Welcome to Carmel's Agronomy Blog!

 

Greetings all and welcome to the first post of Carmel's Agronomy blog. This page will be updated most Thursday afternoons by myself (Chris Harriman, Director of Agronomy) or by South Course Superintendent Micah Pennybaker or North Course Superintendent Eric Downs. My first order of business here is to thank both Micah and Eric for getting this property through one of the toughest summers on record. Our goal of enhancing the golf experience at Carmel by promoting healthy and consistent conditions is set and we are off and running.

Although this is our first post for Carmel, this is about the 900th blog post of my career. Each of those 900 posts were from golf courses with bentgrass greens. Diving into the consistency and conditions of the South Course greens is not just a priority it is a passion! So far, we have modified greens mower setups including changing out rollers and lowering heights while increasing additional rolling frequency. The water has been turned down, Subairs turned up and we have integrated a new fertility package that promotes a strong plant but minimizes growth. There is plenty more to come here!

The North Champion bermudagrass greens have most likely received their final verticutting of the year. We have made similar changes to the mowers to the North and the bermuda here is also enjoying a variety of new plant health products.

We have been consistently applying a light amount of kiln dried sand to both the bent and bermuda greens over the past three weeks. This sand helps keep the surface firm and stand up better against foot traffic and ballmarks.

A more aggressive brush has been used on the bermuda in order to knock the sand into the canopy. The lighter rate of sand is almost unnoticeable the next day. The verticutting, topdressing, brushing, change in fertility and mower setup is already helping reduce grain on the North.

The greens rollers have been out almost daily over the past few weeks. We are looking for smooth and consistent surfaces day in and day out.

On my first official day at Carmel I was greeting with Zoysia fairways that were trying to go dormant after almost a month without any rainfall. 

Something seemed odd as the irrigation was running but the fairways and rough just weren't responding how they should. Our irrigation water tests came in a week later and revealed an elevated level of bicarbonates in the Carmel lake water. These insoluble salts bind up at the surface and seal it off, blocking water from getting to the roots of the plant. 

A wetting agent and fertility package was applied in front of the impeding tropical storm (that thankfully turned back out to sea). The 6 tenths of an inch of rain washed in the wetting agent nicely and the fairways bounced back for Member Guest. Injecting wetting agent into the irrigation system and applying gypsum to help flush the salts will be a major improvement for next year's growing season across the entire property.

The sprayers have been busy managing fertility and applying fungicides for spring dead spot on the bermuda and zoysia patch on the South. A number of different applications have gone down on the South's zoysia to continue helping the sod from the bunker and approach project reach its full potential. Again, knowing the condition of the irrigation water will go a long way in getting these modified soil areas up to speed.

The amount of time and labor being spent on Carmel's six acres of bunkers is staggering. Daily maintenance requires 15 people in order to stay ahead of golf play. Weekly tasks like edging, mowing the faces and pulling bermudagrass runners keeps those same people busy on a closed day. A string trim on the edges sharpened up these features nicely for Member Guest last week.

The guys have been tackling dead trees on both sides over the past few weeks. We plan to take as much tree work in house as possible this winter. 

Both bentgrass nurseries are being renovated and seeded over the next few days. The one here between 4 and 11 North will receive Pure Eclipse bentgrass. At Hermitage, we changed the bent greens on the Sabot course from L93 to Pure Eclipse in 2021 and 22. The newer bentgrasses have been bred to be far more dense, disease, wear and drought tolerant than grasses developed in the 80's and 90's. The nurseries will be a great spot to observe this first hand and then also give us some turf that we can use to patch any voids on the South.

All the rough across the property has been chopped back down to a two inch height for the fall. Next season we are looking forward to addressing some fertility concerns in the rough. This combined with the wetting agent flowing through the irrigation system should produce a healthier plant that will allow for lower mowing heights and better playability.

The staff has been very welcoming and I have been impressed with their skill level and concern for making the golf courses great. We have a great team at Carmel and I could not be more excited for the seasons to come.

Boomer is fitting right in as well, finding the right shade areas to rest in after a morning jog. Please stop us and say hello when you are out. Enjoy the weekend!