The 2011 golf season is officially underway at Warnimont and the course has come out of the winter in better shape than ever. The parks forestry crew came through this winter and cleared alot of trees and undergrowth around the greens and tee boxes. They have done alot over the past couple of years and it has made a noticeable different in the pace of play and health of the turf in these area. Pruning trees and clearing undergrowth is very important for fine turf. This allows for increased sunlight and air circulation, which is vital for photosynthesis and decreasing disease pressure to the greens. When a green is surrounded by trees, moisture tends to sit on the turf canopy longer, because the trees block out the light and air movement. Moisture is one of the biggest environmental factors for dollar spot and snow mold(which are our biggest disease pressures), and with the trees around the greens removed and pruned it should alleviate these problems.
My main goals for this season are to continue repairs and maintenance to the irrigation system and mowers. We will also control the crabgrass in the fairways and the cutworms in the greens. I also plan on buying new tee makers, flag sticks and ball washers to keep the course looking nice, and we are also just about done painting the benches and the tee signs which have been much neglected and weathered over the past few years. Now that we are on top of the course aesthetics we can now pay more attention to the fine details, this year we should make huge strides to the agronomics and aesthetics of the course!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Almost home!
With less than 2 weeks away from graduating from Rutgers, I'm get excited to return to the golf course. I've been constantly brainstorming these past 10 weeks and have alot of new ideas and maintenance practices for improvements to the course. There's quite a few practices I would like to in corporate in to the maintenance practices at Warnimont this year.
This past summer we had alot of problems with hot spots in the green (localized areas in which the soil won't retain water), this requires us to water for longer and often times over watering areas just to water the hot spots. We have used wetting agents(which helps the soil retain water) in the passed, but this year I'm going to use them alittle more frequently in order to increase firmness to the greens,reduce thatch accumulation, conserve water, and improve nutrient holding capacity.
In the spring and fall, which is the optimal growing period for turf grasses, I would like to spike the greens. Spiking the greens penetrates the thatch layer and allows the turf canopy to dry, which should help against Dollar Spot(disease which attacks the leaves of the grass plant.) This is a practice that is often neglected, but has many benefits, such as reduced disease pressure,increased turf density and water movement,penetrates thatch, and other agronomic improvements.
These are a couple of the many ideas I have for this summer. My crew and I are looking forward to getting the course open, and hopefully we will come out of the winter with minimal freezing desiccation, and snow mold. I'm kind of concerned about this, because of the amount of snow we had this year which increase the chance of winter damage to the greens.
Two more weeks until I'm back to work at Warnimont and I can wait! Here are some pictures from a field trip to Pine Valley with my Rutgers turf class.
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