March 2025

We hope everyone is enjoying the 2025 golf season so far! We are looking forward to providing tournament conditions for the last several events of the season.

The weather has finally gone our way over the last week and PPCC has received 1.65” of much needed rainfall. We received a slow and steady 1.1” of rain last Friday. These types of rain events are more beneficial as we do not see the surface runoff compared to the heavy downpours. The slow rain helps flush unwanted sodium and bicarbonates in the greens and throughout the course. This rain will give the bentgrass greens a good jump start on ball mark recovery and root/leaf tissue growth. We have already seen some of the older ball marks almost fully recover. I have been very happy with the performance of the bentgrass this season and we have been able to maintain green speeds at an average 12.5’ for daily play and 13.5’ for tournament play.

Root growth on the greens will be a focus as have to take advantage during a short growing season for bentgrass. We will keep the plant on the leaner side with small amounts of nitrogen inputs through the spring and apply growth regulators to control the excess leaf growth. This will help divert the plants’ energy downward to drive root growth. We will also continue our deep and infrequent watering cycles and supplement with morning hand watering. Currently, the greens root system is in a good position with a root mass of 5-6” deep. As we progress through the spring, we will begin to verticut the greens. This is an important process that helps remove dead leaf tissue so that the plant can produce new and healthy tissue. Our first verticut of the season will take place during the last week of March and continue through aerification in May. In addition, we will vent the greens using small needle size tines that will help elevate compaction and creates small channels for air exchange and root growth. Preparing the greens to better handle the upcoming summer stress is our top priority as we move through the spring months.

As I mentioned in today’s member newsletter, we have added the USGA GS3 ball to our data metric tool belt. This is a new and innovative tool that reads and tracks green speeds, surface smoothness, trueness, and firmness. Firmness and green speeds are the two most important measures that this tool can provide that allows us to create benchmarks to better maintain consistency in playability. We are also collecting our daily mowing clippings from 3 of the greens and measuring the weight. Clipping yield is an important indicator of plant health and surface performance. All these metrics will be uploaded into the USGA Deacon app. This app will allow the agronomy team to access the data and review how each corelates with weather and other factors. It helps us make important cultural, irrigation, mowing, and fertilization decisions on the greens. We use this tool throughout the week along with our daily moisture meter readings to provide the best conditions possible for the PPCC membership.  

We have also shifted focus to Bermuda grass transition. I am happy with the current Bermuda grass percentage throughout the overseed. We will continue to lower mowing heights as we progress through the spring. Please expect one more height drop during the month of April that will help the underlying Bermuda grass outcompete the winter rye grass. We will also initiate our herbicide program that will slowly remove the rye grass from the canopy. This process plays a critical role in a successful transition. There we be more information to come on these important processes.

Again, we hope everyone enjoys the remainder of the 2025 golf season and please do not hesitate to reach out for any questions or concerns!

- PPCC Agronomy Team

 

Bobby checking surface firmness 

Data is sent to app and recorded 

USGA GS3 ball

Alex checking greens speeds with GS3 ball

Weighing clipping yields 

January 2025

PPCC Members,

2025 is here and we hope that everyone had a great holiday season! So far, January has been an interesting one with some very sporadic weather patterns and cold/windy conditions. We have seen several mornings where the low temperatures on the golf course have fallen into the mid-30’s. As a result, we have initiated several frost delays over the last 3 weeks. Our “first frost” occurred on January 6th which is historically about 30 days later than normal. After several frost events, we are now able to fully assess our overseeded areas and our Bermuda/ryegrass ratios. This is because the Bermuda grass base is now completely dormant and has turned brown. As of now, the overall density of the ryegrass is good but we do have some Bermuda showing through in the lower mowed areas (fairways, tees, aprons). This is a good sign regarding spring/summer transition. However, for aesthetic purposes, we will be applying green pigments to these areas to help mask or blend in the turf canopy. 

We have seen a dramatic decrease in clipping yields across the golf course compared to late December and as soil temperatures have decreased, ball mark recovery on the greens, tee and fairway divot recovery, and traffic recovery on the overseeded turf has come to a halt. Please continue to aid the G&G team with repairing your ball marks, filling tee and fairway divots, and exiting the fairways at the rope markers. Our team has been increasing our frequency with these tasks, but we need your help so that we can keep the golf course in top notch condition for all members to enjoy! With the reduced growth on the greens and the windy conditions, we have seen greens speeds climb well above 13’. Our daily target speed is 12-13’. As we progress through the season, the greens will firm up as the bentgrass begins to grow and we will be monitoring playability closely so that the greens maintain their consistency. 

With the cold overnight and morning temperatures, comes frozen bunker sand! It has been a challenge to get many of the bunkers raked out before the first morning wave of play because the bunker sand has been frozen. Our current protocol is to blow out/clean the bunker and when the sand thaws out, we will send a team to circle back and completely rake out the bunker. We apologize for this inconvenience and any unraked bunkers you may encounter during your round. Rest assured; we are sending our bunker team out daily to perform these tasks. 

We have been working on course detail/cleanup jobs around the course during these frosty conditions. Tree trimming, bunker depth checks, desert landscape cleanup and trimming have been our focus. We are also working to advance course setup procedures with daily tee service, raking the desert tee surrounds and walkups, broken tee and divot cleanup, and proper tee marker rotations. 

Next week, we will be performing our 2nd pre-emergent applications in the dormant Bermuda roughs and in our overseeded areas. These applications will take place on Monday and Wednesday of next week and our target weed is poa annua. For February, we plan to settle-in to our seasonal heights of cut around the golf course. Lowering the mowing heights to allow more sunlight down into the Bermuda/ryegrass canopy is a critical practice to get a head start on spring transition. Doing this will also provide a tight and uniform playing surface. 

Finally, we have a new addition to the G&G team! His name is Tucker…when you see him be sure to say hello! He will be out on the course to chase away the waterfowl and a coyote or two.      

                    Our new team member Tucker