Saturday, June 26, 2021

June Superintendent Update

 

It has been a very busy and productive last 30 days for Timarron Golf Course Maintenance.  Our Member/Guest tournaments went very well, despite the rain we received over the last 6 weeks.  Bunkers were washed out several times and a lot of time was spent on clean up of the golf course.  The weather pattern looks to now have changed to dry and hot.

June Aerification

The June aerification is a great time to be aggressive with our cultural practices.  Bermudagrass loves sunlight and warm temperatures.  Mid-June has the longest days of the year with over 14 hours of sunlight.  This puts the bermudagrass at a competitive advantage and an ability to recover from stress.

For putting greens this is a great opportunity to verticut deeply and remove thatch, organic matter, and incorporate a lot of fresh sand.  Be patient; the first week following aerification the greens will look pretty beat up.  However, as the grass recovers members will notice less grain, fewer mower scalps, less flaking of cup edges, and an improved putting surface.  The expected recovery time is 3 weeks. 

The fairways will be treated aggressively as well.  They will be sliced and raked to help infiltrate water as well as remove unwanted grain.  The large driving range tee will be leveled with the KORO machine.  This is an aggressive practice that removes the top half inch of grass and will take 30 days to recover.

Tee Boxes Overseed Burning Out

With the arrival of the hot weather, members will notice the winter ryegrass overseed burning out on the tee boxes.  This is normal for this to happen and with time and applications of fertilizer the bermudagrass will fill in the voids.  Tee markers will be placed in areas where the turf is healthiest to allow for recovery.     

Timarron golf course maintenance will continue to work hard to give our members the best course conditions possible and communicate with timely updates.  Please remember to pick up broken tees, fix ball marks, and sand your divots.  There is always good and relevant information about current course conditions on the Timarron Golf Course Maintenance Blog at the following link.  www.timarrongcm.blogspot.com