This week at Sunset: 9-4-2017

Happy Labor Day, SCC! It’s the unofficial end of summer for most people as vacations wrap up. I thought I’d catch you up on the golf course on what we’ve been doing and what we’ve got coming up. As I do with every post, I’ll go ahead and briefly mention the weather and how it has affected us. Last month, we received less than 3 inches of rain for the month. It was certainly drier than July and June and so far four days into September we are close to an inch of rain already. The temperatures, primarily overnight temperatures, are starting to gradually fall. This has and will continue to slow the growth of our warm season turf as we get closer to fall. This week lows are expected to be in the low to mid 60’s. The daytime highs are looking to bounce around the mid to high 80’s. There is a cold front moving in that will be here by the end of the week. One thing we are keeping an eye on is Hurricane Irma, the latest update is that it has taken a more southern track. The hurricane is a category 3 with 120 mph winds and is expected to intensify into a category 4 today. It is still unknown where exactly this storm will go as it all depends on the Bermuda High out in the Atlantic and whether it will push it towards the Gulf or pull it up the eastern seaboard. The predictions are that it will eventually turn on a northern track and into south Florida and make its way up the coast. However, it all depends on the high pressure in the Atlantic which steers it. It is likely that this weekend and early next week will be when this storm is a threat to the US.

With the rain we have lately we have been able to give our irrigation pump a much needed break and also time for the pond to fill up. However, we continue to address breaks and leaks in the ground. We do have a number of areas that will be addressed soon. This fall I am looking at having a turfgrass class from ABAC do some classwork projects on our golf course. A big part of those projects will be on our irrigation system. We will have students repair lines, valves, and other areas of our irrigation system to gain experience that maybe they haven’t had before. This will also help our crew by continuing to maintain other areas of the golf course.

Speaking of ABAC students, we have both of our turf students, Matt and Josh, back this fall and will be primarily working on weekends. They completed their summer internships for their turfgrass degrees. I mentioned late in the spring, but Matt completed his internship at the 54-hole Bonita Bay club near Naples, FL and Josh completed his internship at Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey. They both had busy summers working on some of the best courses in the world. Their next step will be to graduate in the spring and start their careers as Assistant Superintendents. I plan to help out with that part of their transition as they start that process.

The last thing I’d like to remind you all is that our overseed will take place the week of October 2^nd. Last week, I sprayed all overseeded areas with a pre-emergent that will hopefully cut down on all winter weeds and especially the poa annua population. I’d like to thank those of you who participated in the course improvement tournament on Aug. 26^th. That certainly helped us for our upcoming overseed. I apologize for not making as I was sick as a dog last weekend through Tuesday. We will be overseeding the tees, fairways, and green surrounds with slightly more seed than last year. The main reason will be to give you all a better stand of rye to hit off of. Also, overseeding too lightly sometimes encourages more weeds in the long run. The perennial ryegrass that we are using is certified and all that means is that bag is clean from any poa annua seedheads and other weeds that you may sometimes get in a non-certified bag.

As a reminder, please remember to keep golf carts behind the lines that you see in the approach areas of the golf course. We do not need any traffic inside those lines or around the greens. The bermudagrass is starting to slow down in its growth habits and it is again at a vulnerable stage where wear and tear can be detrimental to its overall health. Help us out by keeping your golf cart behind the lines and off the green complexes and near the tops of tees. Those of you who use pullcarts are fine to cross the line as pullcarts are lighter and less aggressive. However, make sure not to pull your carts across the green. Again, I want to thank everyone for helping us keep your golf course healthy and in shape.

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