Week of August 16th
- matthewbehl
- Aug 20, 2022
- 3 min read
As most of you are aware, last Thursday Ipswich was put into the extreme drought category on the latest drought map. So far in August we have received .03 inches of rain and it doesn't appear there is much relief in the long range forecast. The drought has taken a toll not only on the golf course, but my assistants, myself, and our families are all impacted as well. One silver lining to the drought and not mowing rough is our rough mower John Chadwick can spend more time on the flowers.
Some pictures of the flowers:
Greens, tees, and approaches are all in terrific shape. Fairways are holding up okay. While they may not be the most aesthetically pleasing, very few turf areas have been lost at this point. Most importantly they are still playing well. The week featured two cool and cloudy days and I was happy with the fairway response with just a minimal amount of irrigation being applied.
Many members have stated "I wish I could do something to help". Every member already is helping with limiting traffic on fairways and rough by staying cart path only. By limiting traffic on fairways and rough the recovery process will be faster.
Fairway recovery work will start as soon as we feel we have adequate water to utilize for the recovery process. The company has provided the agronomy team a new tractor and most likely a new seeder that we will be utilized in the recovery process. We are currently doing maintenance on all our seeding equipment to ensure it is ready to go when the time is right. While currently we do not have a tremendous amount of seed work to do this is the perfect time to incorporate more bentgrass (most desirable species) onto our fairways. Another silver lining of the drought is that our fairways will be better long term as we incorporate more bentgrass and address some other deficiencies that have shown up in the drought conditions. As always, we have a sound agronomic plan in place for the fairway recovery process and I for one am looking forward to incorporating it.
Below are a couple of pictures of our new tractor:
Greens aeration that was scheduled for August 23rd and 24th has been postponed. The agronomy team has decided to wait another week to assess irrigation water availability and the long range forecast. Water usage increases during the aeration process and water management is of the utmost importance right now. Currently, we have rescheduled for August 29th, 30th, and the 31st. These dates are also subject to change as we closely monitor the long range forecast and the course needs.
Currently, we are pumping water from the pond by 6 green into the pond at the beginning of 6 fairway. Once we fill this pond we will pump the water over to 5 pond which is our irrigation pond. I am also working on getting another well up and running. If this pans out another well could be a huge help in September with the recovery process. My hope is that if no rain falls another well can supply the water needed for the recovery process. Long term, I will be working with the company on some more solutions for our water supply.
There is still a lot of wildlife utilizing the course with this weeks pictures featuring reptiles and amphibians:
In closing out this week, I would like to thank all the membership for the support they have given my staff over the past couple of weeks. It is hard to keep staff morale up in times like this. Many a day has been turned around with a few kind words and support provided by the membership. The pizza, cookies, and water that the IWGA provided was also a huge spirit lift for my staff.
