There is a lot going on today on the golf course that you'll be interested to see. First, we are aggressively verticutting the 12th and 14th greens. As you know, these greens were reconstructed last winter and sodded exactly one year ago. Last spring and early summer, we ramped up our topdressing program and also aerated these greens a couple times. Our goal was and still is, to remove the sod layer that comes with sodding a green and then to incorporate as much sand as possible to firm up the top inch of the profile. This layer, high in organic material, can impede the movement of water through the rootzone and it's my goal to remove as much of it as possible. Failure to do so, will make these greens play soft and slower than our other greens.
A Graden verticutter is a machine that removes organic matter by cutting a serious of small "trenches" by way of table-saw blades. Then, dry sand is deposited behind the verticutter, filling in the small 3 mm trenches. When finished, this process disrupts about 11% of the green's surface to a depth of one inch. In short, it is the most effective way to deal with excess organics in the top inch.
Greens are also being treated with a fungicide today to clean up some yellow patch, a foliar fungal disease that's been seen on a handful of collars and putting greens.
We are also back to irrigating, and there is a lot to water. Drain lines and new sod requires more irrigating now because the root system hasn't fully developed yet.
The putting greens are looking great, but it's clearly evident that Poa annua is the dominate species right now. It grows at lower temperatures compared to Creeping Bentgrass. Once our soil temperatures get up above the 65* range, the Bentgrass will kick in and give us a more uniform appearance. Until then, Poa annua will have that mottled appearence.
