Skunks and Racoons

If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my time employed at golf courses – it’s that there’s always something hindering perfection.  If everything was perfect all the time – there’d hardly be a reason to hire a maintenance staff. 

 
 A challenge facing the club and its maintenance crew this spring is the amount of skunk/racoon damage there is on the golf course – particularly on the Lake Course.  The animals dig up the landscape in search of white grubs – in this case – European Chafer grubs.  These grubs go through a life cycle which sees them turn into beetles, mate, lay eggs in the soil, and so on. The areas that are dug up range from small confined spaces, to massive spaces as seen on #6 lake in this photo.  The other picture is that same area after it’s been repaired.

          

Any large areas will be drag raked, topped with top soil and re-seeded.  Any smaller areas, the turf will be flipped back over and rolled.  Please avoid walking through or driving through any areas that have been torn up by the skunks/racoons.  Whether they’ve been repaired or not, the less traffic those areas receive the better chance they will have at recovering.  When the timing is right, the appropriate steps will be taken this summer to eliminate the amount of grubs we have in our soils at Pike Lake. 

Spring is Here

Finally, the snow has gone – the weather has warmed up and for some of you, the dust came off the clubs and they were put to good use.  Unfortunately that glorious week has passed and we’re back into sub-par temperatures.  But the weather man claims that will be short lived and it should return to golfing weather within the near future.

The course has been abnormally dry for this time of year.  This has benefited the course and its maintenance crew because we are able to accomplish things that are normally inhibited by wet conditions.  The greens have all been rolled and cut several times.  The fairways and tees have also all been cut – normally there are several areas that can’t be mowed until the end of May.  But not this spring. 

The greens were also topdressed heavily and the sand was then brushed in.  The aerification holes from last fall aren’t 100% filled with sand – but with a few rain days that sand will make its way into the remaining empty holes.  Several light topdressings over the next month well help smooth out the putting surfaces.

While the majority of the putting surfaces came through the winter well, some areas of the greens don’t look as healthy as others.  The brown sections of the greens are thanks to an ice layer that formed shortly before Christmas 2014.  A warm enough thaw causes the snow to melt on the surface of the putting green – then a snap freeze turns that melt into a solid ice layer.  Even though the turf is dormant it still needs to breathe – an ice layer inhibits the grass’ ability to exchange gases.  Some turf types can handle an ice sheet better than others.  Our greens at Pike Lake are comprised of bentgrass and annual bluegrass (poa annua).  Unfortunately, poa annua is currently winning the battle over bentgrass on our putting surfaces.  There are hundreds of reasons as to why bentgrass is the preferred turf type for putting greens – rather than poa annua.  One of those reasons is its ability to handle winter stress.  Bentgrass can handle ice cover for approx. 150 days before dying.  Poa on the other hand, can only handle between 75-90 days. 

Bentgrass seed and sand will be spread over the areas on the greens that suffered ice damage and with a few warm rains, they should fill in within the next couple weeks.  We understand it’s not always possible, but please avoid walking on the browned off areas of the greens to give the young seedlings a fighting chance this spring.  We will also be avoiding mowing and rolling these damaged areas on occasion.  If you have to make a putt through a damaged area please keep in mind that the putt will be significantly slower than normal.  We will get back to regular mowing within a couple weeks once the damaged areas have started to recover.

Enjoy the spring golf!