Llanerch Golf Course and External Activities

Well, after weeks of no rain and heat indexes ranging from 105-119 degrees, we finally got rain. Llanerch received close to one inch last night. It sounds like that would be enough but it is not. We could use a couple more days of rain to get through the very dry soil. The rough has turned brown in spots because of the lack of rain and high heat. The irrigation system has helped us so far but is no replacement for good old rain from the sky. I expect some of the grass to "spring" back from the combination of rain and the somewhat lower temperature. Of course this will last only a day or so. The forecast is calling for a heat index of 106 degrees on Friday and mid-90s over the weekend. I will continue to play "defense" with the greens until the heat recedes. Our agronomic plan of protecting our greens so far has worked very well. I know everyone would like to see the greens be a little faster but hurting them now would cause short and long term damage. I appreciate e...

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year. In this picture, we used an infrared laser to measure the temperature of the 3rd green. It was 107 degrees! The only green that was hotter was the 18th. It was 109 degrees! The extreme hot weather will continue from today into at least Saturday night. As I have written before in this blog, we do not roll greens in high heat. We are trying to "nurse" the turf through the heat. We will start to roll greens again once the temperatures drop next week (if they do drop). 

Over the past week we have started to observe the greens having more ball marks than average. It is important that the ball marks are repaired to ensure both plant health and the smoothness of the putting surface. I have added an instructional video on how to fix ball marks properly. I would just ask that everyone try to find and fix their ball mark and fix an extra one each time you are on a green. Remember: a properly fixed ball mark take two day to heal. An unfixed ball mark take 30 days if it even can recover.

The construction of the resurfacing two of the tennis courts has started. Over the next few weeks, a contractor will be adding a new surface and paint to the two oldest courts. This process will make all four courts level will each other. Why now, you may ask and not in the "off" season? It is because it has to be at least 70 degrees to lay the new surface. We plan to have the courts open by the first week of August.

As you play the golf course, you will start to see black spots on some of the fairways. It is the divot mix we use to help fill in the fairways with bentgrass. These damaged areas are usually spots where either a divot was not replaced or divot mix was not used. I am happy to say that divot repair has improved dramatically this year but we still need your help. If your shot produces a divot, always replace it. If the divot "explodes" or is just a shredded mess, please use divot mix from your cart or caddy. Thanks.

As you play the course (especially 9, 10 and 18) or use the old putting green, you might notice "loose bark" on the ground. This material is truly just that.. "bark". The bark comes from the Sycamore trees. They shed because the bark is brittle in nature and rapid growth of the tree. They will shed bark from late June until late November! We rake up the bark every few days. The issue is the bark sheds almost every day and all day long! We will continue to do our best to keep the play free of bark as best we can.