May & Transition

With May already here this means that we are at the start of the transition season and the end of maintaining the ryegrass. In a couple of weeks we will be starting the aerification of the nurseries, small putting green (the one near three's tee) and both of the chipping greens. This process not only allows us to daily the machines in for the main aerification but also allows us time to heal these greens in case any sod is needed for green's repair after transition.

Transition is our least favorite time a year as it is with many of the members. This is the time when unlike your favorite northern courses we are going out of our way to kill the beautiful ryegrass that we spent so much time cultivating and start growing in the bermudagrass. The process between the two types of grasses is called transition. The good news is that with the chemicals we have today we can speed up the process and as well even it out. Using chemicals last year Bighorn reduced their sod laying from hundreds of pallets to just a few ... of course they close for 10 weeks on each course during the process.

Roses & Chafers

Recently, I have been asked by the members is the beetle that they are finding on their roses and other plants from the golf course. First, I had to capture the beetle in question and id it ... which I did by going up to several homeowners roses and collecting beetle samples. The samples I collected were chafers beetles and in most cases in a higher population than I have seen in years. This doesn't surprise me since this past winter was one of the wettest I have seen since moving to the Valley eleven years ago.

Are the chafers from the golf course? Not exactly. As with all types of insects the adult stage of the beetle fly for miles and miles to find a suitable location both the feed and lay their eggs ... well your succulent roses provide both as do ours roses on 7's tee. So is the golf course where the chafers are coming from -- no.

Good news is that same with the June Bugs that use to make my Grandmother so mad and excellent bluegill bait for me, there numerous insecticide that can control these chafers. Your local Home Depot or Lowes will have these insecticide that you as a unlicensed homeowner can use.

Tree Removals

After the windstorm a week ago a top of one of our date palm trees broke off thus killing the tree. On Monday this tree's stump will be removed along with three pine trees behind 6's blue tee which belong to the new home owner that move into that home. We are allowing access through the golf course due to the location of those trees.

Drains & Fertilization

A week or so ago we were informed that a couple of the drain lids "popped" off when a cart drove directly over them. We have started sercuring the lids to the drain pipe but this is a big process and will take a couple of weeks to finish since there are so many around the golf course. Speaking of projects, we after many years finally extended the wind "vane" for the weather station above the Arborviteas so now we will be able to get accuracte wind readings which in turn will allow us to better irrigate at night.

On Friday the 15th (tax day) we finished the wall-to-wall fertilization. Over next week we will be fertilizing around the greens and out of the way areas to promote the final push of the ryegrass for the season and jump start the bermudagrass. This will be the last fertilization for the ryegrass since in May (towards the end of the month) we will start the chemical transition of the fairways, tees & approaches. YES -- this will be ugly at first but it will provide a better summer turf conditions and overseed next season.

Upcoming Timelines

Upcoming Week:

a) Apr 16th heavy rolling the greens.
b) Apr 17th spray greens including Primo
c) Apr 18th lightly topdressing greens.
d) Apr 18th PM of the Pump Station
e) Apr 19th heavy rolling the greens.
f) Apr 21st heavy rolling the greens.
g) Apr 22nd spiking the greens.

In Next Week After:

a) Apr 25th foliar spraying the greens 12-0-0, Primo & Get Green.
b) Apr 26th verticutting the greens.
c) Apr 28th topdressing the greens.

In Near Future:

a) May 2nd CV Vector Control treating for fire ants.
b) May 2nd foliar spraying greens.
c) May 3rd verticutting greens.
d) May 4th topdressing greens.
e) May 5th verticutting greens.
f) May 9th granular fertilizing greens.
g) May 10th verticutting greens.
h) May 12th verticutting greens.
i) May 16th root pruning several greens such as 1, 5, etc.
j) May 16th foliar spraying greens.
k) May 17th verticutting greens.
l) May 18th topdressing greens.
m) May 19th 21-0-0 greens that are going to be aerified.
n) May 19th verticutting greens.
o) May 20th spraying greens with Cascade & X-Solis.
p) May 23rd foliar spraying greens.
q) May 24th verticutting greens.
r) May 26th starting Monument on fairways tees and approaches.
s) May 27th aerifying CGs, Small PG, and nurseries.
t) May 31st continuing Monument spraying.

Wind Storms

It seems like every year we get a week or two of very bad winds ... well this year was no exception. With gusts up to 70 mph we not only had several big branches break but also lost two tree -- a palm behind 15's green and half of another tree behind 9's blue tee (this may survive). The good news is that thanks to heavier trimming this year the damage was quite a bit less than it could have been. According the weather reports the winds are stopping after last night for a while.

Fairy Ring, BTa & Drains

I have been noticing that the fairy ring on the greens has been starting to rear its ugly head over the past couple of weeks. We have a chemical to address the issue; however, to get the full effect of this very costly product we have to wait until the first aerification to apply. In addition, the BTa (the little black beetle) has returned ... good news is that we are on a grub treatment program that addresses the insects that we started last year and the population is 5% of what it has been in the past.

Drains -- I have just for the first time heard we are having a issue with a couple of drain tops "popping" off when the golf carts drive over them. Brandon is getting with Mr. Kelly to discover which ones were the issue so we can find out why after 6 years for many of them we are now seeing a problem. Once we can discover what the problem exactly is and what can be done to solve it we will fix the issue around the golf course.

Broken tees -- A member asked me the other day if my team was just dumping the broken tees out of the boxes on the tees. The answer is of course "no." Every morning the set up person picks up and empties the broke tee caddies (into a trash can) and places the empty caddie back. Sadly, there are many when they are throwing their broken tees at the tee caddie -- miss.

Verticutting Greens

We have started the verticutting of the greens process and additionally the spiking as well. The verticutting will start thinning out the Poa Triv and allowing the bermudagrass to fill in while the spiking of the greens is mainly to allow for air movement and compaction relief from all of the rolling we have done in the season. Currently, both processes will be done once per week; however, starting in May the verticutting will be increased to twice per week. We still for now will continue the once per week topdressing which in May will decrease to every other week. In addition starting May 1st we will be stopping the walk mowing of the greens and will be starting the triplex units.

Just to get you as the members ready but starting in May we will dry down the golf course slightly to start stressing the ryegrass thus allowing the bermudagrass to grow in without as much competition. Later in May we will be chemically killing the remaining ryegrass in the fairways and approaches to give the bermuda at least 100 days to recover and be ready for next season's overseed. This process at first is UGLY; however, with verticutting and fertilization (provded that Mother Nature plays ball) the effect will be minimized as much as possible. That being said the ryegrass still will not look very good (brown) because it has been killed.

These processes are necessary evils at heavily overseeded golf courses which basically grow in two types of turf twice per year. Basically, here in the Valley we have two golf course grow-ins per year while most around the nation just have to maintain one type of turf.