Course Update

As many of you know that have played recently, the rough is very challenging.  I have been asked several times a day, "When are you going to cut the rough?"  The answer is we have been cutting the rough 10+ hours a day for well over a week.  The problem is our three rough mower can't mow fast enough for the way it's growing currently.  Areas were cut on 9,10,18 and 1 yesterday that were cut on Thursday.    They looked as if we hadn't cut them for a week.  Every Spring we see a 2-3 week period where the rough grows out of control and we see an abundance of seed heads.  We are currently experiencing that.  Our rough mowers are currently set at 2.5" which is our normal height of cut.  Our rough is very thick this year, which is a good problem to have but it will begin to thin out as we continue to heat up and dry out.  I am sure many of you are having to mow your home lawn at least twice a week during this period.  The only difference is we have a 250+ acre lawn here.  We realize this is a very frustrating time but please be assured we are mowing as fast as we can.

Several question were also asked about green speeds this weekend.  The heat last week forced us to take a more conservative approach to preparing the greens for the weekend.  When temperatures are pushing 90 degrees our Poa Annua greens go under a significant amount of stress.  If we add to that stress by double and triple cutting it could lead to a substantial amount of turf injury.  We were also trying to encourage the greens to grow because of the aerification that is taking place today.  This should allow the greens to recover quicker.  The heat has broken and aerification is taking place as I write this.  The greens will slow down significantly temporarily following aerification.  Once we are able to get back to a normal mowing schedule things should return to normal.

Thank you,

Greg Boring, GCS