Fairway patches

I am sure that you have noticed the patches of brown grass in the fairways over the past month or so.  These are patches of bermudagrass that have encroached into the zoysiagrass fairways over the years.  The brown color is the result of herbicide applications that we have been making targeting the bermudagrass encroachment.  The herbicides will not kill the bermudagrass, but merely suppress it and put it in a state of dormancy for about 3-4 weeks, which means that those patches should play similar to bermuda fairways in the winter as opposed to bare ground.  By making the herbicide application every 4 weeks during the growing season and keeping the bermudagrass suppressed, we will provide the zoysiagrass the opportunity to retake those areas.  Zoysiagrass has a slow growth rate so it will take some time, several years likely, for the zoysia to completely retake those areas. 

The herbicide application dings the zoysiagrass a little and consequentially slows the growth of the zoysiagrass for a couple of weeks following the application.  We normally apply growth regulators on the fairways during the growing season to help make the grass more manageable and to also help maintain the consistency in playing conditions.  Due to the growth regulating effects of the herbicide application coupled with allowing the zoysiagrass a better opportunity to fill into these patches, we will not be applying the plant growth regulators this year.  Subsequentially, we will be mowing the fairways more frequently to help keep playing conditions consistent.

So why are we just starting to treat these areas?  Well, actually we have been making these applications for over 10 years.  However, in the past, we only spot-treated the fairways.  The problem with that is the bermudagrass can be very hard to distinguish, without the aide of morning dew, while driving through a fairway on a spray rig.  Our consistency with applications has not been where it needed to be in the past either.  We made a commitment this year to make it a priority to treat the entire fairways every month during the growing season.  By spraying the entire fairways, we eliminate the possibility of missing any bermuda with our application.  We also increase the consistency of the fairways as well, due to the aforementioned  growth regulating effects immediately after the application.

a view of the patches in #4 fairway

looking toward #4 green

a closer view of some patches

an up close view of a patch

The Buzz Around the Legacy

Well Mother Nature gave us a bit of a break in early June, but the time has arrived to turn on the green's fans.  With forecasted highs in the low to mid-90's, nighttime low's in the upper 60's to low 70's, and a noticeable increase in humidity levels, we made the decision to go ahead and turn them on this morning.  The fans help cool the turf, by improving transpiration, which is the process by which the plant cools itself.  The fans improve transpiration by lowering the atmospheric relative humidity.  The lower the humidity the steeper the gradient between the leaf and the atmosphere and the steeper the gradient the faster the plant evaporates moisture to cool itself.  The temperature reduction caused by a fan ranges from up to 15 degrees in front of the fan to around 5 degrees 100 feet from the fan, which has a profound impact on the health of the turf.

Change in Plans

A storm came through the Legacy Course Sunday afternoon taking down 25+ trees, littering the course with debris, and washing out the bunkers.  Our plans for the week quickly changed from grooming the course to putting it back together.  A second round of storms on Monday morning hampered the process, but we were able to get the course back playable that morning.  Today's tasks consists of repairing the bunkers, picking up and blowing debris, and continuing to cut up and remove the downed trees.  The course should be back to normal in a couple of days. 

Preparing for The Player's Championship

An incredible amount of work goes into preparing a golf course for a major PGA tournament.  Tom Vlach and his staff at TPC Sawgrass did an outstanding job documenting the preparations for this years Player's Championship on their blog.  If you ever wonder what all goes into preparing a golf course for a big event, I would encourage you to click on the link below and check it out.  Tom and his staff had the course in phenomenal condition, which should come as no surprise to anyone who knows him.  I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to work under him for the 7 plus years that I did when he was here at Greystone!

http://www.tpcsawgrassagronomy.com/

Bradley Johnson Memorial Golf Tournament

The Legacy Course hosted the Bradley Johnson Memorial Golf Tournament on April 11 and 12.  The golf tournament, now in its sixth year, is put on by the Bradley Johnson Memorial Foundation (http://www.bradleyjohnsonmemorialfoundation.org/index.html) which assists with the funding of the tournament and providing scholarships.  The tournament and foundation pay tribute to former Spain Park High School golfer Bradley Johnson.  Johnson was a very talented golfer who was killed in an automobile accident in 2006 when he was 17.  One of his many career highlights was finishing runner-up in the 2005 U.S. Junior Amateur. 

The 2012 installment featured 15 of the state's top golf teams.  Conner Smith of Spain park took the individual title with a 3 under par 141 in the two-day tournament, while the Spain Park team won the fourth Bradley Johnson Memorial Tournament in six years with an 18 stroke margin over second place Vestavia Hills.



The winning team from Spain Park High School



Teams on the practice range.