Sod repair

My team just finished the sod replace/repair for the short game green. Give the sod a few weeks to heal.

Sniff the gopher out

Opie sniffed out his first gopher yesterday!

What the heck is a Stimpmeter

Using a Stimpmeter regularly helps monitor putting greens speed and smoothness as well as the effects of management programs. Surface smoothness can be observed as a ball rolls from the Stimpmeter to its roll out across the putting green. A Stimpmeter is a bar that measures 3 feet in length and almost at the end of the bar is a rivot where the ball will rest. You simply raise the bar very slowly and the ball will eventually run down the ramp. You take a few balls on a level surface and measure from the end of the Stimpmeter to the average of the golf balls. The balls should be no more than 6" apart. Then the same method in the opposite direction, you combine the two numbers and that will be the average speed of the greens that day. Remember though that is for a level putt, and we all should know here at Canyon Crest there is no level putts! So even this time of the year when I consider the greens fast and firm, consider where your average putts are from. Uphill, downhill, or sidehill. Ball roll is influenced by surface management practices such as light vertical mowing, (typically done every other week in growing season), grooming (everyday), changing the mowing height which will alter the frequency of clippings, how much we mow, and the big one, rolling. These practices influence how a ball rolls by altering the friction between a golf ball and individual leaf blades. In the Winter time with daylight being shorter, and low temperature, the grass does not have much chance for photosynthesis which is it mains source for growth. The green speeds usally average above 11.5 in the non growing months. However in the Summer time, there is a ton of work just to make the greens a decent speed. A typical week in Summer requires multiple pesticide sprays, verticutting, grooming, mowing, rolling, and water management. With all this we try to peak for the weekend with speeds above 9.5 feet. If you would like to see in person how the speed of the putting greens are checked come see me sometime....