Blues, Stimulation, and Getting Tight

What a whirlwind the last two months have been if you are a sports fan in our fair city. Great run for our St. Louis Blues as Pierre Laclede can attest outside city hall last weekend!!! #LGB

Speaking of stimulation which our Blues did plenty, we have finally been turning to the good side of weather over the last few weeks even though Friday and Saturday have been wash outs for the most part.

Glen Echo is a warm season golf course. Our largest area of fine mowed turf are our fairways and tees which account for almost 30 acres of warm season grass, mostly zoysia. The bermuda grass which I have a love/hate relationship with is required to help round out our course and fill in where we have voids in cool season fescue, poa annua and bent grass which invades our rough. The long cold winter has slowed its emergence in higher traffic areas but warmer temperatures are beginning to help it fill in where we need it.

There were enough gaps in the rain during Stanley Cup winning week so we could apply fertilizer on the fairways/approaches which will improve green up and also begin to help the turf fill in as needed. Most areas where we have needed to replace turf in fairways occurred from some of our bermuda eradication work last fall and some winter kill of both bermuda and a little zoysia. Also we experienced a few thin areas in north to east facing slopes 10 and 12 approach and also from excessive shaded conditions.We still have a few more places to do some sod patching on fairways, intermediate, and a few green approaches and surrounds. As temperatures increase which increases soil temperatures, this will also speed up growth of our warm season grasses. We did modest fertilizer application around the greens to improve fill in of the bermuda and give the cool season turf just a bit of energy to fight through the rest of the summer. We will do some additional spray-able and granular apps along weaker fairways and around all fairways in the first pass of the rough.  This will improve color and thicken the rough for the summer. Oh joy he's going make the rough rougher, yes, yes I am.

I think overall our rough is about in the best shape I can remember since arriving in August of 2008. Still fighting some weeds in various parts but are getting some good kill throughout the property. applications.


We had hoped to begin aerating fairways on Monday but it appears we will be too wet. We will try next Monday on our closed day which allows us to get a full day in. We will also do some individual fairways this upcoming week if we begin to dry down.The fairway aeration program should improve the turf in a number of ways:

1. Reduce thatch through increased microbial soil activity
2. Increase water penetration and drying down in wetter areas
3. Assist with disease management including fairy ring
4. Stimulate turf growth
5. Reduce compaction in our fairways soil
6. Breaking of the cores will help to fill in small imperfections in  surface areas.

Russ mowing 2 fairway.

From behind #2 green

The course continues to tighten and improve as we work our way into the first week of summer. Tree trimming, tree removal, sodding, aeration, and just general clean up of all areas are ongoing 

 I've included a Countdown Timer on the main page of the blog for the upcoming Invitational Member/Guest coming up in July. Amazing to think we are less than 30 days away from this great event.

New Year,Excellent Videos on Trees and the Golf Course

A nice balanced video from the USGA regarding trees on the golf course. Also a second video which I've posted before on the blog. It discusses the need for light and air movement on our main play surfaces(greens) and the negative impacts that can be placed on this most important surface from trees planted in the wrong location.

Beginning next week we have contracted removal of a few trees that are hazardous and too large for us to drop without first having the limbs trimmed off. This will then allow our staff to remove the totem poled main trunk safely. We drop the logs and haul them to our maintenance area for splitting or placed in our dump for grinding in the future. This work will begin on Monday and Tuesday(for the contractor) and will probably take most of next week for our staff to get the logs removed, area raked and material hauled away. The staff have been involved in splitting and stacking tree parts that were removed during the season to make room for the trees that have been approved for removal by the Green Committee and Board.

Effectiveness and necessity for tree root pruning

We have not completed all tree root pruning on the course but the areas which have been given this treatment are showing good results.

A decision was made many years ago to place a tree whose ultimate height could be 70-90' tall only 30' behind the green on #11.  The top picture shows the location of the tree and its proximity to the green.  The bottom picture shows the root pruning line that was completed less than 3 months ago.  The line was cut between the tree base and the green.  It does not take a turf professional's eye to see the vast improvement in plant health and vitality.