Rain Rain Go Away

With 11"+ of rain in the last 45 days, we have been doing our best to keep our heads above water. The irrigation system has not been turned on in 32 days. These record rainfalls have presented us with new problems and have magnified some pre-existing issues that need to be addressed. Drainage will continue to be at the top of our priority list as we finish the season and move into fall. Most, if not all of our current turf health issues can be attributed to poor draining soils. Problem areas resulting from lack of drainage:

 RTJ Fairways #5 & #6 (post emergent herbicide sprayed this week, aerification taking place next week, sodding weak areas the last week in July)

Norman Fairway #1 (topdressing and reseeding weak and scalded areas)

  

We will continue to do our best to mitigate the damage resulting from heavy rainfall. The forecast shows a drier pattern for the remainder of the month. Hopefully we will be able to dry out and let the carts off the paths this weekend. Please come out and take advantage of the dry weather!

-Your Agronomy Team

Memorial Day Already?

Spring is quickly turning into summer. Our focus is shifting away from all of our pre-emerge/ fertilizer applications and on to our routine maintenance and irrigation practices. The work we put in this spring is already paying dividends. With updated irrigation control and a more thorough weed management program, this season you will see significant improvements on all three courses. Thank you for your continued support of the agronomy team. Come out and enjoy the last few weeks of spring on the golf course!

Norman Fairway Drainage Project

The rain and the cold this week were no deterrent for our drainage project. Work is underway on Fairways #1 and #4. We will also be adding additional drainage on Fairways #11, #12 and #16. The work being done will allow excess water to efficiently find its way to our existing drain basins. This will greatly improve playing conditions on these fairways throughout the season. The project will be updated in more detail on the “special projects” page as it is completed.

New Weather Station

We completed the installation of our new weather station last week. This will be an invaluable tool for us in the future. It monitors temperature, wind speed and direction, solar radiation, relative humidity, rainfall and ET (Evapotranspiration Rate). The data retrieved by the station is automatically sent to our irrigation computer. The computer then analyzes the information and the result is a much more efficient watering program based on up-to-the-second atmospheric readings.

Wrapping up a busy summer

As the unofficial end of summer approaches, we are in the process of aerifying all 49 greens and all the bent grass tee boxes. With 6 acres of greens and 8 acres of tees, this is no small project. The benefits of core aeration far outweigh the headache that it presents for our staff and golfers alike. Our putting surfaces will heal quickly and should be back up to speed in 12 to 15 days (depending on weather). Thank you for bearing with us as we complete this essential cultivation practice.

Busy Spring So Far

The bridge on #1 Norman was submerged

As many of you know we experienced serious flooding on all 3 courses. Once every 4 or 5 years we get a flood that closes us down for at least a few days. This happened to be our year. Over 4 inches of rain fell within a 12 hour period. The river rose and this was the result. There was a lot of clean up but thankfully no serious damage other than a few washed out bunkers. This is one of the joys of working on a course built in a flood plain along the Potomac.

#13 Norman

In addition to the flooding last week we also received some bittersweet news. Our Director of Agronomy, Tyler Koser accepted a position back in Scottsdale AZ. He is making the move to be closer to Troon headquarters which will allow him to hold dual responsibilities. His new role will include Superintendent of Terravida Golf Club as well as assisting the corporate agronomy team whenever necessary. Please congratulate Tyler if you see him. His replacement will be starting the first week in June.

Dangerous Tree Removal

#13 Norman

Today was our first day of temperatures in the 80s and we were very busy on all three courses. Summer is just around the corner. We had the tree professionals from Twin Oak Tree Co. remove a huge Hickory tree that had partially fallen across the cart path on #13 Norman. We attempted to remove it ourselves and quickly determined that it was too dangerous for our staff to deal with. The pictures show how the tree was stuck on another large tree, hanging precariously across the path and right above an irrigation satellite. The guys from Twin Oak were seasoned professionals and they had it down safely in a few hours. The cart path is now reopened and we will be removing the larger pieces of the trunk next week.

If you look closely you can see a climber 50ft up 

They gently lowered the trunk to keep from breaking the cart path

 A lot of stress being put on that smaller tree