August has arrived and the heat and humidity are in full
effect here at Pinnacle Peak. This is by
far the most stressful time of year for our greens, as soil temperatures spike
and the humidity makes it difficult for the greens to transpire. Despite the struggles this time of year can
bring, the greens continue to perform well and are in good shape for taking on the remainder of what Summer has to offer.
One area we’d like to address is our collars. While we have seen some collars hold up
exceptionally well, others have thinned and melted out substantially. During grow-in, we seeded with a combination
of bentgrass as a base and ryegrass as a filler; a common practice for courses
in our area. What we’re seeing through
this summer is areas that were majority bentgrass have held on well, while
areas that are primarily ryegrass have not been able to handle the tough
summertime weather. While we are
disappointed that the collars aren’t as good as we’d like them, the fortunate
thing is that our collars were designed and installed last summer to be sprayed
out and re-seeded every fall during overseed.
Remember, the collars also serve as our primary buffer in keeping
bermudagrass out of the putting surface.
Our plan moving forward this fall will be to re-seed with
only bentgrass seed and if needed, a lighter rate of ryegrass to act as a
filler. As winter and spring progress,
we will be interseeding small rates of bentgrass into our collars monthly with
the intention of creating a strong, primarily bentgrass collar which should
stand up to summertime heat and stress far better than the rye has this
year.
In other news, the majority of our summer cultural practices
have been completed. Fairway
aerification and topdressing wrapped up last week, and quality of cut should
get better within the next 7-10 days as the fairways heal and sand
settles. As we’ve mentioned before,
while somewhat invasive, these practices are by far and away the best thing we
can do to promote a healthier, firmer playing surface year round.
Andy’s tree service continues to work on property during Monday closures,
and should be completed with their trimming contract within the next 2-3
weeks. Rick Phelp’s, the architect that
assisted with the greens renovation last year, has been working with our
department this summer to create and implement a long-term tree inventory and
management program.
Earlier this year,
we had Bartlett’s Tree Service come out and GPS inventory every tree on
property, which is now in a mapping program that helps track maintenance and
provide a health assessment of each and every tree. Using that in conjunction with several
on-site visits, Mr. Phelps is creating a year by year plan which the membership
and our department will refer to in order to determine which trees to remove,
add, trim, fertilize, back plant and protect.
This plan will be invaluable moving forward for the long-term management
of one of our clubs most valuable and cherished assets.
Looking forward into August, our department’s primary
objectives are to get surfaces smoothed and healed, deserts cleaned and begin
working on drainage additions throughout the golf course.
