Turf Talk

BY SHAWN GILL | GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENT

As we are well into summer, I have to say the weather has made it both easy and hard to maintain our course.

Up until late June we were stuck in a cool, droughty weather pattern that stressed parts of the course and allowed others to develop deep, dense roots. Our limited water supply was nearly exhausted following six weeks of dry conditions and barely one inch of rain. We were forced to rent a pump to transfer water from the pond on hole #15 down into the irrigation pond. Even this tactic supplied only enough water to keep greens, tees, and, to an extent, fairways adequately watered. Roughs became extremely dry, and we were forced to restrict carts to paths for several days to prevent significant turf damage.

On the upside, the cooler-than-normal temperatures gave us the ability to provide healthy, firm playing conditions on most of the course. As luck would have it, the rains returned just in time to nearly washout the Member-Guest Tournament. Luckily, we dodged some of the more severe weather and were able to prepare most of the playing surfaces for what appeared to be a well-enjoyed event.

Headed into July, the temperatures and humidity were rising, and more regular rain events were included in the forecast.

The course was very healthy as we approached our last big event before entering the dog days of summer, The Bobby Bowers Memorial Junior Golf Tournament. After the Bowers wrapped up in mid-July, we began working on the next few tasks pertaining to the development of a permanent dam spillway solution. At some point we will have a drill rig on property to perform core sampling of the dam soils. The work should take only two or three days and will begin on a closed Monday to keep the disturbance to a minimum. The findings will guide the direction of the next steps in completing the spillway project.

The foxes that live on and around the course have graduated from a nuisance to a full-on problem. They seem to think our bunkers are little beaches for their enjoyment. The young ones especially like to chase each other around in the sand and dig rather large holes along the edges. This activity is significantly increasing the amount of time spent working on the bunkers each day. In fact, by 9:00 AM on the MemberGuest Saturday, a single fox had dug ten deep holes along the edges of the bunkers on hole #8, not two hours after they had been beautifully raked by the Maintenance Staff. We will be employing the use of natural deterrents (cayenne pepper!) to see if we can reduce their negative impact on our ability to provide proper conditions for membership. Fingers crossed!

You may have noticed a few flagsticks placed in the rough well to the right of the ninth fairway. There was some discussion of using this part of the property as a wedge practice area since it is out of play and fairly substantial in size. I turned Dick Purple loose and he is initially using a push mower to cut down a teeing area as well as a couple of target greens. Currently the distance from the “teeing” area to the target greens is 60, 70, and 85 yards. We will work with the Golf Staff on the logistics of accessing the area safely from the Clubhouse. This will be used as a temporary test site to see if the development of an extensive practice area is desirable as well as safe and feasible. I will be very interested to get some feedback as we look at ways to add amenities and enjoyment to the Springfield golfing experience.

I’ll sign off with one good thing about the arrival of summer: our range tee has finally greened up and is growing quite vigorously. The grass tee should be open Thursday through Sunday each week and was very well received for the second annual Wimbledon Exhibition. Thanks to everyone who helped protect the area during the rain storms leading up to the event!