Dear Potowomut Members,

Fairway turf on many fairways was taken out by turf disease gray leaf spot (GLS) during early and mid-August. The disease only hits perennial ryegrass, the most populous turf on our fairways. At this time, the only remedy is to plant new turfgrass. We are planting three varieties of creeping bentgrass seed with the seeder we purchased this year. Creeping bentgrass cannot get GLS and provides the finest surfaces for fairway turf in our climate.

We apologize in advance for running an important maintenance operation during golf. However, we need to get seed in the ground when soil temperatures are warm to ensure good germination. The warmer the soil temperature, the higher percentage of seed will germinate.

To date, we have invested over $ 4,000 on new bentgrass seed for fairways. To ensure success, grass seed needs to stay wet during the germination process. For this reason, we need to irrigate fairways during the day so it doesn’t dry out. If seed dries after being wet, it dies. In most cases, we turf off fairway irrigation before golfers arrives on a fairway, but mistakes have been made today (Thursday) and for that we apologize.

2012 marks the second year in a row that fairways have been affected by GLS. Looking toward 2013, we need to assume that GLS will arrive on Potowomut fairways in August, and plan two fungicide applications (@ $ 8,000 each) to prevent this outbreak. We no longer believe turfgrass pathologists who say that GLS hits the northeast once every ten years.

As with any disease to a turf area, fungicides are not the only remedy. Fairways have spoken to us these last two years and told us that we have issues with our fairway maintenance programs. Strong turfgrass that can breathe and drain excess water can fight off a disease pathogen. In addition to adding varieties of turfgrass that don’t get GLS, our fairway aeration program needs to be upgraded to help soils and fairways become stronger in summer which will also help to eliminate the threat of disease.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,

Patrick M. Gertner CGCS