Carmel Country Club Agronomy

The skies have opened up again but not before another drainage project was completed, this time at the beginning of 8 South fairway. About 350 feet of new french drain was connected to existing drain basins to help dry out this highly trafficked area. The guys have the new trencher dialed in and it is making this job much easier by tossing excavated soil straight into the trailer. Only small touch ups are needed before the trench is ready for gravel, pipe and sand. This large project was buttoned up before lunch on Wednesday this week. The old trencher was still working this week and was used to move the fan base on 15 South. This fan is now in a better position to keep this green cool through the season. New wire was run from close to 16 tees across the back of the green surround and to the new location at the back right of the green. The bermuda definitely tried to wake up a bit last week before it was met with sub 30 degree temperatures on Monday and Tuesday. The wind helped keep th...

  Hopefully everyone was happy to see rain on this past Sunday as opposed to snow. Almost 2" soaked down the area all day Sunday and that keep us on dry land for President's Day Monday. This gum tree at the Maintenance Facility has riddled the yard and intern housing with gum balls for the final time. Two pine trees right of #1 South blue and gold tee were also taken out this week, allowing for full sun to reach the teeing surface much earlier in the morning and lasting about 3 hours longer in the afternoon.  The hyacinths tell a simple story about sunlight here in the front of the clubhouse. The south facing plants are easily a week ahead of the flowers on the other side that are shaded by the Magnolia. In these shoulder seasons photo period plays a huge roll in growth potential all around the property. On 15 North we removed the smaller of the two pines here left of the greenside bunker. The area around the remaining pine was sodded so we'll see if this popular landing s...

  Are you waiting patiently for Spring to show up? Boomer and his black coat would rather winter stay here all year long. We have a ways to go for soil temps and daylight period to reach bermuda wakening levels but after Saturday there are not many frost events left in sight. Our average germination date for crabgrass here in Charlotte is late February. This week we began applying a pre and a post emergent herbicide to continue battling Poa annua and to make sure we are covered for crabgrass germination. This application covers close to 200 acres of bermudagrass across the property. The GPS tracking technology on the sprayers ensures nothing is missed or doubled up. Our irrigation technicians James and Connor have been working around the clubhouse this winter upgrading and checking on the multitude of zones in the landscape. This zone for example always had been run on a manually controller timer. It is now wired up to a new controller that can be run remotely, giving much more fle...

  After the last ice storm I don't think anyone was expecting the forecast for 10"+ of snow to actually happen but it did and then some. The track loaders were out in the middle of it and the guys made it happen to get the club back open as soon as possible. This was the most snow this property has seen since 2004 supposedly. The only activity the golf courses have seen over the past week was some sledding as playing surfaces have been covered for a solid week. Golf resumes today and the high of 50 should melt most of the remaining piles of snow. Our warm season turf has been through the ringer this winter. It was definitely a benefit to have snow cover on top of the greens tarps as the temps dropped below 10 degrees Monday morning. The sun came back out however and as low temperatures came back above 30 any remaining snow was pushed off the impermeable covers and they were peeled back to let the greens see the sun and breath again. The greens look good and hopefully we will o...

  Luckily our area ended up on the light side of the ice Armageddon that the news was calling for on Saturday. The sleet covered the property and afforded both our courses a few days rest. Our team was out and about Monday to clean up the mess around the Clubhouse. The sun helped out as well and most of the surfaces were clear by the afternoon. We still have some ice left on a few shaded areas but it looks like a few brave soles will be teeing it up this afternoon on the South. The covers on the North apparently know exactly what to do by keeping the soil temps at exactly freezing temp even when the air temp is around 20. We will pull the covers back today to check on some moisture and then put them right back on for probably another week. Even the bentgrass on the South is pretty close to going dormant this year which is a great thing. With the turf hardened off, any spent energy is going to the plants root system and will be better prepared for the summer. Outside of the recent i...

  The cold nights were back this week and despite the sunny afternoons most of the turf stayed frozen all week. Every different kind of winter precipitation is headed our way this weekend and behind it will be the coldest temperatures of the season. We are hoping for more sleet than freezing rain as the ice from the freezing rain can cause a massive amount of trouble on and off property.  The covers came off the North greens Wednesday afternoon but will go right back on Friday morning in front of the storm and impending polar vortex drop in. We were able to check moisture on the greens and apply a fungicide that helps keep the turf healthy under the tarps. Tarp work takes the majority of the crew but thankfully the winds were down this time around. Sometimes the winter weather can help explain what happens in the summer time more clearly. Here on 18 this bunker is south facing, so it bakes in the sun all afternoon. The face of this bunker was dry and not frozen while the botto...

  Another shot of cold air is headed our way so we will go ahead and put the tarps on the North bermuda greens on Sunday morning. We have been using 20/19 degree lows as a trigger for the tarps. You can see the difference the tarps made a few weeks ago when the low hit 16 at night. The South will be able to handle anyone that wants venture out in 40 degree temps Monday through Wednesday next week. The cool season bent on the South continues to enjoy the sunny and dry winter. We did have to finally put some water on these greens this week as there has not been any significant rain yet this year. The greens were dusted with sand this week which was watered in just in front of the drizzle on Monday. Dry cold weather makes tree work much easier in January. The Grounds team went after this dead oak in the golf parking lot on Monday. Ambrosia beetle had infested this already drought stressed tree over the past year and took the rest of the life out of it. Previously a tree service had qu...