MONTHLY UPDATE
Turf Talk, by Pete Stephens, CGCS, CNMP
The warmer temperatures have arrived and the golf course is in great
shape. Most of the winter damage to the
bermudagrass has filled in and the staff has finished planting annual flowers
and native plants around the clubhouse.
For
those folks who haven’t played or haven’t noticed, we have new white
tapered prism flag sticks. The embedded
prisms acts as a reflector to the
yardage range finders, which gives a faster and more accurate yardage reading,
as opposed to standard flag sticks.
Thank you to the member whose donation made this enhancement possible.
As
everyone is interested in the bay act and saving the Chesapeake Bay, I am proud
to say that the Golf Maintenance program and staff does its part in making sure that we help preserve the bay.
Here are just a few things we do:
¨ Have an in-house developed
certified nutrient management program
¨ Use organic fertilizers as a
part of our fertilizer program
¨ Water conservation (a top
priority) / Schedule fertilizer applications and chemical applications as best
as we can around rain events
¨ Schedule our irrigation
programs to protect our natural resources and
conserve water with a proper irrigation schedule and during low demand times
for power consumption, reducing the
chance of evaporation loss
¨ Return clippings to the turf
which reduces our fertilizer input.
(Dried grass clippings contain 2-5% nitrogen equaling up to 2# Nitrogen
per year as they decompose)
¨ Test our ponds for nutrients
¨ Have constructed wetlands
which slows surface water runoff. As the
run off is slowed, groundwater is recharged and potential for downstream
flooding is reduced
¨ Installation of native plants
for landscaping
¨ Have reduced reliance on
pesticides with sound turf management
¨ Maintain and calibrate all
spray equipment and fertilizer spreaders
¨ Use less toxic, less mobile
and less persistent chemicals compared to the past 40 years
¨ Have a comprehensive
integrated pest management program in place
As
always we look forward to seeing you out at the Club and I encourage you to
check my turf blog to find the latest happenings on the course and grounds.
ON THE COURSE DAILY POSTS AND PICTURES TO COME!
