Amazing

Tournament conditions are just around the corner. The warmest March on record for Kansas and Missouri has pushed all the grass types out of dormancy and into full growth mode a month early this year.  Our zoysia fairways have been mowed for the last three weeks! In the prior ten years, fairway mowers did not come out until April 20th or later. The following photos show the rapid green up over a couple of weeks in March.

Golfers are taking advantage of the warm weather and they are playing alot of golf so far this year. By the end of March, 2200 rounds have been played through the winter to spring transition. Unfortunately, the rough is providing a  severe penalty for missing the fairway due to the rapid growth rate of the bluegrass/ fescue grass. Currently, the staff is mowing the rough two times a week at a three inch height which is leaving alot of unsightly clippings.  At this point in time, we have yet to finish one complete mowing around the bunkers. The grass is 6 to 12 inches tall in some of these areas!

The spring greens aerification was completed on Tuesday, April 3rd. Greens were punched with a deep tine machine with a 1/2" inside diameter side eject tine to a depth of 8 inches followed by a ProCore  machine with 5/8" diameter tines on 2 x 2.5" spacing to a 4 inch depth. Following core removal and clean-up, the greens were treated with gypsum, 0-0-21, 0-0-50 and a silica/ calcium product  prior to a heavy sand topdressing. The cultural practice went smoothly and was completed over the allotted two day period.  The first mowing is set for Thursday following the Wednesday rolling.

 #17 green deep tine aerified by Mike Mallory of Sports Turf

#12 green covered in soil cores from the deep tine machine and the shallow tine machine. The crew will push the plugs to the side of the green and pick them up followed by a quick back pack blower across the green to clean-up any remaining debris.

#7 green being topdressed after the green was cleaned of soil cores and fertility products applied.

#10 Green aerified, topdressed, rolled and mowed by day three.

 

The ten day forecasts looks like morning temperatures will drop down into the 30's a couple of times. Hopefully the cooler temperatures will slow the grass down a bit and we can get ahead with the mowing routine.

 

Greens will be little bumpy over the next 7-10 days with the putting surfaces getting better with each passing day. Come out and have some fun on the course but don't take the putting too seriously for the moment.

 

Best regards,

Scott