On Monday, July 31st, the golf course remained closed for an additional two and a half hours to provide the turfcare team time to address some cultural and product requirements. This additional time is critical to allow the team the opportunity to look after some much need product applications and to set the stage for the final two months of golf.
Over the past week, we have had a severe outbreak of dollar spot disease on tees and fairways. This disease is driven by high humidity and the conditions were perfect last week with humidity very high. A complete fungicide program and fertility program was applied to all tees and fairways on Monday with the additional time. We should see the results of this application to eliminate the disease and repair the turf within the next week.
Greens received a mow, topdressing, vent, and granular fertilizer followed by deep irrigation. These applications are challenging to complete without additional time. Our irrigation system only allows a certain number of heads to apply water at once and the fertility program alone can take in excess of 5 hours to complete with watering making it difficult on days with morning tee times. There is little room to complete this without additional time.
To start the month of August following these practices the greens will be soft and receptive. Ball roll will increase as the surfaces begin to firm up setting the stage for what we hope is a great month of August for the game of golf! The Turfcare team would like to thank the membership for its support and understanding with the additional time provided.