Llanerch Golf Course and External Activities

The Llanerch Grounds Maintenance Staff would like to wish you and your family a Happy New Years! Oh, Zeus the dog too!

It is normal for poa annual to seed in late April and in late September but NOT late December. This observation is another first for me. The abnormally warm temperatures continue to confuse plant life (and greenkeepers too). We are out mowing fairways and the intermediate cut today because the grass has grown so much in the past week. We are hoping the temperatures go back to normal later this week after what looks like some heavy rain tonight into tomorrow.  

  So as we prepare for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Mother Nature has given us another unseasonable warm day. It is going up to 72 degrees! Unfortunately, we also received 1.2 inches of rain yesterday. The course is very wet and can not accommodate carts. If the course conditions improve, we will inform the Golf Shop staff on any cart status changes. The Staff of Grounds Maintenance and I would like to wish you and your families a safe and happy Christmas!  

As we enter the week of Christmas, the weather keeps making it feel like it is spring! In close to the 30 years of green keeping, I have never needed to mow greens, tees and fairways this late in the season. The next 10 days looks warn and wet. This will keep the grass from going dormant. Hopefully, winter will return in January!

Last week, the staff removed a section of 15 fairway and replaced the grass with bentgrass sod. Over the 11 years since the renovation, the grass had become contaminated with some rye grass and poa annua. To improve the play-ability, the sod was added. It is probably the highest trafficked area on the course and was starting to show some real signs of wear and tear. We are keeping golf cart off it until the spring of 2016.

Yesterday, we had tree contractor Aradar Tree Services remove a large tree form the left side of 10 fairway near 10 tee box. It was a Norway Maple that had some very serve cracking throughout it's trunk and main leading branches. We had grown very concerned that it was just a matter of time until the tree dropped some heavy wood.

Today, we are taking time to sod some areas in the intermediate cut surrounding fairways. Over the years, the bentgrass in the fairways creep into small section of the intermediate cut. In this case, the bentgrass was more than 40% . We prefer to have a stand of bluegrass with some rye grass. Once we are done, it will provide a more consistent lie and be more visually appealing.