A Rather Relevant Report

By now all of you who follow the blog are aware of the Scouting Report, a newsletter issued by Dr. Derek Settle, head agronomist for the Chicago District Golf Association. I cannot say, however, how many of you are aware that what is posted is not the full report. Subscribers receive an email that gives a brief summary of Dr. Settle's thoughts and provides a link that takes readers to view the full report. When I re-post what I receive from Dr. Settle, I include both the summary and the link to the full report, but I fear many people are unaware of the latter.

In this past week's Scouting Report, Dr. Settle addresses briefly but directly an issue that we are dealing with here at Cress Creek with a species called Poa trivialis that has established itself in our fairways and is now languishing in this year's brutal (and unprecedented) summer weather.  In his report Dr. Settle says: "Drought plus hot summer temps means Poa trivialis may now be very dormant." He also includes a pair of pictures that I am re-posting here with his comments.  While the lower picture was taken during his visit to Cress Creek earlier this month, the upper picture is not a Cress Creek fairway.

"Poa trivialis  that looks completely dead may still be alive if you take a closer look. Settle 7-17-12"

"A fairway looks very dead, but it isn’t. Bronze patches is sometimes dormant turf. Settle 7-17-12"

Click here to view the Scouting Report in it's entirety, and don't forget to follow the link on any future Scouting Report posts!

See you on the course!
Elliott Dowling

Trial by Fire

With no outing to contend with yesterday, grounds got out the tractors and and did some digging.  Drainage was installed on 13 fairway, near the approach on the left side of the fairway.  Barely 12 hours later mother nature saw fit to test our work, sending a storm our way that saw benches blown into ponds and more than a half inch dropped on the course in 15 minutes. The video shows how we fared.  I think it's safe to say: "Objective Accomplished", though we can't forget that with drainage there is no such thing as "Mission Completed".

Trouble playing the video? Click here.

See you on the course!
Elliott Dowling

Scouting Report for July 20

~~The following is the C.D.G.A. scouting report as posted by Derek Settle, PhD~~
July 20, 2012 Scouting Report

Record Hot and Dry: Soil Temps Reach 85°, Highs +90°, Needed Rain Returns, Peter says Tall Fescue & Tim's phrase is Drought Tolerance of Bentgrass

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle

July began hot, then eased for about a day but once again was over-the-top hot this week. Besides gaining an additional five days to tack onto that Chicago record of 26 days with highs +90°, the biggest story this week was what fell from the sky. It was rain, and in one evening and into the next morning some suburbs would record 2+ inches. For example, Sunshine Course in Lemont would total 2.3 inches of rain from July 18 to July 19. But in-between rare rain events our outdoor reality is that we've begun to accept a different look. Brown lawns and leaf-scorched trees are now common and has become our landscape look in 2012. The only alleviation is through use of automatic irrigation systems or alternative practices such as the labor intensive hand watering that superintendents and staff must do to maintain sand-based golf greens. In addition to the constant visual monitoring of midday wilt stress, today we maintain plant health with newer technology. Soil probes that we use to physically sample the root-zone to understand the below ground dynamics of soil and roots are now supplemented with electronic sensors used to generate maps of soil moisture across areas. This allows greater accuracy of water management this season, very necessary when average soil temperatures at a 2 inch depth touch 85 degrees or more (saw again this week). When too wet, soils cannot adequately release heat at night and roots can plain cook - just part of the story as oxygen is necessary for root life and wet soils also work against us by trapping toxic gas byproducts like CO2. The bottom line is summer 2012 has so far produced some of the warmest and driest growing conditions ever recorded. Our work continues as we advance through this record hot, dry summer and boy, it's gotten real ugly.

With the return of rain, we thought maybe just maybe we'll see the return of a normal summer? What we were thinking until a super-hot forecast appeared for next week. In the meantime, try and have a good weekend.

Click here to view the July 20, 2012 Scouting Report.
Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program

The Stake and the Rake

I wanted to share a couple of quick notes with all of you.  The first is the placement of a red and white indicator stake on hole 9.  This stake is placed at the 60 yard mark, and is meant to help players beyond the rope line discern just how far they are from the green. The stake and it's appearance are not set in stone, we are simply trying a new system asked for by members who were having trouble deciding how to approach this hole.

