Turf News - July 2022
13 JUL 2022
Updates from Bill McAllister
As I write this and look out my office window, we are getting some much-needed rain…. cue the smile.
It has been an extremely dry start to the 2022 summer. The solstice has just passed, and it is tough mix during a drought. That is a tough mix as these are some of the highest evapotranspiration days. The longest days of the year combined with high winds, lots of sun and minimal humidity make it very tough to keep the grass green. On the optimistic front…. the days are getting shorter by a minute every day from here on out!
We have just finished our primary rough fertilization so any good rains over the next week or so will assist in bringing our blue grasses out of dormancy. Wetting agents have also been applied to all tees and fairways and this will also assist with water penetration and therefor recovery.
Going forward for the next stretch of weeks we will monitor the weather and hope that some heavy rains are on the way. Our on-course ponds and reservoir hold over 70 million gallons of irrigation water and to date we are down about 20 million. That leaves us with roughly 50 days of irrigation watering. With any kind of heavy rain, we can access over 2 to 3 million gallons from runoff and the online tributary that begins to flow.
There is a good chance that many of the on-course ponds will be used for irrigation once our reservoir is empty. We have the benefit of having this storage on site but as we draw down the pond banks begin to get unsightly. It is better for the grass to use this than have a pretty looking pond. We have begun to reduce some of our watering on the course.
The range roughs will be scaled back to a minimal watering until we receive the rains. We continue to use our overhead sprinklers minimally on greens and hand water as needed. Our primary roughs do go dormant, and this is natural for its lifecycle. We make every effort to reduce traffic (cart and equipment) in any dormant areas as constant traffic will kill any dormant grass.
So, if you ask….’what can we do?’ well the answer is keep your cart traffic to green and healthy irrigated areas until we receive some rains and be patient as this drought will not last that long!
Bunker Project
We have sodded all bunkers on CopperHead #2, #3, and #12, except for a portion of the right-side fairway of #12.
CopperHead #2:
CopperHead #12:
The practice area chipping bunker is under construction and is also be lined with gravel as I write this.
We have lined all new bunkers with gravel and all new drain lines are installed.
On July 11th, Billy Bunker team was on site to train and certify our contractor on the polymer installation and all bunkers will be sprayed with Billy Bunker followed by installing new Signature sand in all bunkers for CopperHead #12 to #16.
The new forward tee on SideWinder #12 will be graded, irrigation installed, tee mix hauled into this area, and lay sod by Friday, July 15th and hopefully open this new tee box early August.
