Wednesday, March 25, 2015

2015 March Course Conditions


Things are finally starting to green up and it looks as if we are going to have a much better spring this year than we did the last (To say the least). We are going to leave the greens covers out another two weeks to be on the safe side in case we get one more shot of cold winter weather. The main thing is that we continue to keep an eye on the greens moisture as we have done all winter until we get into the optimum Bermuda grass growing temperatures.
USGA Site Visit
We have a tentative visit scheduled for the week of April 13th. Besides looking at overall turf quality we will be asking them to evaluate a number of green complexes that have a considerable amount of shade issues and make recommendations based on their findings.
Playability 2015
We look to schedule the playability tours of each course sometime in April.
Legacy Hills Greenside Bunkers
The greenside bunker renovation is complete and the bunkers are back in play as of last week.
Cowan Creek Greenside Bunker Renovation
The Cowan bunker project has been a bit slower than expected due to the bad weather in February but should still be complete in the next two to three weeks. This time frame includes the time to install the new sod edges around each bunker.
Soil Testing
March disease samples were sent to the lab on 3/10/15 and the results for all three courses came back clean of fungus. That being said, two days later we had a Pythium Blight outbreak on a couple of greens at Legacy Hills, mainly #14. (We sent in an additional sample) We sprayed a fungicide for the disease the next day and within a day the symptoms went away.    
Audubon Certification
In the upcoming months we plan on establishing a support group including all the active participants in the certification process, as well as committee members from wildlife groups in Sun City.   

GCSAA Certification
Attended 2 GCSAA webinars:
Calibrating Sprayers and selecting the right nozzles
Planning for more dry days / what can we learn from last year? 

Moisture Monitoring
Here is a week’s worth of moisture monitoring from White Wing.

Date:
3/9/2015
Soil
Date:
3/10/2015
Soil
Date:
3/11/2015
Soil
Hole
High Area
Low Area
Temp
Hole
High Area
Low Area
Temp
Hole
High Area
Low Area
Temp
#1
 
 
 
#1
27.7%
21.8%
 
#1
24.3%
19.8%
 
#2
 
 
 
#2
29.2%
25.7%
 
#2
25.7%
20.3%
 
#3
 
 
 
#3
18.4%
27.7%
 
#3
15.9%
27.7%
 
#4
 
 
 
#4
21.8%
27.2%
 
#4
17.4%
18.9%
 
#5
 
 
 
#5
14.9%
26.7%
 
#5
14.4%
24.3%
 
#6
 
 
 
#6
24.7%
29.2%
 
#6
26.2%
28.2%
 
#7
 
 
 
#7
26.7%
19.3%
 
#7
27.7%
19.8%
 
#8
 
 
 
#8
20.3%
20.8%
 
#8
18.4%
19.8%
 
#9
RAINING
 
 
#9
20.8%
25.2%
 
#9
19.8%
26.2%
 
#10
 
 
 
#10
28.2%
30.6%
 
#10
31.1%
30.1%
53.6
#11
 
 
 
#11
29.7%
28.2%
 
#11
21.3%
28.7%
 
#12
 
 
 
#12
23.8%
21.8%
 
#12
20.8%
26.2%
 
#13
 
 
 
#13
18.9%
32.1%
 
#13
18.9%
33.1%
 
#14
 
 
 
#14
20.3%
28.7%
 
#14
29.2%
32.6%
 
#15
 
 
 
#15
28.2%
29.2%
 
#15
26.2%
32.6%
 
#16
 
 
 
#16
27.2%
20.3%
 
#16
27.7%
25.7%
 
#17
 
 
 
#17
27.7%
29.7%
 
#17
29.7%
34.1%
 
#18
 
 
 
#18
19.3%
23.3%
 
#18
24.3%
29.7%
 
PG
 
 
 
PG
23.8%
18.4%
 
PG
27.7%
17.4%
 
CG
 
 
 
CG
22.8%
21.8%
 
CG
28.7%
23.8%