Green Speed ... What is the Deal?

The past two weeks have seen almost an everyday frost delay and the slight off-coloring of the golf course.  During that time the green's roll and speed were in the words of several lower handicapper golfers ... perfect.  Well, what happened?

Over the weekend with Green Committee and Board approval we maximized our limited labor during the holidays by only bringing in a set up person and supervisor the prep the course for play -- note: no issues were noted on the weekend and most of the few that played did not even notice.  However, starting Sunday afternoon we have had three days of near or record high temperatures which led to a flush of growth.  The golf course is a natural system effected by natural events.

Monday, with the whole crew except one on vacation, we were back at taking care of the golf course.  The first day back, the cut of the greens that were allowed to grow since Friday's cut did not get the purest of cuts ... but by Tuesday they were back smooth.  The good news is that Monday was a slow day and allowed us to get caught back up after saving the Club a great deal of money.  On Tuesday, we notice that the flush of growth needed to be addressed thus we lowered the HOC (height of cut) and as with Monday addressed imperfections in the greens from un-repaired ballmarks to a couple bad plugs ... which by the way we still are addressing.

Wednesday, once again we lowered the HOC for today and restarted the rolling program since the frost seems to left for the season.  Turf such as the less than 0.100 inch that is found on the greens stresses during the frost periods and has to be addressed in a sensitive manner especially with the poor percolation push up greens we have at Avondale.  Trust me ... it is quite easy to kill these greens in the name of speed.

Well, the good news is that what occurred is natural and normal, and is back under control.  From here on out, weather permitting we will be bringing back our weekly topdressing and rolling.  If you have any questions concerning the greens -- call me, I promise I know exactly what is going on and the pro shop (although great golfers) doesn't.  That is why we attended two different colleges ... theirs I am unsure of but mine focused on soil chemistry (that is what I got my Master's in) and turfgrass science (got one of my three Bachelors degrees in).