Mid-Summer Report 2017
Today's date is July 20, 2017, which means we are a little over half way through the worst of summer. We figured it would be a good time to give an update on what is going on with the golf course currently. Overall, I feel that the health and overall aesthetic of the golf course is great and is far ahead of where we have been the past two years. I think we are seeing the benefits of aerification in the fairways and tees as the property handles heavy rainfall much better than in the past. Our goal for this summer was to provide a green, lush playing field and I think we have achieved that. I do feel that after some morning walks on some fairways we are starting to trend towards the wet side and just before writing this blog I spent the past hour reducing the run times on most irrigation heads by 50%. We should see a quick benefit in firmness from this. As we have done in the past, after big events, we have taken this past week to allow greens some time to recuperate from the stresses of double cutting and rolling. We vented the greens on Monday and applied some topdressing. We also went out with some extra fertilizer to promote a little extra growth. In the short term, coupled with the fact we were only single cutting this week, this will result in slower green speeds, but the increased health of the greens will allow us to "step on the peddle" a bit over the next few weeks heading into the Delaware Open. I feel like we are at a good point with some of our weaker greens (2 Grizzly, 5 Kodiak, 5 Black Bear) compared to the past two years. 5 Black Bear got some damage from the excessive heat, but we are taking some quick action to alleviate the hot and humid conditions around the green, by cutting out the under brush and the smaller trees that are currently forming a wall. We are seeing good recovery there and I think we will be in good shape in the next 7-10 days. Over the next few weeks you can expect to see weekly light topdressing, a switch back to double cutting, and increased firmness overall. We will spend some time next week spraying rough for some of the goose and crabgrass that has emerged but our playing surfaces are pretty clean. We also will continue to work on cutting down dunes and cleaning up some waste bunkers, hopefully making the cost of an errant shot a little less painful. All in all we are pretty excited by where we stand right now at this point in the season and look forward to crossing the finish line in excellent shape this year.