Scouting Report for July 22nd

~~The following is the C.D.G.A. scouting report as issued by Derek Settle, PhD~~ July 22, 2011 Scouting Report One Hour at a Time: Record Heat, Brown Patch, Dollar Spot, Pythium blight, Take-All, Physiological Decline, Turf Dormancy, Worn Collars, Tim likes Fairy Ring Research, and Peter says MRTF Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle - DSettle@cdga.org/Weather Blog As predicted the week's weather was dangerously warm and golf playing sufaces now look a a tad bit wilted and possibly dormant in places. It was the combination of summer's hottest temperatures accompanied with humid air. What normally stays south in places like Texas and Kansas arrived in the Great Lakes. What the heck! At its peak, a heat advisory warning was in place for Wednesday and Thursday. The last time Midway Airport hit the century mark on two consecutive days was 1995. I know 1995 well, not that I experienced it on Chicago's golf courses, but because it is a point of reference for superintendents - possibly the toughest year to maintain turfgrass. It keeps our work in perspective and it also says something about 2011. For example, mid-week a superintendent sent a scouting report. It said, "Dollar spot, Pythium blight (in the rough), active fairy ring with puff balls (I am sure there is brown patch somewhere). Poa is starting to thin - raised mowing heights and no more double cutting. Dry areas are REALLY dry. We water for an hour and the soil is still bone dry. I'm just hoping to make it through the next few days, one hour at a time." I could sympathize as each midsummer I have my share of helping long faces. At season end I will think of this week - for the heat, the issues, and for the game. I also just happened to volunteer for a wonderful event where faces smiled no matter what. Click here to view the July 22, 2011 Scouting Report. Have a good weekend and keep your fingers crossed - some forecasters are saying a return to 80s next week. Derek Settle, PhD Director of Turfgrass Program

Notes for the week of July 18th.

As I'm sure many of you have noticed, the forecast for this week is one of intense day and nighttime heat.  Conditions like these are already stressful for turfgrass, but a full week of these conditions can be disastrous if not prepared for correctly.  As such, we will be altering our usually routine in an effort to keep up with what mother nature has decided to throw at us.

What follows is a list of the things we will be temporarily adjusting to aid the turf in getting through the this week of sweltering heat:

• We will be reducing the frequency of greens rolling.  Rolling is a practice that has had a large hand in the greens speeds we've grown accustom to this year.  Changing how often we roll will grant us decreased turf stress at the cost of reduced speed.
• We will be deploying ropes to better control traffic throughout the week.  When turf is stressed, cart traffic can be a death sentence.
• We will be altering our normal water schedules.  This may include applying light applications through the day, so you may see heads running on the course.
• You may notice an increase in dry spots around the course this week. Many of these will be strategic choices where we've chosen to risk drought to avoid excessive moisture that will encourage disease pathogens.
• Though we have maintained our normal application schedule, the perfect conditions for certain disease appearance may lead to sightings of us doing spot applications.

We appreciate your understanding as we do our best to bring the turf some relief this week.  While we can all find ways to beat the heat, remember that the course gets no such luxury.

See you on the course!
Elliott Dowling

C.D.G.A. SCouting Report for the Week of July 18

The following is a scouting report issued from Derek Settle, PhD, of the Chicago District Golf Association:

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle - e DSettle@cdga.org Blog www.cdgaturf.org

The forecast has our attention.  The ‘10 day’ has all superintendents and staff gearing up.  As far as the eye can see, for the next ten days, daytime highs are to be as hot as it gets. In Chicago that means highs will reach 90° or more.  Midsummer is our worst enemy as far as management of cool-season turfgrass goes.  It is just too hot for it’s life to be normal.  Our saving grace is that we are to remain dry (no scary thunderstorms).  Believe it or not, to have control of water input by judicious measurement we have a better chance at maintaining plant health.  Still, there is no way around the fact that physiological decline is now in place.  High temperature causes shallow roots and an imbalance between photosynthesis and respiration.  A slow starvation of plant carbohydrate fuels is now occurring. 

 

This week Chicago courses adjusted by raising mowing heights and reducing rolling of golf putting surfaces.  On the human side, the national weather service put out a warning.  In part it said, “Heat and humidity will build this weekend.  Heat indices will likely climb to around 100° and probably around 105° by Monday.”  That news spells trouble for all organisms that utilize and manage water for cellular life.  That includes us.  Folks outdoors need to show good diligence and take measures to stay well hydrated.  Meanwhile, we’ll spend long hours managing the greens.  Midsummer is here and the heat is on.

 

Have a good weekend and be careful…in the heat.

