It has been raining and raining and I'm guessing the new drought monitor that comes out this week has us out of drought, at least here in Eastern Massachusetts but time will tell. The spring is usually a great time to grow grass, set yourself up for success for the season and try and recover from any issues you experienced last year or in the winter. Sometimes, especially here on Cape Ann, it can be a challenge. Gloucester sticks out into that cold ocean which keeps us much cooler than everywhere else; even a half a mile makes a big difference. This year has been nice though; its been in the 60s and even 70s a few times which is very atypical and much appreciated.
Regular rains have allowed us to get some banged up areas filled in. Areas like the rough get minimal fertilizer but spring is one of the times we feed them a good bit of nitrogen. We utilize a polymer coated, slow release product that gives us a little quick shot of nitrogen and a long slow feed that is released based on water and temperature. This allow us to give the turf a steady diet of what it needs through the summer months. The nitrogen provides the plant with the nutrients it needs to grow roots and shoots in preparation for the stresses of summer when roots shrink significantly and shoot growth is less.
The negative side of all that growth, at least if you aren't a professional golfer, is that the rough is THICK and lush. The best tip I can give to any golfer playing in the spring is "hit it straight and keep it in the short grass". Its like this everywhere right now. The staff has gone around this week knocking back the fescue mounding to more reasonable lengths and has made a few cutline adjustments most notable is the mounding on the 17th hole.
This past Monday we were closed for the entire day which allowed us to get some very small coring tines into the greens, remove a tiny bit of thatch, get some air in to help dry them out after last week's deluge and put a light dusting of sand. We also got a ton of grass cut, a couple sprays out and other odds and ends. We followed up with a light verticut on approaches to remove some thatch and will follow that up with some sand as well. The purpose of this cultural practice is to firm up the surfaces in front of the greens to allow balls to better feed onto the putting surfaces. We played around with the settings on the 14th hole which ended up being slightly more aggressive than I wanted. I also noticed that slicing side to side may grab your club a little so we adjusted to a different direction that is with the line of play to improve playability.
The annual flowers will be going in the ground next week and I'm hoping the tennis patio will wrap up soon as well. We pulled out the old, unruly variety of hydrangeas that were planted in front of the ladies locker room and Cheryl installed a few different varieties along with some grasses that should neaten that area up.
Our seasonal staff which is mostly comprised of college students and a couple of high schoolers are trickling in this week and next with the high schoolers helping out just on weekends right now. We are happy to have Jackson Colbert, Brooks Slingluff and Aiden Doke back from their first year of college. They look no worse for the wear and are ready to get back at it. We also have a couple new staff members in Chris Esposito and your own Drew Johnson. Please have patience as the greenheads learn the rules and protocols.
