New Nursery

 As we draw closer and closer to the start of the Renovation at Swope Memorial there are several inhouse projects that we are breaking ground on. This month was crucial in timing out the expansion of the existing bentgrass nursery. Currently our bentrgass nursery to the left of 12 fairway was roughly 1200sqft. This is considered small and would not be appropriate for the amount of bentgrass we will have post renovation. We therefor expanded the nursery to now be over 3600sqft.

 

During this process we removed existing turf and material surrounded the the existing green. We then created new drainage lines to properly move water across the entirety of the new nursery.

 Additionally we added a new layer of sand/peatmoss mixture to give the new seed a solid foundation to grow into. Lastly we laid pre-plant amendments to properly feet the seed that was soon to follow.

                                                                                    

 As you will see the bentrgass has already begun to germinate and is looking great!

                                                                                

Hospice Care

 The dog days of summer are officially here at Swope Memorial. With highs reaching into the hundreds and overnight low's barely dipping into the 70's if not low 80's its a miracle any turf can survive these Midwest summers. With the weather patterns we have experienced in late July its not a matter of if the turf will start to die its a matter of how slowly it will happen. Our jobs as Superintendents becomes similar to a hospice nurse during these times. Creating the best possible environment to keep the turf comfortable to prevent unnecessary death.

 As a golfer this will present itself to you as seeing more maintenance staff watering greens during the day. Greens moisture levels become even more important during a heat wave because of the anatomy of our Bentgrass/ Poa greens. Bentgrass is less susceptible to the heat but still needs constant monitoring because of its longer root zone allowing for it to reach down and collect moisture at lower soil depths. Poa on the other hand has an extremely shallow root zone only allowing it to collect water at the top 2 inches of soil. This inability to collect water is why you will see our maintenance crew doing constant moisture checks on the greens to insure we lose as little Poa as possible. You may also notice slightly longer rough and fairways to give the turf a chance to protect itself. And as always stricter cart traffic rules that stave off rough death from over traffic.