Grounds Department Update

 Hello Everyone,


August can be a tough month for golf course maintenance departments.  The weather can be brutal, staffing shrinks as seasonal employees return to school,  details that get quickly tended to during the summer can take longer to get to until the seasonal work load transitions into Autumn tasks. 

This year we were able to perform our greens aeration in early August.  We were still at full staff. The whole operation went well, and greens healed up quickly.  We  will continue the same aeration schedule neat season, with solid tines in the spring, and core aeration in August.  

Many members have inquired about the blighted areas on some of the fairways.  The damage is from a fungal disease called Gray Leaf Spot.  Like most fungal diseases, it proliferates during hot humid weather, and nighttime temperatures over 70 degrees.  Numbers 11, 13, and 18  are the most affected  fairways, with some others having at least some affected spots.   We are in the process of aerating and overseeding all of our fairways, and the worst areas will be prioritized.   

Our fairways currently are on 14-day preventative spray schedules for fungal diseases including Gray leaf spot.  This disease is  mostly active in late summer/early fall.  I will continue to adjust our fairway chemical and cultural programs to optimize the  heath of our fairways and ryegrass rough areas.  

Thank you,


Chad Oxenreider, 

Golf Course Superintendent 

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