Nov 7, 2011...

David Phipps, Stone Creek Golf Club, Oregon City, OR:

"Already the first week of November is under our belt. So far this fall has gone pretty much as expected with a few frost delays, some rain, some fog, and a fair amount of sunny days. One thing for sure, this fall has brought us some cool, but actually pretty nice golfing weather. We are still managing to get through the rough each week but it we are having to take extreme caution when navigating around the soft areas. We got the rough done early last week which enabled Pearce to get around the course with the trim mower on Friday which really put a nice finish on the course for the weekend.

We were finally able to get out our last Redox fertilizer application on the fairway for the season. We added less than .20 lbs of Nitrogen which should give the grass a boost going into the winter. In doing so it really gave me an opportunity to see first hand how the fairways are holding up. They are definitely getting wet, especially the back nine. I have asked the pro shop to restrict the carts to the paths on the back when we are allowing the carts out. In order to avoid further damage we will have to skip mowing a few areas until the conditions allow us to mow safely..."

Visit David's blog at stonecreeksuper.blogspot.com.

Fertility...

David Dore-Smith, Copperleaf Golf & Country Club, Bonita Springs, FL:

"During the month of October, Copperleaf received almost 14 inches of rain on top of the 13 inches measured in September.

"During the month of October, Copperleaf received almost 14 inches of rain on top of the 13 inches measured in September...."

This volume of rain unfortunately has a leaching affect on the fertilizer applied to the turf. Leaching is the affect of moving fertilizer through the soil profile with the use of irrigation water and rain. Ultimately, this renders the fertilizer unavailable as it is out of reach of the plant roots.

We will be applying fertilizer to the entire golf course during the afternoon of November 21 to help replenish the nutrient levels in the soil and provide a sustainable food source for the turf grass as we enter the cooler months. The Proshop will be blocking tee times in the afternoon to allow for the fertilizer to be applied without affecting golfers.

I also encourage you to replenish fertlizer around your own plants, especially those potentially affected by frosts, during this time of year to help strengthen them before the cool weather arrives."

Visit David's blog at www.copperleafgcm.com.

Late season bunker edging...

Gale Hultquist, CGCS, Wanakah Country Club, Hamburg, NY:

"Late fall is a great time of year to edge bunkers. Grass has stopped growing and every new edge done this fall will be fresh for the spring. By doing late edging the grounds staff is able to concentrate on spring clean-up and ready the course for play."

Visit Gale's blog at wanakahcccom.blogspot.com

Ground-penetrating radar...

Cory Jansen, Westmount Golf & Country Club, Kitchener, Ontario:

"We have had some issues with the grass on the putting green this season. In a nutshell, the green was very wet throughout the season despite not being watered. Grass - and especially bentgrass - does not like 'wet feet' and the green thinned out to unnacceptable levels.

Since these problems weren't there in prior years, I believe that there is a subsurface drainage issue happening. The green was built in 1987 and I have no records detailing it's construction. The picture above shows the green being scanned with ground penetrating radar. This will give us a picture of what's beneath the surface including drainage pipes, irrigation pipes, and depth of rootzone mix. This information will help us diagnose the problem and come up with a solution."

Visit Cory's blog at westmountgreens.blogspot.com