Fall Aerification 2014

We have begun the process of aerifying our greens. We got an early start and punched the first two greens before the sun came up. We positioned our golf carts around the greens and used their headlights to see what we were doing. The aerification itself went very smoothly, however we were forced to delay the topdressing and dragging of our greens due to the weather. We hope to have the entire operation complete by Friday morning.

#4 Green

#4 Green

The Newest Addition To Our Crew

We have recently added a new member to our crew! Her name is Lyla and she is a six month old German Shorthaired Pointer. Jeremy Woundy, the Second Assistant of the grounds crew, is her owner and primary caretaker. He began bringing her to work shortly after acquiring her and since then she's become our official golf course dog. Initially we attempted to train her how to rake bunkers but she was prone to digging holes and rolling around in them. Instead we decided that her role on the course should primarily be to deter geese from nesting and loitering on the fifth and sixth hole. Please feel free to stop and say hello to her anytime!

Lyla helping out during aerification.

Careful Chemical Control of Poa annua

Poa annua is a very common grass on all golf courses in the country. It can be maintained to create a playable surface but it is usually treated as a weed especially on golf courses that have Bentgrass greens. This is the case at our golf course. Poa annua is an extremely difficult weed to control as there is no "silver bullet" type of control for it. In the past we have used low rates of special growth regulating chemicals that irritate the Poa annua in all of our greens sprays. However, too much of this chemical can have a negative effect on Bentgrass. We've paired this practice with manually picking out the Poa annua plants. The results of these methods of control have been good but not great as we are still seeing Poa annua plants emerge in our greens every year.

This year we are trying something new. We have purchased a special brush that we can fill with the same growth regulating chemical that we have been using previously but at much higher rates. We also added a chemical that suppresses the plants ability to generate new seeds. The brush allows us to effectively paint the Poa annua with these chemicals. We have made treatments using this brush to the greens on holes #1 and #2. The results have been fantastic. The Poa annua plants have taken a serious hit and have begun wilting out while the Bentgrass around them is unaffected. We will continue to use this method combined with our usual low rate sprays.

All pictures are of the front of #2 green