Aerification Wrap-Up & Drought Conditions

 Thank you all for putting up with our aerification process. I know its not as enjoyable to play on after and my goal is and will always be to heal the greens in and get them back to smooth as soon as possible. Overall it went pretty well with the exceptions of a few equipment break downs. I am very pleased with our size and spacing’s of the holes punched in the greens. Normally in the past we see pretty decent heaving across the greens. Heaving is the raising of the turf causing an unnatural and uneven putting surfaces. This season we were able to avoid the heaving. We will continue a rotation of mowing and rolling to help smoothness and to maintain desired green speeds. With temperatures hopefully dropping we will begin to see less growth and if we can reduce the stress on our greens (promoting healthy turf) by mowing less and rolling more while maintaining adequate greens speed we will. If we need to continue to mow daily to achieve desired green speeds we will. This is not set in stone, I will monitor greens speed and do what is needed. Tee aerification is still under way. We have half the course completed and will continue to deep tine tees once I can get some moisture back into the tee boxes. With low soil moisture we can experience weak roots and weak roots can lead to pulling and tearing of the turf and aerifying.

Heading into October has shown no signs of relief in the terms of moisture. We are currently between severe and extreme drought conditions according to the National Integrated Drought Information System. 

Our irrigation ponds are running low. The question has been asked “If you had a fully operating pump house would the course be this dry?” We wouldn’t have been as dry as soon but we would’ve been buying city water much sooner. With only one pump we can only put out so much water throughout the night and that is not enough. As a department we have been running water throughout the day to help get as much water out as possible. I have heard complaints the grass is wet and not enjoyable to drive across throughout the morning, yet the ground is hard. I understand the complaints, we have to continually put out water to keep the grass alive. We are unable to get enough water out to help thoroughly saturate the soil. That is where the rain comes in. Turf managers can only do so much with the use of wetting agents as we are using and pond water. September blessed us with the lowest total of rainfall for that month in the last twenty years, a whopping 0.84in. Currently we are sitting 4.58in short of the average rainfall through September since 2000. I have included a chart below showing rain totals by month dating back to the drought in 2018. These numbers have been taken from the national weather service.

  Jan   Feb   March   April   May     June     July    Aug    Sept    Totals

2018  1.13   1.32   1.65     1.04     5.47      3.71    5.29    4.46    1.3      25.37

2019  1.78   2.15   3.29     4.22    12.82    7.64     2.49    7.65    6.82    48.86

2020  2.8     0.68    3.91    3.34    3.64      1.96    10.02   2.46    1.47    30.28

2021  2.47   0.54   3.55     4.86    5.47      7.12     2.75    5.24    2.1      34.21

2022  0.79   .067   5.14     2.35    8.46      4.73      2.3      2.41    0.84    27.69

Mean  1.14  1.44   2.71    3.81     5.43      5.34     4.04    4.74    3.62    32.27

Without adequate and timely rain the soil has not been able to maintain the moisture it needs to adequately grow turf. Along with the pure volume a good rain can give us it also provides water with the correct ph levels being more beneficial to our turf. Along with saturation and water at the correct ph, when rain falls nitrogen is pulled out of the atmosphere tying to the rain being placed in the soil. Without the help of mother nature it is and will always be an uphill battle.

To end on a bright note the new pump ordered in April has now been completed. I am working with them on finding a time the can come out and install it, my time frame is as soon as possible. Theirs however is more complicated but they have helped us out and turned around in Omaha and made it hear the same day earlier this season when we were in a pinch so I trust they will have it to us as soon as possible.

I plan on finishing up the natives this month and begin our tree work at the beginning of November. Remember if any branches are hanging over your property line you can cut these on your own if you'd like. If you do have these branches or even trees you're concerned about on golf course property please reach out and I will come meet with you.