JRCC Golf Course Update
Dear JRCC Members, I have been getting a lot of questions about the current state of the fairways and turf this spring. Unfortunately the brutal winter killed some of the turf around greens, on fairways, tees and other areas on the property. Death was caused by extreme low temperatures combined with desiccating winds. Also, shady north facing areas were hit hard. The good news is most of the areas will grow back. The bad news is that it is happening very slowly due to the below normal spring temperatures. The temperatures are almost a month behind average for this time of year, making it difficult to get the grass moving. We have already sodded out the dead areas around greens that had no chance to recover. Mostly we are fighting very thin areas in the fairways right now that will be slow to fill in. We will also have to sod some of those areas in the future once we get a handle on what is not coming back.
The current action plan is extra fertilizer combined with
vertical mowing and low height of cut to expose as many stolons as possible
to the sun. What we are seeing here is unfortunately not uncommon all
through the mid-Atlantic region. The area we live in is called the
transitions zone because it is not ideal for either warm or cool season
grass. A brutal winter can and will kill bermuda and other warm season
grasses. Please read (click on) the article below
written by a Ph.D. out of Tennessee--it does a great job of explaining the
science behind what has occurred. If you have any other questions,
please do not hesitate to get in touch with me at your convenience.
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Rob
Wilmans
Director of Golf and Grounds Maintenance |
