Cold and rainy and we will take it!

 

This has been quite a September so far, now featuring a 40 degree swing in temperatures just this week. We are elated to see the temps drop, especially at night as we work towards October. While daytime highs will be right back at 90, the nighttime temps will stay around normal. The next few nights of low 50's will really slow the turf down and put us in prime time fall golf condition.

The drop of nighttime temperatures means we can finally bring the fans in for the season. It does not take long for the bentgrass to start initiating new root growth as soil temps drop. Lower humidity and lower temperatures means the electricity can be turned off. We have plenty of notes from the summer and will continue moving a few more fans this winter so they can be even more effective next year.

Not that we see much growth on these bermuda greens on the North anyway but a few nights in the 50's will certainly start to close the door on the growing season. The roller will be out daily on these greens and we should start to see fall speeds just in time for Member Guest next week.

With rain in the forecast the North team hustled early in the week to get the North range tee overseeded. Since the Men's Member Guest will utilize the larger South bottom tee, we went ahead and overseeded the North with hopes that it will be ready for the Ladies Member Guest later in the month. The verticutter was used in order to thin the bermuda out and make a nice seed bed for the rye.


The clippings dried out quickly in the heat on Monday and were swept up and hauled off.


A heavy 20 pounds of ryegrass seed per 1,000 square feet was laid down and is now enjoying the rain. We should see some germination next week and hopefully have this tee available again inside of three weeks or so. This is a messy, expensive and time consuming process during what is debatably the best time of the year for golf but it does provide some turf to hit off of through the winter. 


Charlie got his Pure Eclipse bentgrass seed down before the rain came on the South bent nursery. We will reseed the North bent nursery after member guest. The seeding rate here at 2lbs/1000 is much lower than the rye but that rate puts over 10,000,000 tiny seeds onto this 1,000 square foot surface.


The oaks at the front entrance are starting to tell us that leaf (and acorn) season is coming. While grass growth slows down, keeping surfaces clean from all the leaves can take more time and labor than just simple mowing.


It seems like golf play in the heat has been thin the past few weeks. Enjoy a preview of some fall weather this weekend before 90 degrees returns!

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