5/31 Green speeds

This morning the greens were stimped behind the cut and roll at a
speed of 9.5 feet. We continue to push the greens as aggressively as
resources and Mother Nature will allow. The greens are still wet from
the additional rain on Thursday (.27") and Saturday AM (.25"). The
high dewpoints (upper 60's) is keeping our air at a high humidity
level which makes it difficult for the greens to transpire and
evaporation to take place. Forecasters are calling for this pattern to
continue through today with a possible chance of storms this evening.
This pattern should break in time for aerification.
Our plan is to still aerify the greens with a solid tine on
Wednesday. We will add another very light topdressing and brush into
the process to assist with drying the greens out. Additionally, I have
yet again increased our growth regulator rates on the greens last week
to help aid in speeds. We are currently double the rate than that put
on fairways and tees. We have also continued a daily roll with our
mowing over the last 12 days.

William Brown, CGCS

Sent from my iPhone

Stimp reading 5/28

This morning I stimped the 9th green behind our cut and roll. The greens are rolling 9.5 feet today. The continued humidity coupled with the .27" of rain last night are causing the greens to be a bit slower today. As you will see in your weekly newsletter, we are needletining the greens on Wednesday to assist in drying the greens out.

Bunker Surrounds

It was brought to my attention about concern over the height of cut around the bunker banks. Our goal for height of cut around the bunkers ie. bunker banks, is 3.5 to 4 inches. In a previous post titled, Golf Course Maintenance Schedules, the mowing schedule of all surfaces are discussed. The bunker banks are mowed once a week. This time of year, as with all our other grasses, the bunker banks are growing more rapidly and are a bit thicker than they will be in later months of the golf season. Also, a yearly phenomenon that is occurring as we speak, is the production of seedheads by all grasses. Seedheads are produced daily. We have areas of our primary rough and even fairways that after the day it is cut and the existing seedhead is removed, their are additional seedheads the following morning. This phenomenon is creating a perception of the bunker banks to be at a higher height than they actually are. Perception is also skewed due to the height of cut of the 1st cut. The 1st cut is mowed at .75" and having this height of cut in the foreground of the bunker banks, creates the perception of a much higher height of cut for the bunker banks.

Below are two photos. The first is a photo of the 10th bunker from normal eye level. The second photo is at a level that shows the length of seedhead growth versus the lenght or height of grass blades. Seedhead production on the type of grass around our bunkers is nearly finished and we should be back to "normal" shortly.