FARM GREENS SPRING FLUSH EARLIER THAN NORMAL
It's only early March and due to the recent moderate weather we have been experiencing, the Ultradrawf greens on the Farm course are now coming out of dormancy. This is 2-3 weeks earlier than we see in a normal year. In the images below you will see on the first one taken late last week where some new growth is showing up where the leaves are light green. The darker green grass is the older leaves with green pigment. One week later you can see where the new growth is nearly 100%. The bottom picture is a green after a mowing showing stripes. Bermudagrass greens are a little different from Bentgrass. Typically, when you see stripes on Bermuda greens it means the leaves are growing and laying over and rarely ever will you see a Bermuda green that shows stripes and has fast green speeds. Many know by now, but the spring flush regardless of when it occurs is a time of very rapid growth and a succulent leaf tissue. During this phase we attempt to account for this growth spurt with additional mowings, lowered mowing heights and chemical growth regulation. Despite our efforts it is nearly impossible to maintain green speeds to our typical standards. We also have to be careful not to over stimulate or overwork the grass because we still have another 4 weeks where we can experience freezing temperatures. In the event we do experience freezing temperatures you may see us covering greens at a higher temperature threshold than you would expect during the heart of the winter seasonal. Right now, the plant is using up a lot of its stored energy from the fall to come out of dormancy. If they experience too harsh of temperatures and are forced back into dormancy, they will be much slower to come out the second time. With all that said golfers can expect slower roll speeds on the greens for the next few weeks or more depending on the weather cycle over the next 4 weeks.
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| 3/1/24 Light Green New Growth |
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| 3/8 100% New Growth |
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| Striped Greens from New Growth |
Farm Lake #4/#8
During one of the heavy rains we experienced in January, the riser cap on the spillway vault structure was damaged. The damage affected the top 20 inches of the structure, which has resulted in the lake level being down by that same 20-inch height. We are currently getting bids on repairing the top of the structure to get it back to full pond level. Until this work is completed the lake level will remain lower than normal.
