A Tough Call...

Making the decision to park all electric carts on a Saturday morning is not a decision many superintendents take lightly.  The decision instantly kills a substantial amount of revenue for the day and turns away a fair amount of golfers.  It's a lose-lose scenario across the board.

However difficult the decision is, superintendents know that it is their job to make tough decisions with the condition of the golf course in mind.  If carts run when they shouldn't, the result is muddy wheel tracks throughout the golf course.  These tracks will linger and ultimately result in poor conditions and thinned turf.  Keeping the carts parked when it is too wet will cause an inconvenience for a day or two and will certainly frustrate golfers, but will prevent long term damage to the golf course.

Pictured above are some tracks produced when carts ran through a wet area.  The damage is somewhat superficial, but nonetheless is there.  There are areas of the course that are much more prone to damage than the spot pictured, which is why we decide to keep carts in when the course is too wet.

Research Dividends...

After five seasons of research in conjunction with the University of Illinois, we have finally begun our large scale Velocity program!  You have surely heard me talking about Velocity in the past, but if not I'll give you a quick crash course.  Velocity is one of the only (and certainly the newest) products on the market that will successfully and selectively take Poa annua out of bentgrass.  Here at CCC we have been doing test plots and trials for what seems like forever, and have finally honed in on a rate and application interval that will produce satisfactory results, but with minimal damage.

Our "large scale program" as I refer to it will include all fairways and tees.  We will be treating every four weeks, depending on weather conditions.

To say I am looking forward to analyzing the results would be an understatement.  My hope it that we are on the cusp of some major improvement in our bentgrass population, however it may take a couple seasons to come to fruition. Check in periodically for updates on our progress.