 

Derek

 

Derek Settle, PhD

Director of Turfgrass Program

Chicago District Golf Association

The United States Golf Association published an article recently detailing the professional (and generally excepted) way of taking divots when on the range. Author Ty McClellan, the U.S.G.A. agronomist for our region, offers his insights:

"With the exception of an efficient tee stall rotation, enlarging the tee(s) and adding synthetic turf are improvements typically left for the off-season when time and funds become available.  So, until then, what can be done?  The solution resides with golfers.  Since randomly scattering divots can quickly destroy a practice range tee, the better approach is to shrink one’s divots by removing them in a pattern just like the professionals.  More specifically, this includes placing each shot directly behind the previous divot.  This can easily be repeated for up to 10 shots resulting in much less turf being removed."

He goes on to explain mathematically how much of a difference this technique can make.  I highly recommend you head the website and read the article yourselves. The U.S.G.A. exists to disperse informative pieces like this one and every golfer should be glad they do!

See you on the course!
Elliott  Dowling

"Why did the flag sticks change?"

Have you ever stepped up to your ball and pulled out your range finder only to point it at the top of the flag stick and have nothing happen?  This means that the prism meant to reflect the laser from your range finder is missing.  More and more we are having these prisms go missing, and we have been trying to find a solution.

A possible answer is a flag stick with the prism built into the main body, instead of attached after the fact the top. As we already have a set of these one piece flag sticks on site, we will be putting them out tomorrow for a trial run. Tomorrow being Friday I am sure a great many of you will get a chance to try them out.  Please let us know what you think.  If they receive a positive response we will consider the problem solved.

See you on the course!
Elliott Dowling

Divot Filling: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Leaving divots is an intentional part of Golf.  Filling them is as well. While often we are able to find and replace any divot we take, sometimes this is not a possibility. The alternative is filling the divot with divot mix, which- when done correctly- is a simple and quick task. But not everyone knows what a correctly filled divot should look like, so we thought it might be useful to show you.

The Good

Correctly filling a divot requires only two steps.  The first is to add divot mix, which is provided in every cart. Pour in enough mix to bring the divot area level to the rest of the ground (remember you want the mix to be level with the ground, not the leaf tips of the turf). The second and final step is to lightly pack the mix into place- a single step should do. And there you have it, a correctly filled divot that will now heal over quickly and evenly.
















The Bad
There are two ways for a divot filling to go bad.  The first is not filling the divot until it's level, leaving the mix shallow. The second is when the divot mix is left heaping on top of the divot. When this happens it is our tee and fairway mowers that pick up all the excess divot mix, which is not good for the blades. Piles of mix are also more likely to wash out, blow away, or be scattered by other players. Any way that it might happen, the loss of mix (and so seed) slows the recovery time.

The Ugly
Divot filling only turns ugly when it's left undone! We fill divots to speed up the recovery process.  The faster a divot can be regrown, the faster the playing surface is whole again. Filling divots correctly also helps to protect the aesthetics of the course, and the machines that we use to maintain it.  Everyone wins, so please do your part!


See you on the course!
Elliott Dowling

Why are the bunkers becoming damp again?

Some of you may have noticed the bunkers have become a little more wet than usual these past two weeks- though nowhere near as wet as they used to be. This is actually an unintentional side affect, and it hearkens back to the reason the bunkers used to seemingly always be soaked.

Earlier this year we explained that the reason for all the moisture in the bunkers this past season was due to a lack of calibration in the spray pattern of the irrigation heads. Unfortunately, undoing this means adjusting each individual head by hand.  This is long and time consuming task, but one we are working hard to finish. However, we have not finished yet and with July came our third straight week of no rain.

This meant that our usually light bouts of irrigation slowly became wetter and wetter to the point where we were putting out hundreds of thousands of gallons a day trying to keep the turf from burning up or drying out. A few heads watering lightly at night is one thing.  But when we have to irrigate the entire course heavily- damp bunkers are unavoidable.

Only in the driest of conditions will we ever have to do so much watering.  Think of it as a necessary, but temporary evil.

See you on the course!
Elliott Dowling

What's happening to the rough?

 

These pictures are just a sampling of the many suffering areas you may have noticed in the rough. These areas are perfect examples of what heavy cart traffic in one place can do to turf. While many of these areas would have unavoidably come to this point throughout the course of the season, our soaked spring has led to a less then favorable reaction to the now parched conditions.  Heavy rainfall during the main growing season of turf (spring) can lead to reduced or even stunted root growth.  Given how wet the course has been for the last two months, it's safe to say we are seeing the results of that now in the speed at which certain areas are drying out.

Currently we are aerifying these ares to allow for increased gas exchange and to reduce compaction caused by the cart traffic. Along with the aerification we are fertilizing and irrigating these areas to aid them in their recovery. These are only curative actions however. We cannot control the amount of rain we get in a spring, this we all know.  We can, however, manage our own cart traffic. The worst areas have been marked off by stakes to allow them time for recovery.  Please actively watch where you and your fellow players are driving and try to avoid covering the exact same ground or any other areas that may appear to be succumbing to wear damage!

See you on the course!

Elliott Dowling