Carmel Country Club Agronomy

  As we head towards the winter solstice and the official start of winter on Sunday we wave goodbye to some seriously cold temps. The next two weeks will see above normal temperatures which mean highs into the 60's and more limited frost in the mornings. January also looks about normal which is a welcome change compared to the last two weeks of fairly cold weather. Sunlight hours will be back on the rise starting next week! The forecast did not fluctuate much last week and the 16 degree low on Sunday night into Monday morning held true. The decision to cover the greens was made Thursday night to cover the greens Sunday to keep the frigid temps from freezing the bermudagrass profile. The gusty winds that were bringing the cold temps in were not exactly helpful on Sunday afternoon but 15 dedicated team members wrestled the tarps across the greens and put the greens to sleep for Sunday night. Monday morning was certainly cold but the greens remained at about 34 degrees in the top inch...

  The rain has moved on but the wind is back and we have one scary low temperature to look at on Monday. As of right now the concern to cover the bermuda greens is low as our residual soil temps should easily remain above freezing. The bermuda has had a nice run into dormancy as well which allows it to tolerate the cold during December. The spring time is when concern rises as the bermuda starts to peak out of dormancy. This is where a cold snap at night could damage some turf. For now though we are focused more on getting work done while it is dry and the sun is out.  Thursday night update: The forecast has dropped even more now and we have succumbed to covering the greens Sunday afternoon.  We have blocked the tee sheet after 12:05 on Sunday to allow our crew to the pull the covers on. We will open the North back up at noon on Wednesday. The South course will open on Monday at 12:30 for anyone that wants to brave the cold. First tee time on the South on Tuesday will be ...

  The wet weather has returned and so have the cold temperatures and frosty mornings. An inch of rain accumulated on Tuesday but carts were back out Thursday just in time for more rain Friday. It sounds like a weak La Nina is in place would should give us more mild temps and drier weather this winter, just not in the next 7 days! You can always access this weather station at our facility here . The bent greens on the South were topdressed again last week in front of a different rain storm. We will stay on top of applying sand through the winter to help defend against foot traffic and ballmarks while the bent growth is slow. Some people have noticed our two Christmas lights out on Carmel lake and the pond on 17 south. These green laser lights come on at night and help deter geese from hanging around the property.  In wetter periods it is easy to see earthworm castings form on the fairways. These castings are result of the worms coming up for air after the rain saturates the soi...

  The team has been grinding away on projects again this week as the weather has been absolutely perfect for mid-November. Another drain was cut in 6 fairway on the South up closer to the green. We will keep going on drainage so long as Mother Nature allows this winter. Consistently drier fairways mean we can get carts back off the path sooner after a rain, ball roll improves and we see less problems from earthworm castings through the off season, all good things! The guys over on the North thinned a few more trees off of 6 this week and have been working behind the stump grinder contractor. All stumps from recent tree removals have been ground down and he was also able to knock out quite a few old stumps around the property like to the left of 9 North. Cleaning up stumps is probably the most arduous part of tree work but we do have a mini excavator on the way that should help out significantly. Scott Morgan has our chipper trailer ready to rock and roll for next week. This trailer...

  Boomer was back looking for shade today as temperatures head to 70 again. 27 degrees on Tuesday morning was easily the coldest it has been in 7 or 8 months. The top layer of the greens were frozen and the bunkers had a short lived crust on them. The sun and normal temps are back now and so long as you are out of the wind you will have great conditions through the weekend. The South was closed on Monday so after a successful Member Member event over the weekend we were ready to dig in to some drainage. A quick warm up of things to come this winter, this smaller drain was put in on the left of 6 fairway before the fairway bunkers. The sod is removed, soil trenched and taken away then gravel, pipe and sand are installed to wick water away faster through this swale. We will continue working through chronically wetter areas this winter, especially landing zones and cart entry points. Not to be outdone the North fixed a broken drain in 11 fairway and then installed a larger line just u...

  The frost was back early this week as the low temperatures dipped below 40 again. Although it has been breezy, the temperatures have been very pleasant in the afternoons with plenty of sunshine. The courses have dried back out and should present well for this weekends Men's Member Member event. A cold blast of air is on the way for Monday where we will see sub 30 temps which will be plenty to finish turning the bermuda rough off color. Our winter weed control application finished up this week across all 175 acres of bermudagrass on property. This application should both prevent and take care of any Poa annua that has popped up as we discussed last week. With such a large area, this is close to a $20,000 material cost application! Some of this Celebration rough is so dense on the South that the Poa pressure should be much lower. Next year we are very much looking forward to thinning some of this rough out, getting it mowed a little lower to see if it can become a slightly more pla...