As promised but long delayed, some discussion regarding mowing changes for 2011. Paramount in the minds of many is the implementation of double cutting greens. The greens have evolved over time to become a blend (aprrox. 60/40) of creeping bentgrass and annual bluegrass, better known as Poa annua. The bentgrass is one variety but the Poa appears to be 3 different cultivars or types for lack of a better term. They all have different growths characteristics and different responses to our varied weather patterns. Pure stands of creeping bentgrass tend to grow at the same rate. Mixed turf greens do not. As a result by mid afternoon, no matter how short greens are cut in the morning, they will get bumpy. They may still be quick but a consistent predictable ball roll cannot be achieved even with rolling. For those members who cannot play in the earlier hours of the day they will miss out. Double cutting can keep the greens cosistent for a greater portion of the day. It is not a perfect solution however. Certain golf events, extreme weather and the need to monitor turf conditions can affect the scheduling of double cutting. We will strive to mow the greens twice per day beginning in late May, Monday to Friday. We will monitor weekends but I would like to give the turf a "breather" if you will. Of course if a weekend golf event warrants an extra cut we will proceed with a second mowing.
The second cut will begin at 11:30 a.m. with 2 riding mowers going from 18 green backwards (in numerical order) to the 1st green. The putting green and warmup green will be cut last. The operators will approach a green, allow golfers to finish putting and then proceed to mow. It should take approximately 5 to 7 minutes then they will be on their way. It is during this time when problems arise. They have to make the decision when to begin cutting if golfers are hitting their approach shots to the green. There has to be some flexibility here between you and the staff. The sooner they can start mowing the quicker the course is cut for everyone. My feeling is: I would rather wait a few minutes and then get to putt on a better surface than the previous hole. But we all have different expectations. I will repost this discussion as we get closer to the end of May.
When you get onto the course this week you will notice many of the fairways outlined in white paint. I will be changing some contours and adjusting the fairway widths throughout. Dont panic! I will be widening fairways in most cases. Of course with a wider fairway will come a slightly narrower first cut of rough. I want to use a different machine to mow the first cut. It is smaller and narrower than the old fairway mower that was used in the past. As I get some feedback we will also be bringing the beginning of the fairways closer to the forward tees where necessary. This will take time though as I get more familiar with the layout.
One more change I would like to discuss is mowing a walking path down the length of the tees out to the fairway start. It won't affect playability but it might keep your feet a little drier if you are one to walk the course. This isn't a priority right now but something we can implement later.
As for course conditions the warmer weather has really helped in the last few days. The entire staff is finally on board as of Monday, May 2nd so we can really get to work. By my count there are 21 new people wandering around out there (just kidding) getting their feet wet. When we open Thursday I cannot promise a completely clean golf course. There is just not enough hours in the day. We will have all the greens, tees and fairways cut. Bunkers will be raked and cleanup will be ongoing. CTC, with our help, will be installing new sand in the 8 bunkers I have mentioned previously. We do have a problem beside the 4th green. That bunker is still full of snow and the new clay base is sure to be very wet. Hopefully we can speed up the process by shovelling out most of the remaining snow. The haul road work will begin as soon as the irrigation system is up and running (next week) correctly. We have enough sod to tank water until then.
As for the greens I am mostly pleased with how they have survived the winter. Some greens have areas of disease that occurred after the snow was removed and before we could get a spring application of fungicide on them. It was only certains cultivars of Poa that were affected but with water, heat and some help on our part it won't be long before these spots fill in. My feeling is that thatchy greens tend to have a high population of disease pathogens. Thatchy greens require a consistent, committed topdressing program to help alleviate this problem. Hint, hint.
Enough turf talk for now. I hope many of you have seen our first grounds video and I look forward to many more. I believe they will be a great resource for communicating our cultural practices to the membership. I will say that it is harder than it looks to do. I won't win any acting awards and cue cards are definitely a must for the next video. A big thank you to Matt from the pro shop for his help.
See you soon,
Wade
No comments:
Post a Comment