Bug Spray/Sunscreen, Entry/Exit Stakes, and Aeration

It is that time of year again where we are starting to notice bug spray or sunscreen marks on our fine turf areas. Both bug spray and sunscreen are very damaging to turf with bug spray being particularly harsh. In many instances, bug spray will cause turf death. There are many areas on fairways that have damage and also an area on the 2nd green. Luckily, it looks like the area on the second green will be able to be nursed back to health. Please apply bug spray or sunscreen while standing on a cart path.

Bug spray damage on the 1st fairway

As mentioned in the last blog post, we recently pulled down the ropes on the area on one where we established turf last fall. After watching play on Sunday and reviewing cart traffic patterns from our Pace cart system, the decision was made today to put the ropes back up immediately. On Sunday, we had about 15% compliance on the entry stake on 1 with most carts entering right through the newly opened area. The lack of compliance with the entry stakes and exit stakes are a growing source of frustration with my crew and I. I am starting to reassess projects we had for this fall and how we will allocate resources until we can get more compliance with the entry/exit stakes.

Blue Dot is entrance stake on Sunday. With this traffic pattern this area will not survive the traffic

The agronomy team is currently scheduled to aerate greens the 19th and 20th of August. A final decision will be made on this later this week. I will need to see what our water situation is, look at the weather, and where the golf course is agronomically before moving forward. The last thing we want to do is setback greens or other areas of the course due to aeration being scheduled on the calendar. The other areas of the golf course don't stop needing maintenance while we are aerating greens. We can't ignore other areas of the golf course and we are currently facing a number of agronomic challenges.