Germination on nursery green

We've got a pretty good germination starting on our nursery green in 5 days. Good weather with the right amount of warm temperatures and proper amounts of water to keep the seed moist.

A little green hue over the nursery green by 18.  
 

Open Play Day Columbus Day October 14th

Too bad today is not an open play day, should be great weather for a big field for our outing.  By the way, I'm moving fall greens aeration to later in the month of October so you can continue to enjoy great green conditions.

  We've decided to have Member Open 

Play Day for Columbus Day October 14th.  Reduced guest rate with Field Bar being open and McGrews Pub open at 2:00pm.

 

Bermuda in collars. DO NOT PULL

Our collars are contaminated in spots with Bermuda grass.  The temptation is to grab a runner and pull it.  This practice damages existing turf.  In the last few days, I just sprayed a product to help in fighting this weed.  We will also be over seeding through these areas to improve o bent grass population.  We will make a more concerted effort to reduce the advancements in the collars over the next couple of years.  Please be patient and leave the turf in place.

Bermuda runners pulled and left on the collar of the green.
 

 

Fairway Height Raised for next week

Today was the last day that our fairways were mowed at our standard fairway height which is 5/8".  We will be raising the height to 3/4" to allow the turf to have some slightly increased growth going into dormancy. This increased leaf area allows the plant to store some additional energy before it goes to sleep over the next few weeks.  Shorter days and lower temperatures, notably below 40 degrees help to bring on frost. Normally a hard frost at 32F or below are required to bring the plant into full dormancy.

Nursery Green Seeded

Finally got the nursery green near 18 tee ready for seed.  Amendments, compost and some additional sand were placed on the green over the last few days.  Seeding and fertilization were put on the green today.  A short video shows you the final process to the operation which is making sure we get good soil to seed contact which improves and quickens germination.  We will be running the overhead irrigation on the green every 2-4 hours based on need over the next few days to insure a quick germination.

Venting/Needle tining Greens

We are venting our greens again with our Vertical-drain with  a 5/16" needle tine. This will be our last for the season.  

We plan to do a deep tine1/2"solid  tine 8-10" deep and back fill the holes with on October 14-15 after the Men's and Wonen's closing Day outings.

Skip needle tining/venting 14 green.  We will finish 15-18 by 9 am.
 

WE MUST NEVER FORGET

9/11/2001

 Life ended for thousands that day and many family members/friends lives were affected forever by the acts of those cowards.  As we go about our busy lives, it is important that we remember the sacrifice made by many innocent people on that day.  Watching those events unfold that morning as I walked into the snack shop at Eagle Springs will be burned into my mind forever.  The eerie silence out on the course  within a few hours when all planes  were grounded and no planes were on approach into Lambert which was a common occurrence back in that time when we still had a busy airport.   My golf course was a safe haven but was not the same for a couple of days until those airliners started flying overhead again.

Mechanic Dave, Grandpa twice!

Congrats to mechanic Dave whose daughter Elizabeth had twin baby girls.  Kylee and Kenzie , born at 31 weeks but everyone is doing well.  3lb.2oz and 3lb 14oz.

Fairway Bermuda eradication

The Bermuda that I sprayed 3 weeks ago is beginning to make its comeback.  We we will make another application in the next couple of weeks which will knock it back until it tries to green up next spring when we will hammer it again.

The green patch in the middle of the brownish turf is zoysia trying to survive.  With the assistance of our herbicide spray, we should be able to make gains in these spots over multiple seasons.
 

Weather stats for August, what a roller coaster it was!!

Weather stats for August.  Very interesting month that was way below normal for 

the first half and way above normal for the last half. Luckily, we had average 

temperatures at best during the main June/July window of summer or we could of 

had some serious issues with this extended heat at the end of summer.  Things are

holding well at this time but we still want to error on the side of caution until we get back to more

normal temperatures

Temperature        

                   2013            Avg              2012

Highest            103   08/31                       101
Lowest              57   08/14                        60
Avg Maximum         87.5           87.9    -0.4     90.9
Avg Minimum         69.8           69.4     0.4     68.3
Avg                 78.7           78.6     0.1     79.6
Days Max Temp >=90  14             11.4     2.6     18 

Precipitation

                  1.19"          2.99   -1.80     4.00

AUGUST 30TH...RECORD HIGH 102 DEGREES. PREVIOUS WAS 100 DEGREES IN 1947.
AUGUST 30TH...RECORD HIGH MINIMUM 79 DEGREES. PREVIOUS WAS 77 DEGREES IN 2000.

AUGUST 31ST...RECORD HIGH TIED 103 DEGREES.  PREVIOUS WAS IN 2011.
AUGUST 31ST...RECORD HIGH MINIMUM 79 DEGREES. PREVIOUS WAS 78 DEGREES IN 1912.

12 CONSECUTIVE DAYS WITH THE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO 90
DEGREES.  THIS TIES 9TH PLACE WITH 1918 AND 1900.

22ND DRIEST AUGUST WITH 1.19 INCHES.

Repair to 9 cart path

A couple phone calls and finally a tweet got the attention of Missouri-American Water regarding the raised cart path issue near #9 tee.  A contractor that does repair work for the water company will be on site on Sept 16th to tear out the path where it has raised up and replace it.  Appreciate your patience.

Happy Labor Day

Hope you enjoy your day today.  The staff are out preparing as many surfaces as they can for your enjoyment until its time for them to get out of your way and they can go enjoy the rest of their day.  A couple wind events over the weekend with some much needed rain, .85".  We blew most of the leaves away from the fairways and first cut of rough yesterday but then another event came by in the afternoon and blew more around.  Short, dark video explaining our labor day work below.  Thanks and hope you enjoy this great weather day we will have at the club!  Pools last day except for the 'Lady Open' next weekend some come out and have some fun.