July?

Is it really July? Over the last few days you would think it was May with temperatures only reaching into upper 60's and rainy. This July is definitely one for the books. We have had high temperatures in the 90's and so called high temperatures in the upper 60's with some lows dipping in to the high 40's. We have also had some extreme thunder storms, hail, wind and tornado sightings. July is typically our hottest month of the entire year. I guess our current weather pattern is holding, cool and rainy for now but we will see what August brings. If this weather pattern continues this July could go down a one of the coolest July's in Denver History. How about that July 2008 was the 3rd hottest and 3rd driest July in Denver History.


Here are some averages and records for Denver for July.

- Average High 88

- Average Low 59

- Average rain fall 2.2 inches

- Record rain fall 6.4 inches

- Rain fall July 2009 3.52 inches

- Driest July .01 inches

- Record High 104 in 1931

- Record Low 36 in 1939

Localized Dry Spot

Localized dry spot or (LDS) are found on all types of turf grasses and soil conditions all over the world. These LDS areas are characterized by non-wettable or hydrophobic soil conditions. These areas usually have excessive organic mater and a waxy fungus in the soil medium called mycelium. Controlling localized dry spots is an ongoing and some times difficult battle, especially if you let the areas severely dry out. If localized dry spot is present it is best to spike or Hydro Jet the areas, apply a wetting agent and immediately water in . The wetting agent helps breaks up the waxy build up and allows the soil to take the water. Other practices to minimize the severity of localized dry spots include thatch removal, application of a fungicide or core aerification.

Localized dry spot on a green

Hand watering with wetting agents

The Hydro Jet injects water and wetting agent at

high pressure into the soil up to 10 inches deep.

Picture of hydrophobic soil

(you can see the waxy buildup)

Picture of non-hydrophobic soil

Drainage, Drainage, Drainage

What are the three most important things for a golf course turf and soil? Drainage, Drainage, Drainage. Recently we discovered a greens drainage problem on the front left of #17 green. The old Purr-Wick drain was crushed during installation of the new irrigation system. This damage of the pipe backed up water in to the green causing it not to drain properly. This type of drainage problem creates anaerobic conditions in the soil making it very difficult to grow grass. The definition of anaerobic soil is, soil that is devoid of interstitial oxygen. This condition mostly occurs because of the sustained presence of water, which limits contact with the atmosphere. Once the drainage is fixed, the drainage of water through the green will pull in much needed oxygen making the area firm again and returning the area to an aerobic soil.

Front left of #17 green

Old Purr-Wick drain

Entire drain project

Tournament Preparation

The Pinery Preferential is just around the corner and I bet a lot of members are wondering what we do to prepare. The main thing we do different is we starting rolling greens. We usually start rolling greens the Monday before the first round and roll greens through that Saturday. When rolling greens I found it best to roll at least three days prior to a tournament to see the best results. Usually the first day or so you only see a slight increase in greens speeds, it is after the third and fourth days you see a significant difference in the green speeds. Typically we can see the greens increase up to one to two feet on the stimp meter this is all dependent on the weather and any irrigation events. Secondly we increase our mowing frequency on certain areas of the course which include fairways, approaches, tees and intermediate rough. Normally these areas only see a mower three to four times a week. When you increase the mowing frequency we get a much better cut and it keeps the course tight. The down side is the labor hours we spend mowing, but it is only for a short time and the results are worth it.

Greens Roller

Greens roller heads up close

Prism to check quality of cut

Fairway mower in action

Rainy Day's

What a wet June. So far this month we have received 3.9 inches of rain on the course. This is after the storms on the 23rd and 26th. Weather records for Denver go back to 1872 and so far this has been the wettest June since 1970. The normal averages for precipitation in the month of June are 1.3 inches. To bad we can't save some of this rain for July or August.

# 8 Mountain course after a downpour

We use five rain gauges placed in different areas of the course to judge the amount of rain we receive. Some times there is no rain on the mountain course but over a inch on the valley course. These rain gauges helps us with watering later in the week, some of the course will be watered and other areas will not.

The Heat is on !

With below average temperatures and above average rain fall in June the first day of summer brought us the first heat of the year, 90 degrees plus. What a change is just a few short days. So far in June the course has received roughly 2.4 inches of rain with a average temperature of 58 degrees, and even a frost in early June? With the oncoming heat you will see many hand waters on the course as well as some roller basins and misters. We Use these localised watering practice's to stretch out our normal water cycles to 4 to 5 days. Conserving our most precious resource water!

Hand watering a collar

Misters on rough perimeter

A worms life

Earthworm castings on golf course fairways and tees is a challenging issue for many golf course superintendents. Casting occur when worms ingest soil and leaf tissue to extract the nutrients. Then in the evening the worms emerge from their holes to deposit the fecal matter or castings as small mounds of soil. There currently are no chemical controls for worms and we wouldn't want to kill them any way because they are beneficial to the soil (natural aerification). The problem is the castings disrupt the turf surface and aesthetic value. There are some cultural practices that help limit the worm castings. One is sand topdressing, the worms do not like the sharp angular edges of the sand on their skin. The worms simply move to a different area. The worms also do not like acidic soil a simple application of a acidifying fertilizer has been known to help.








Worm castings
















Topdressing a tee

Wild Flowers

This season we have numerous wildflowers, many of the species are native but some have been seeded by us over the last few years. The mild wet weather in May and June has made germination possible. Enjoy the beauty now because next year there might not be as many.

Some of the species that you see on the course are as follows.

Indian Paint brush
Blue Flax
Rocky mountain Penstemon
Perennial Lupine
Asters

Greens Speeds

The Stimpmeter is a device used to measure the speed of a golf course putting greenby applying a known force to a golf ball and measuring the distance traveled in feet.
The device is an extruded aluminum bar, 36 in long and 1.75 in wide, with a V-shaped groove extending along its entire length, supporting the ball at two points, half an inch apart. It is tapered at one end by removing metal from its underside to reduce the bounce of the ball as it rolls onto the green. It has a notch at a right angle to the length of the bar 30 in from the lower tapered end where the ball is placed. The notch may be a hole completely through the bar or just a depression in it. The ball is pulled out of the notch by gravity when the device is slowly raised to an angle of about 20°, rolling onto the green at a repeatable velocity of 6.00 ft/s. The distance traveled by the ball in feet is the 'speed' of the putting green. Six distances, three in each of two opposite directions, should be averaged on a flat section of the putting green.
One problem with most modern greens is finding a near level surface as required in the USGA handbook. Many greens cannot be correctly measured as you cannot find an area where the measured distance or green speed in opposing directions is less than a foot, particularly when they are very fast requiring a very long level surface.
The USGA stimpmetered putting greens across the country to produce the following recommendations:
Slow greens: 4.5 feet
Medium greens: 6.5 feet
Fast greens: 8.5 feet
For the U.S. Open, they recommend:
Slow greens: 6.5 feet
Medium greens: 8.5 feet
Fast greens: 10.5 feet

Some of the fastest greens in the world are at Oakmont where greens speeds can reach 13-15 feet