August Course Update

 Recent Rains

Both courses have experienced significant rainfall over the past three weeks with a total of more than 14 inches of rain.  With that much moisture course conditions have not been quite up to par.  The health of the Irving Park Bentgrass greens has diminished throughout this time frame, going from a nearly perfect root system to a very weak root system and some corresponding thinning of the surface canopy in just a matter of a few weeks.  Throughout this same time period precautions were taken, such as pencil tine aerification of the greens, to allow for improved surface drainage and more surface aeration.  Mowing heights have also been raised from .110 to .130 in inches.  With these conditions also comes a spike in disease activity resulting in an above normal amount of disease treatment applications. This week's more moderate temperatures, especially nighttime temperatures, should provide some very needed relief. With that said, the greens will be fine going forward with a few bruises here and there, but green speeds will be slightly below normal for the remaining part of August.as we continue to manage these delicate playing surfaces

Bentgrass Thinning from Over Moisture and Disease Commonly referred to as Bentgrass Summer Decline

Pencil Tine Aerification

Ponds

 One of the positive aspects of all the rainfall has been to recharge all our ponds on the Farm course.  The pond on #4 was significantly lowered earlier this year to make repairs.  Those repairs were made in late June and the recent tropical depression quickly refilled the pond, All the other ponds were also down significantly as well due to irrigation usage in June and early July, but all ponds on the course are now once again completely full.

Bunkers

The bunkers have also taken a beating with all the recent rains.  The Farm bunkers were built in a way to minimize sand washing down the faces during heavy rains, but the washing we experienced during the tropical depression was some of the worst we've seen since their reconstruction in 2009.  The Irving Park bunkers have always been subject to washing during heavy rain events.  We estimate they have an average of 10-12 bad washing events per year.  Each time these bunkers wash the sand becomes more and more contaminated.  Also, each time they wash it takes approximately 50 manhours to get them back to where they are re-playable.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to quickly see how many man hours we have spent over these past two decades fixing washouts on these bunkers and how helpless we are in protecting the quality of the sand during heavy rain events.  Thursday's tropical depression had the entire staff working on Friday in an effort to get them playable on Saturday only to come in Saturday morning to bunkers that were washed even worse due to the rate at which the rain came down Friday night.

Poor Drainage due to poor sand quality

Guardrails

A new set of guardrails was installed in late June on the Farm course on hole #4.  Guardrails were also proposed on the Irving Park course on hole #16 at the tee box, but meetings with the Greensboro DOT resulted in that set of rails not being approved within the city's right of way, which closely borders the tee box itself.