This Week at Sunset: 6-26-2017

#4 Green at sunset.

It looks like we will finish June out with some drier weather this week. However, rain chances return Thursday evening with some scattered thunderstorms through the weekend and early next week. Last week, the golf course received just over 4 inches of rain including the ½ inch we received yesterday. The rain is always welcomed this time of year, but not that much in a short amount of time. Ideally, it’d be nice to have about a ½ inch every Monday and then around a ¼ inch every Friday.

As I’ve mentioned in prior posts, the rain has created an abundance of growth throughout the golf course. It is a double-edged sword as it certainly brings more bermuda growth, but it also brings on the onslaught of unwanted grasses and weeds. In particular, the bahia grass has certainly shown its muscles and has really taken off. Also, the goosegrass(crowfoot) has really benefited from all the rain. We will have our deck mower out all day everyday this week to knock the bahia down. That is the only mower that will mow that grass. Our pull-behind 5-gang reel mower is unable to effectively mow bahia grass down like a rotary deck mower. As far as the goosegrass, I will be spraying all areas this week now that rain is not in the near future and a lot of these areas will start to go away in 7-10 days. We are reevaluating our needs with our current mowers and hopefully we will be able to address those needs sooner than later. In the mean time, please bear with us as we catch up on our rough mowing now that we have some drier days…at least till Thursday.

#18 Green Topdressed and ready to be brushed-in.

Today, we verticutted, topdressed, and brushed our greens. I am quite pleased with the response of the greens when it comes to healing and growing in from these practices. It tells me that the greens are healthy and vibrant. The sand over time will make the greens more smooth when it comes to ball roll and overall will make the turf healthy and able to drain a lot better with the native soil we have in underneath the turf. My plan this week is to mow/verticut/top the greens today and roll the greens tomorrow and give them a break from the constant mowing we’ve been doing. Believe it or not it’s time to start thinking about the fall and now is the time to make them as healthy as we can so that they will handle the cooler weather.

I’d like to thank Lavon Stripling for having our pinestraw beds sprayed out and mowed in preparation for the Ramsey Pidcock Invitational that is fast approaching. I expect the golf course to be in great condition when July 29^th rolls around. I know there is a packed field and we plan to have a clean and consistent golf course for the Ramsey Pidcock. Along with that, because you all have followed our “white lines,” I have seen a some healthy turf around our green surrounds. There are some areas where turf is growing that might not have had turf in the past. So, THANK YOU from all of us for helping out! Please continue to obey all white lines near the greens and keep those behind the white lines. Also, keep carts off all tee box surfaces and surrounds.

Thank you for following us this week as we strive to get better every day. As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions/comments that you may have by using this blog, Facebook page, or emailing me at davisjoey@hotmail.com. Thanks for reading!

See you on the course!

Joey Davis