Heavy rains, sodden fairways and drains.

After not having rain for months we received 5.5" of rain in one week which, on its own is bad, but when you couple that with extremely high humidity, clouds and no wind you have a recipe for a very wet course because it never has a chance to dry out. Because of this we fell behind on mowing fairways and rough last week, but caught up as of today. You may notice yellowing of fairways in some spots that have had standing water for a few days. Grass, like any living organism, needs to breathe, and if it is sitting under water it is unable to do that. Furthermore, the warmer the water and the more intense the light, the quicker the turf decline. So between the heavy rain, high humidity and high temps, we've had a perfect environment for fairway turf decline. Once we dry out, which it looks like we should early next week, we'll determine the areas with the most decline and start slit seeding into the soil to begin healing. The good news is, we're entering the best time of year to seed so these areas should heal quickly.

Flooding of turf from MSU

Wet, yellowing turf.

Staying with the theme of water, we've also been working on installing more large storm drains to keep water from getting to the course. We installed large catch basins at the property lines on #11 and #2 to catch water as its coming onto the course. In the past when it has rained enough, large quantities of water would overwhelm the old drains and pour onto the fairways. By re-grading these areas and putting in larger drains, we should be able to get all of that water into the drain lines before it runs down the middle of our fairways.

New drain and grading at #11.

New drain and grading at #2. In this, and the drain on #11, the grading will act as a backstop to catch any overflow until the drain can catch up.

Enjoy the Wine Classic this weekend!
Ian

Venting greens, Ground Shieldz and pump house problems.

The last two Mondays at Barrington were very productive for us because the course was closed. One thing we like to do when we have an opportunity like this is to vent the greens using the PlanetAir. As I've touched on before, venting the greens increases air exchange and water flow, resulting in a happier plant. This is a very non-invasive procedure that is very beneficial to the greens,while barely disrupting play; in fact, it actually increases green speed.

Slits for breathing and drinking. 

In case you were wondering, the white boards, called Ground Shieldz, at the practice green and driving range tee were a turf protection product we were trying out. These boards are used to protect playing surfaces when stadiums are hosing concerts or anything else that may damage turf. The idea for us was to let the boards sit in one spot for six days and see how the turf underneath looked after. The turf looked longer because we couldn't mow it but, besides that it looked great. We were impressed with how well the grass did underneath and will likely be getting some to use here for the many events that happen around the putting green. 

Boards. 

Grass after six days of cover. 

Finally, we had some issues at our pump house over the weekend which meant we went all weekend without watering at night. Evening watering is the best time to ensure that the plant takes up and efficiently utilizes as much water as possible, so when we miss nights that we want to water it's not ideal. We have the issue sorted out now, but we had a few less than fun days of watering this weekend. We fell behind in some spots on water but we'll catch up soon. I don't know what the opposite of the saying "when it rains it pours" is, but that's what we dealt with this weekend. 

Ian