My second piece of news is that one of our trap rakes, the machines we use to rake the bunkers every morning, is currently out of commission. With 96 bunkers on the course this means that raking each one every morning and still finishing in a timely fashion (i.e. ahead of play) is now out of the question. For the remainder of the week, bunkers will be spot raked only, meaning that any bunker deemed playable without being raked will not be. We ask that you please be extra vigilant in raking yourself out of the bunkers during this time.  Every set of foot prints that is not raked will add even more time to a task that will already be moving at half speed.

See you on the course!
Elliott Dowling

Scouting Report for July 13

~~The following is the C.D.G.A. scouting report as posted by Derek Settle, PhD~~ July 13, 2012 Scouting Report A 'Cool' Break: Soil T Falls 10°, Record Heat Meant Poa/Bent Physiological Decline, Dry Means Lawns of Straw, Peter's Brown Patch and Tim says Bluegrass Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle Tired. Not just because record heat has entered our supposed cool, humid environment but also because days are long 'at the end of a hose'. It makes sense when you consider +90° or +100° daytime highs versus the biology of a cool-season turfgrass system (poorly adapted to heat). Turf is tired. Just more item is needed to connect the dots. It's a single short sentence, often ambiguously said, "Fine turfgrass maintained for golf courses." It really means, "Intensive, sometimes extreme cultural practices are required to maintain golf greens." When it is record hot, we must adjust to reduce mechanical stress. We know nothing is more stressful than a sharp blade cutting grass and so it all starts there. It's simple, but it requires frequent monitoring and constant adjustment. If we do not, physiological decline of cool-season turf is certain. You see, a natural and gradual midsummer process of starvation (respiration exceeds photosynthesis) always exists. If we ignore it, one hot afternoon might be turf death. But for a break. Grass blades teetering on the edge of photosynthetic life saw a reprieve on Saturday July 6th when Canada blew a breeze our way (July 5th saw 102.6° versus July 10th saw 81.7°). A very difficult week reversed itself and tired expressions on tanned outdoor faces began to change. The corners of mouths lifted on most superintendents. It was a smile. Still, one of the scariest summer growing seasons continues. When July looks and feels like August, but it's not. What will August look like? Only time will tell, but from my laptop (after I download multitudes of photos at day's end) this summer is no longer so green. Round 2 is about to begin. Here goes something! Click here to view the July 13, 2012 Scouting Report. Have a good weekend and nice to see a smile or two again out in the field this past week! Derek Settle, PhD Director of Turfgrass Program

CCCC Report from Derek Settle, PhD

The Chicago District Golf Association (CDGA) head agronomist came for a brief visit last week. Derek Settle, PhD, is a name you may remember.  Dr. Settle is the man behind the Scouting Reports that I re-post on this blog each week. Saturday morning he came to the course to consult on a areas of Rough Blue Grass (Poa Trivialis) that we reported were going dormant in a post entitled: Trivial Pursuit, at the end of last week. This Link will take you to a copy of Dr. Settle's full report.

See you on the course!
Elliott Dowling

Scouting Report for July 6

~~The following is the C.D.G.A. scouting report as posted by Derek Settle, PhD~~

July 6, 2012 Scouting Report Record Heat: Chicago Counts Days of 100s for Highs, All 3!, Dollar Spot, Brown Patch, Pythium Blight, Both Peter and Tim Say Dollar Spot as it Explodes Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle When Chicago's cool, humid environment is no longer either we know it, and so does our landscape. A very difficult week for plant health was just experienced. As is always true, it's all about the weather. It was just last summer when a single daytime high crossed the century mark. That raised eyebrows in Chicago because our last 100 degree high had been in 2005. Chicago is now having one of its hottest summers on record. The last most similar summer dates to 1995. A golf course superintendent never forgets a bad summer and both 1995 and 1988 are at the top of that list. This week brought consecutive 100+ highs which began on July 4th and by day three, Friday, our official temps at airports O'Hare and Midway saw 103 and 105 respectively. On top of that we continue to remain as dry as we've been in a long time. As we look down, we find unirrigated lawns are now straw colored and some have even begun looking somewhat white?!? Golf courses in the upper Midwest deal exclusively with cool-season turf. Although we can have good control of irrigation inputs when it's dry, we have little to no control of temperature. The most troubling aspect is that peak summertime soil temperatures build on themselves during July and August and at the moment our current readings at a two inch depth have crossed into the 80s. In a majority of cases our current troubles are not disease, but instead midsummer physiological decline. Adjustment of cultural practices as needed can only maintain turf health. The heat is on. Click here to view the July 6, 2012 Scouting Report. Derek Settle, PhD Director of Turfgrass Program