Grounds Update

Zoysiagrass Update Late-May:

It was great to spend time on the 3rd tee during the Memorial Day golf event to answer questions about the grounds. Thanks so much for the positive feedback on the direction of the conditioning of the golf course.  A topic that was discussed often was the thin areas on the fairways. This majority of the winter injury to the Zoysiagrass has occured in low lying shaded and high traffic areas. Many turf mangers in the Midwest have been experiencing these challenges on Zoysiagrass this season. This article from the USGA

explains some of the causes of winter injury.

2nd Fairway- Poor Drainage

2nd Fairway- Winter Injury due to poor drainage

Some of the turf has been recovering well with the warmer temperatures and addtional fertilizer applications, other areas will need to be sodded over the coming weeks. The zoysia sod will come from our nursery behind the 4th green.

We will continue to update the membership on our progress with the Zoysiagrass recovery.

Rough Renovation on Holes 2 and 15:

Overall, the rough renovation on 2 and 15 has progressed well! The seeded area on 15 is the true winner in quality so far, the ideal time to seed is in late August early September. The late seeding (October 31st)  on #2 is doing okay, it will be interesting to see how the turfgrass plants on #2 can withstand the challenges of the summer.

#2- Late Winter 

#2- May

#15- May 

Thanks again for the feedback and questions concering the course and the grounds at Hyde Park. If there are any questions please send us a note at grounds@hydeparkcc.com

Thank-you,

Pat O'Brien,

Grounds Superintendent 

Zoysiagrass Mid-May Update:

Winter Injury to Zoysiagrass in Poorly Draining Area

Over the last weekend a few questions were asked about the condition of the Zoysiagrass fairways.  Meyer Zoysiagrass is a warm season grass that has excellent cold tolerance, however in shaded, high traffic and low lying areas where surface drainage is inadequate the turfgrass can be impacted negatively by cold weather.  Many of the thin and off color areas will recover with warmer weather, unfortunately this will not occur until Growth Potential Models reach above 50 percent. What is growth potential? (GP)

Pace Turf has developed growth potential models to explain myriad of ways in which whether impacts turf growth. The model considers turf growth to be good when the growth potential (GP) is between 50% and 100% (the best possible growth occurs at a GP of 100%). However, when weather conditions are either too hot or too cold for optimal turf growth, the GP falls below 50%, and turf becomes progressively more stressed. When the GP falls to 10% or lower, growth is extremely limited.  

The chart below explains the ideal growth period  for Zoysiagrass occurs when average temperatures reach 87 F however we start to see slight improvements in turf quality when the average temperatures are in the mid 70s (yellow highlighted areas) 

With the recent inconsistent temperatures the current Growth Potential of the Zoysiagrass is around 33 percent, which is very low and the recuperative capacity of the Zoysiagrass from winter injury will be slow until the Growth Potential is above 50 percent. 

Winter Injury- Shaded Area