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Turf Talk
by Jerry Broughton, CGCS
It has been a while since you have heard from me and I really want to give you an update on the “state of the course”, so to speak. The weather has been a little strange even for Oklahoma. We had terrible damage from the ice storms to our trees and some to the grass. We were able to clean up the limbs and trees on the ground which saved the club a lot of money. We still have some broken, hanging limbs that we cannot reach. Our intentions are to have the trim guy with the bucket truck remove them. He should start around the first of May. Please be careful when you are under a tree playing golf.
Our rye grass is starting to grow and the trees are budding. Spring is around the corner and we aerified and top-dressed the greens on March 24th; because the weather was most suitable at that time. We are spraying for the weeds and applying the pre-emerge herbicide for the summer weeds. |
Our crew is also in the process of rebuilding sand traps and adding sand to the existing ones that need it so we will have some fluffy sand for a while. I have had a great response to the rye over seeding around the greens and how much better it is to play from instead of that worn off Bermuda. Hopefully, we can transition it without too much trouble.
We will be recovering from the heavy rains and the ice storms for several years. The damage was just too severe for any quick fix. Most of the trees will heal themselves, but it will take a while. There are some that we will have to remove but we will give them every chance to recover. In the terms of the grass, trees and shrubs, we had a very rough winter. We will be planting several new trees. We are now planting 19 survivor American elms; baby trees from the one at the memorial. There will be 19 to represent the lost children.
The greens have been in excellent shape and I have raised the mowing height do to aerification. As soon as they heal we will be going back down to good putting height. If you have any questions, please give me a call.
Thanks! |
