Other practices that may be noticed is implementing our fall fungicide and fall herbicide program. Every October preventative fungicides are applied to the putting greens for the hopeful control of winter and spring turf diseases. Then in late November all turf is treated with preemergent herbicides for the control of winter weeds.
This is also the time of year when more time is dedicated to plant bed management. In October as always we will rotate our annual plantings in conjunction with the fall season.
Finally before the month of October is over, I plan to have the trees surrounding greens 11, 15, and 16 trimmed.
Everything the maintenance staff does, from plant bed management to managing putting greens for maximum performance revolves around seasonal climate changes. Of course, our goal is to implement these practices and seasonal changes for the enjoyment of every member at RBCC.
As of September 23rd immediately following the ladies tournament all mowing height (except rough) was raised. There are two main reasons for raising mow-ing heights. The first reason is to grow as much turf as possible before the first frost. The second reason for raising mowing heights is to increase root growth as much as possible. As I have said in the past shoot growth is directly related to root growth.
I am also sure everyone has noticed we have completed our fourth and final aerification for the year. Again, there is no cultural practice implemented today that is more productive for increasing root growth than aerification.
We verticut the greens this week. They will be in super fast condition by the Club Championship September 12th and 13th.
Keep fixing those ball marks.
This coming Monday the course will be closed while we punch the greens and sand them. Don’t worry, they will be back better than ever in about 10 days to 2 weeks.
