Scotsdale GCM Update

Spring is here and with it has come hot weather the past couple of weeks. The greens at Scotsdale have come out of the winter and are looking and doing great. Ground temperatures have started to come up and we are starting to see all the Bermuda beginning to change. As we go into the season we will be working on greens to help improve the ball roll and smoothness. This will increase sand topdressing utilized with vertical mowing to help keep thatch levels down. If we didn’t do this the turf would get spongy and would be more prone to problems such as diseases and insects.

With our greens being Bermuda, our aerfication dates are in the summer. This is because when this grass is growing more aggressively and healing time will be shorter. Due to being a no till grow in, we will be doing 3 core aerfications this season to help make the profile more uniform and to relieve layering that has occurred. This will help improve soil air and water capacities to a more beneficial level improving root growth and overall plant health. These will be done late May, July and August.

Below is a picture of a green and how they have made the transition out of dormancy.

Thank you for the support and understanding with our work. Looking forward to a terrific 2019 golf season here at Scotsdale.

Kyle Soller, Scotsdale Golf Maintenance Superintendent