Here at Longue Vue, it to has been a wet stretch since my last post. Including today, we have received close to 3 inches of rain over the past week and half. I guess we are making up for May. Half of that accumulation came on the day/night prior to the first round of the Governor's Cup.
The staff and I worked hard at prepping the course that week and additional efforts were made on that Friday morning to get the course playable for the first matches.
This morning's storm blessed us with a quick .6 of rain in a little over a hour and half. Leaving yet another morning dedicated to repairing bunkers and cleaning up debris.
Divot even gave a helping hand this morning
Now for updates:
Well being of Steve Poprocky:
Steve is doing well and has been transferred to rehabilitation at HealthSouth Harmarville. Brooke and I went and visited him over the weekend and he is continuing to make progress in recovery. He is getting in and out of the bed more and increasing his mobility on a daily basis.
Rough:
A lot of emphasis has been placed on maintaining the rough over the past couple of weeks, we have dropped heights and bumped up mowing frequencies. Of course Mother Nature has the final say, but we have been making it through the entire course 3 times the past two weeks which should really help with the growth over the weekends to keep it consistent.
It is important that the membership understands the labor intensity of this property, the areas around greens, tees and bunkers are push mowed due to the severity of the slopes. We start this process each Monday and mow with 10 guys all day, however it still takes three days to complete the entire property due to the need of manpower for morning setup on days we are open to play. With that being said, due to resources and budget, we are only able to get through these areas once a week.
The summer months are here and the heat is vastly approaching, the result will be a decrease in growth throughout the week allowing us to reduce mowing frequency and stress on the property. I apologize for any inconvenience, the rough is healthy and all efforts this spring have been spent to prepare the non-irrigated areas for the stressful months thus providing playable conditions year round.
Annual Plantings:
We have finished all are plantings throughout the property this past week.
Annual Bluegrass Weevil:
You may have noticed a few areas of thinning turf in the clean-up passes of fairways and approaches, this is a result of the larvae of Annual Bluegrass Weevil (ABW) feeding on the roots of the Poa, it is not wet wilt. The larvae arrives from the adult ABWs that overwinter in the woods and begin migrating to Poa surfaces as the temperature rises and burrow into the soil to lay their eggs.
If you look at the top section of the soil where I cut out a sample, hopefully you'll see little white specks, those are the larvae.
Treatments have been made to these areas and I will continue to monitor the property till we get to the end of June, when our insecticide application goes out for grubs. Timing for applications is so important when it comes to attacking these critters. The results of thinning, will recover and regain aesthetic appeal. Once, the turf fully recovers, I will vent these areas with solid tine aeration to encourage root growth.
I look forward to seeing you on the course!
No comments:
Post a Comment