Every year around this time, we often receive feedback that the greens are slow and bumpy. This year is no different. The greens have been fast, firm and true over the past four months. Unfortunately, the Poa greens cannot sustain this stress and maintenance during the hot summer months.
During winter, we can roll, scarify, top dress and run the fertility and water quite lean, which results in very fast, firm and true surfaces. In summer, the greens require additional fertiliser and lots more water. If we keep rolling and scarifying during the hot months, we run the risk of getting severe disease and the possibility of loss of grass on our greens.
As some of you have already seen, there is already disease in some of the greens. You will notice this disease on holes 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 & 14, which causes inconsistent ball rolling. This disease is called Anthracnose and is a very aggressive disease through summer, during times of higher humidity and compacted soil.
We can control this disease through chemical application, but this isn’t always the best option to prevent and help with recovery. Cultural (non-chemical) practices are beneficial in creating more air in the soil, helping reduce disease pressure and increasing the fertility in the greens to aid with recovery. Some of the damaged areas will be plugged out with turf from our nurseries.
Some of these cultural practices include aeration (pulling cores out from the green) and dusting (putting sand on the greens at lighter rates). To support the fertility of the greens, we can apply calcium to help offset our sodium levels from our irrigation supply.
The greens will be slower over the summer months, which is the case every summer. We will use more dusting/top dressing programs to keep the surfaces true and flat.
Thank you for your patience and understanding on this matter.
My course update for November is now available for you to watch. Click here to watch.
Happy golfing,
Nick Taplin
Course Superintendent
