Groundhog Days

Ah yes, it’s August 2nd…another forecast of high temps and humidity. Clouds, fog and haze this morning, so no shadow would be seen…does this mean we will we have 6 more weeks of summer or an early fall?  I think we know what we all wish for!

Hopefully we have less than a month of this weather left and then it’s on to aerification, cooler nights, and football season (Are you ready for some football?!).

In the Turfcare industry this summer has been a tough one. We began the season with buckets of rain, then no rain, then sporadic heavy rain.  We backed this pattern with high temperatures plus brutal dew points, and because of this, we (like many others) have suffered areas of thinning and dried out turf.  All in all Minor Park as come through this barrage of ugly weather in quite good shape!

When the heat is on, and on and on…Our Best Practices are as follows:

·        Cooling and Hand watering: Which allows up to drop the surface temp and also only puts water where it is needed.

·        Venting and Top Dressing to ensure the roots can breathe and also helps breakup thatch layering and puffiness.

·        Watering judiciously to prevent disease, conserve resources, and maintain healthy turf.

That being said I would like to thank my hard working staff, Minor Park is in great shape considering the ‘transitional’ weather and a lot of it has to do with the dedicated people who show up daily at 5:30am ready for manual labor in tough conditions.  We hope you have been playing as much golf as you can, as we take pride in bringing you the best golf experience we can.  Enjoy playing this great game, soon we will be putting on the stocking caps…February 2^nd is not as far off as it sounds.

How We Deal With Excess Moisture

With the  rains we have had late June early July at Minor Park the golf course is looking great. Here at Minor Park we were fortunate to be able to purchase 2 moisture meters to help measure moisture levels on greens. These meters have helped us know where we need to put water and also when we need to start irrigation after a rain event. Here is a picture and a brief description of what this equipment allows us to accomplish:

Spectrum Moisture Meter

These meters allow the user to probe greens and get a base reading of moisture in greens. After getting this initial reading this can be used in the morning and afternoon to test greens and see where we are on moisture and if they will last for the remainder of the day. For the greens at Minor Park we like to have ours between 15-18%. Anything below 15% will typical becomes a localized dry spot.

You may of seen David and I out probing greens looking at the percentage of moisture in the green

This was taken 7/7/16 after 1 inch of rain. As you see the percentage is 30.6. This shows us that we can shut off irrigation for at least a couple nights or more. 

Venting of Greens

Another cultural practice we are able to do is vent greens. We are able to get out once a month in the summer with bayonet tines and poke tiny slits into the green to allow gasses to escape. As the weather heats up and turf growth continues, destructive gasses such as methane and CO2 can build up in the root zone. Couple that with the excessively wet weather and you have a recipe for sick turf. This is the ideal time of year to vent greens. Venting allows bad gasses to escape and oxygen to penetrate the root zone. It also improves drainage and penetration of water. By reducing water, increasing oxygen, and allowing bad gasses to escape the soil microbes become more active, roots thrive, and overall plant health improves. The turf is now much stronger to heal traffic damage and fend off disease pressure. All without golfer interference! 

Fore The Golfer: Watering For Healthy Turf

Also a friendly reminder,  it is the season of hand watering. As you play Minor Park please be on the lookout for my staff as they fight the fires of summer. Before you strike your ball please make sure that there is some sort of contact between my staff and yourself . My guys will do there best to keep an eye out for you guys, but if need be feel free to holler or wave at them to acknowledge you are there before you hurl that torpedo rocket at them. Here is a small video that will show you why we water the way we do.



Thank you and look forward to seeing you out at Minor Park Golf Course. 

The Rough.... is not rough!

Since the heat is upon us the last few days the rough has began its summer survival mode and has slowed down growing. If you have played Minor recently you may have noticed that it is becoming easier to find your ball. The course in in great shape so come out and enjoy.

The Hazards of the Job

Last week after we were able to dry out for a day or two, Assistant Superintendent David Carlson went to mow outside the fence along Holmes road. Everything was going smoothly until his last pass.... That's when the trouble started. The Jacobsen turfcat started to slip on the hill, it was stuck. He turned off the blades, and proceeded to raise the deck, at this moment he could tell he was in serious trouble. The mower started leaning and at that moment he had to decide to bail  and run for the fence. As he got to the fence he turned around in time to see the mower begin its trip down the hill.  He told me that it never hit the ground when it flipped down the hill. Luckily everyone was safe and we were able to push the mower back on its side. All we had to do was get the rear tire filled with air, put some much needed oil into the motor that was lost. And then with about 5 mins of blowing out pure white smoke this piece of machinery was back to normal. Something like this doesn't happen everyday but we always have to be on our toes in this profession because you never know when something like this can cause you problems.

The Rough is...well ROUGH!

As you have probably noticed lately Minor Park and golf courses in general are producing long and lush roughs (hence more lost balls!). Thanks to fertilization and perfect weather (well-timed rains and warm temps) the rough is growing at an accelerated rate as it does every spring. Our rough areas and banks at Minor Park are mostly tall fescue which is a cool-season grass. This variety flourishes in the spring, is a survivalist during hot dry summers, and mounts it's comeback in the fall. Here are some facts about cool-season grass:

· Roots of a cool-season grass plant begin to absorb water and nutrients as soon as the ground temp reached 55 to 65 degrees F.  In response, the grass blades soon follow with prolific growth, especially with the air temperatures ranges between 60 and 75 degrees F.

· So with the warm weather early this year coupled with the Barricade plus fertilizer we put down for weed control AND multiple rain events, it's a perfect storm for more rapid blade growth.

Please bear with us another couple weeks, to help alleviate golfer frustration we are lowering mow height and continuing our schedule of cutting rough 5 days a week!  Perhaps the only thing to get excited about HOT weather is the effect it will have on the rough, this will cause cool-season fescue to thin out, then all of us can appreciate a slower rate of growth and easier shots from next to the fairway!

Check out this image showing the growth pattern of Cool-season grasses:

Clubhouse Mulching and upcoming flowers

With the few rain days in April we were able to get out and mulch around the clubhouse and the tee features on the course. In the upcoming week we will be getting in our flowers from the City of Kansas City, MO and will start planting them on holes 3, 7, 12, and up by the clubhouse. If you haven't starting planting or mulching at your house now is a great time to start.

So if your out playing in the next couple of weeks please look for these lovely flowers that the City of KCMO grows for us.  As always, I really hope that you enjoy coming out and playing at Minor Park Golf Course.

Before

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