
• As you are probably well aware the practice facilities open on Saturday. Please refrain from commenting on green speed for awhile. The practice and warmup greens are mowed but they are soft and slow. We have lots of time to knock that topic around. The practice bunkers are not ideal but we will be replacing the sand with new product and cleaning up the edges soon. I'm sure Ted Locke has ideas in place to revamp that area behind the range tee. This season we will be treating that green like all the rest so eventually it should be a better playing surface because right now it almost looks like a  tee box. Time will tell.
• I'm not sure if many of you know this but the grounds crew has undergone a dramatic turnover. We won't go into the boring details but those staff returning are the people I felt could contribute to the success of the club. The other 20 or so new staff have a steep learning curve ahead of them. My team is committed to training them to become valued members of the maintenance crew but there will be mistakes and issues for us so please have some patience in the early goings. 
• My next blog posting will deal with some maintenance practice changes for the season. Yes, one of them involves the introduction of a double cutting program for the greens. Stay tuned.
• Finally, a word about something that is probably on your minds throughout the day. When will the course open? My best guess is around the 5th of May. Weather permitting as usual.

Wade Peckham

COURSE UPDATE APRIL 14th

My day started off with a look out the window and no snow! By the time I had dressed and checked out the radar loop on the Environment Canada website it was snowing. On my way to work I almost hit a pedestrian who decided to cross the street without looking or thinking about an ice covered 109th street. No harm done.

I had planned to go out today, take some pictures of the golf course and then post them for all to see. It would be a bad joke to do it now. Aside from a lack of pictures I can report that conditions look very promising at present. We have 3 greens left to clear (the present snowfall not included) and the greens that are clear look good. The greens that have more annual bluegrass (Poa annua) than creeping bentgrass look blotchy and off color but that is normal. There are several different bio types of Poa across the surface of the greens and each type has its own distinctive color and look as they come out of dormancy in the spring. Eric brought in samples (plugs) to the greenhouse and after 24 hours or so they are growing quite well. The tee surfaces also look good and any fairway turf I can see looks ok as well. Unfortunately I can't see much. They are either covered in snow or underwater. If you have a home lawn you probably have a good dose of snow mold and maybe some mouse damage. At the golf course the mice had a field day. No pun intended. Many surrounds are chewed up and I think we will see some activity on some tees and greens as well.

 Wherever we did not apply a fungicide there are some pretty dramatic examples of snow mold. We sprayed all the usual areas of the course as well as 1 or 2 passes of the rough around the greens. Next fall, weather, time and cost permitting I would like to expand the rough treatment to further protect the course for a better spring result. Conditions as they are this spring always validate our efforts to protect the turf from disease pressure. We aren't quite out of the woods yet though. We will be applying a spring fungicide as soon as we can get on the greens and hoping for seasonable weather and not a dramatic drop in temperatures. The turf (especially Poa) is very susceptible to a low tempertature setback during March and April.

We are hoping to have the parking lot (most of it anyway) cleaned up before the Easter weekend and the practice facilties open by then as well. The putting greens are almost a given but with today's weather the driving range has become a long shot. Maybe next week will be warm and sunny. We need good weather down in maintenance as well so that our city water line thaws out sooner than later. Scroll to the bottom for another picture. One other note. The ipod app will not display pictures so visit: http://www.wpeckham.blogspot.com/  or Google: "Royal Mayfair Turf Notes" to view any pictures. Thanks.

Until next time.
Wade