Continued Recovery Practices

It was a long hot summer across this entire province. Water was the talk throughout the whole industry whether it was about watering too much or not enough. As a result, unfortunately, some people lost turf and if you didn't loose any, there were some areas that took an absolute butt kicking.

As a result, here at the club, we have continued our fall aeration but have focused it into some areas that don't normally see a lot of it.

Due to the extreme conditions this summer, traffic stress was even more of an issue than usual. With limited cart path access at the club, many areas in the rough and fairway were effected more than usual.

The fairways, when looking back at what we dealt with, were pretty good through the majority of the season. This was due to careful watering and the application of wetting agent products when needed. Having said that, there were still areas that needed some extra TLC this fall. Most of the areas that were tended too are on exit areas from tees and entrance areas to green sites where cart traffic is very bottle necked. These areas will have the material removed and fresh sand added too them. This is going to help with the compaction from this season and hopefully better it for the future as well.

Removing material on the right side of  #18 fairway

The areas in the rough are also in the same boat. There were areas that fell victim to heavy cart traffic at entrance/ exit points and also in bottle neck areas. These areas are being punched, seeded and topdressed.

There were also areas in the rough where fairway irrigation was relied on to water it. Those areas are being seeded with a different type of grass (fescue) that is more drought tolerant. This turf type will not be in high traffic areas, as it does not react well to traffic. However, the goal here is for us to manage fairway moisture better and not run fairways just to get water in the rough. This turf type will hopefully allow that.

Pine stand behind the 8th green

We hope you enjoy the last few weeks of the season. The day time temperatures look to be fairly nice for golfing. The leaves are also on there way, so get out and enjoy fall in Muskoka!