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.
