East Lake: A Miraculous Recovery (Oct 30)

October 30, 2015 – Well, let’s chalk this one up to hard work, good weather, and the resiliency of Tifway 419 Bermudagrass. Many of you have seen the less than stellar conditions that resulted from 3.85″ of slow steady rain over the course of the Tour Championship. Since then we have made what is, in my opinion a miraculous recovery. Many areas are still far from perfect, but the amount of recovery that we have made in thirty-three days has far exceeded our expectations.

Our first step was smoothing the surface with one of our Tru-Turf greens rollers. Next, we set out to re-expose the surface tissue by washing the mud off and standing the leaves / stems back up with debris rakes. Additionally we followed with some potassium + nitrogen (10-0-20@ .75lbsK/m). Then nature and the good Lord took over with some warm temperatures for October (highs in the upper 70’s) and sunshine.

Bermudagrass in most situations is a very tough and resistant turfgrass (it’s main weaknesses are shade and temperatures below 20 degrees generally speaking). Specifically at East Lake, we have Tifway 419 bermuda in our roughs, and most of our tees, collars, and chipping areas. In this specific situation, our recovery has been reliant on the strength of bermuda’s network of stolons and rhizomes. After high traffic with saturated soil, intensive rolling, and aggressive raking, the majority of damage done to the plant was loss of leaf tissue. In our opinion, the very most important recovery factor was the ability to get the surface tissue clean and upright where fresh air and sunshine were once again available.

We are extremely proud of our team’s effort to help these areas recover, and very thankful for the recovery we have experienced.

Now, on to the next one. The East Lake Cup pairs the top four NCAA men’s and women’s teams against each other in match play format. The event will be live on The Golf Channel November 2nd and 3rd.

As always, thank you for reading! We love the conversation of turfgrass and golf course maintenance so please reach out to us on twitter @eastlakegcagro

-Jason Tharp Assistant Superintendent
East Lake Golf Club