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| View from the BMW Owners Pavilion on Hole 17 |
July 28, 2015
Summer finally found its way to the North Shore. After a very wet start to the summer, we are finally experiencing some more typical hot and humid days that are expected at this time of year. The wet start to summer in conjunction with the high humidity brings a number of challenges. Water logged soils are prone to showing signs of stress quickly after they dry out because of a shortened root system and lack of oxygen in the soil. This is especially apparent in areas that had heavy construction on it last fall, which causes more compacted soils. This situation is one of the great examples of why aerification is an important tool to maintain a healthy stand of turf throughout the season. It helps alleviate compaction, improves oxygen in the rootzone, and allows healthy new roots to develop. It is not feasible to do all 209 acres of our property so we address the playing surfaces first. This Monday was a great day for maintenance. Since the course was closed to all play, we were able to needle tine aerify greens (the very small holes), topdress greens, tees, and runoffs, drag in the sand, mow all the greens, tees, fairways, and approaches as well as knock out a couple of drainage projects.
Another
issue that rears its ugly head is an increase in pests of all kinds. Mosquitoes
are out in full force. We contract an aerial application of the entire property
to reduce the total population of mosquitoes. We have made 3 applications so
far this year. We also supplement with occasional applications internally,
especially on holes 5-7 in the woods. The grass is also fighting against pests
of all kinds at this time of year. Disease and insect pressures are high so we
are actively scouting for potential issues while focusing heavily on our
moisture management strategies to reduce the severity of these potential
issues. Hopefully we will stay dry
through this hot and humid stretch of weather so that we can control the amount
of water on the playing surfaces to keep everything in great condition.
In talking
with a number of members on the course, there are a few frequently asked
questions that seem to come up more than others. The first question is about the speed of the
putting green and why it is different than the rest of the greens. The short
answer is because it is different. It a new USGA putting green (along with the
2 chipping greens) with no organic material built up yet. The green sees a
significant amount of traffic and wear from both practice putting and some of
the natural traffic flow from the clubhouse to the range tee. Our focus is to
keep a healthy stand of turf through this stressful portion of the season. One
way we do that is by increasing the height of cut slightly, which helps
mitigate some of the stress but results in slightly slower speeds. The relative
age of the green is why we are erring on the side of caution. Over the next
couple years, you will feel a slight difference under foot compared to the rest
of the greens on the course, but we will make every effort to bring the speed
of the putting green closer to the other greens once we move out of these
highly stressful conditions. We will occasionally remove some of the cup
locations to move wear in a certain manner. Also, we ask everyone to walk
around the first tee and putting green towards the podium in order to reduce
traffic across these playing surfaces on your way out to hit balls on the
range.
What are we doing?
We are gradually increasing the height of cut in the rough from 2” to 4” before advance week of the BMW Championship.
When are we starting this?
We have just started bringing it up. The rough is currently at 3”.
Why are we doing this now and why can’t it wait until closer to the event
We are transitioning it a half inch every 2-3 weeks to ensure a strong dense stand of turf for the tournament. By slowly raising the height, we will have a great rough for the tournament. If you raise it quickly the grass tends to lay over more and will be much less consistent throughout. The rough will definitely be more penal for the BMW Championship this time around!
The
ballmark repair is getting better on the greens but we still see some that
remain unfixed. Please continue to fix your marks as well as replace divots and
pick up broken tees. Thank you for your continued help in these areas.
We hope everyone is enjoying this great season
so far at Conway Farms with so many exciting events still to come. See you on the course.
Connor Healy
Superintendent
Superintendent
