August 2nd

Exposure of the natural beauty of Muskoka's pines and rock faces a continued focus

WEATHER CONDITIONS
The heat wave broke a couple of weeks ago today.  Since then, the temperatures have averaged an optimum high of 24 and low of 13 for some perfect golfing weather and growing conditions for the Poa to recover from heat stress.  Aside from yesterday 25mm soaking, we received another 35mm blast of rain last Sunday dampening conditions for Monday's Pro's day event for a total of 60mm of rain this week. Today the weather man is calling for increasing cloudiness with a 60 percent chance of showers late this afternoon with risk of a thunderstorm and a high of only 21 degrees.  UV index 4 or moderate.  Tonight, will be mainly cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers again this evening with risk of a thunderstorm and a low 13.

GOLF CART USAGE
Golf carts are permitted for FULL USE today after yesterdays rainfall.  Please avoid low lying wet areas and stay 'high and dry' while travelling around the course to avoid creating unnecessary damage to the turf.  Use cart paths were provided and keep carts back from green surrounds as indicated by white lines.

COURSE PLAYABILITY
Greens
The fast and firm conditions have been difficult to achieve with the 60mm of rain this week.  After no mow or roll yesterday after the early morning 25mm rain storm, today greens were cut and rolled and pins all changed for this busy Friday's round.

The low spot on the front of No. 5 green was sodded yesterday.  This will fix the 'bird bath' at the front that caused winter damage from water not being able to drain off the front of the green.



Current optimum growing conditions helping No. 14 and 17 recover with bentgrass

Greens No. 14 and 17 are showing signs of recovery with the current optimum growing weather.  We will see some significant improvement in these greens over the next couple of weeks leading up to the Club Championship event.  The dimple-seeding from a couple weeks ago has germinated and young seedlings have started to emerge.  The dimpling from this week should pop by the middle of next week for added density to fill in the remaining voids.  We will repeat the dimple seeding process this coming week to further fill in the areas.

Tees, Fairways, and Approaches

The playing surfaces were mowed today in prep for the long weekend.  The crew filled in many fairway and tee divots this week to help keep up with the intense play we've received during this busy period.
Rough
The rough mow crew is out in full force today to catch up and mow the green and tee surrounds before the weekend and other turf areas throughout the course with the big unit.
Bunkers
Standing water in our poorly draining end of life bunkers was removed and sand raked for today's play.  We will be starting a BUNKER SAND TRAIL later next week at the driving range.  The bunker left of the chipping green will be filled with three different sands to get your feedback on type of sand we should select for the future bunker renewal program.
Driving Range
The driving range is open for FULL USE now starting this week.  The seed from last fall is starting to come up out on the range and will slowly change the bare soil from the prolonged flooded conditions to green over the next couple of weeks.  We will overseed the range this Wednesday as well in some areas during it's regular closure time to help fill it in.
Ground Under Repair - Treat all new sodded areas IN ROUGH as 'ground under repair'.

Course Etiquette - Please remember to repair ball marks and replace divots.  If carrying your golf bag and using the sand tubes, please use on FAIRWAYS and ROUGH ONLY.  Do not use sand tubes or bottles to fix tee divots!!!  It is different seed and it's the golf course maintenance staff responsibility to repair all tee divots on a periodic basis.  Using the sand and seed mix on tees will also deplete your available material for fixing fairway and rough divots prematurely!  Thanks for your cooperation!

UPCOMING TURF PRACTICES

Continuing overseeding on greens 14, 17, 3, 5, and 7 next week

Finish plugging No. 10 approach and other misc locations.

Overseed driving range (Wednesday August 7th during closure)

Thursday August 8th:

• Greens verticut and topdressed
• Fairway Primo Maxx + Triton (dollar spot) application

Have a great round!