August is upon us and with it the overall tiredness of golf course maintenance staff. It never seems to fail that every year around this time I observe-and experience myself-the fatigue that goes with being at work every day at 5 am or earlier-and in some cases coming back after dark to continue. While we do take efforts to schedule time off for everyone, this phenomena persists and has been something I have seen since working on a golf course from the time I was 16 years old. Fortunately, these long summer days will soon move into the shorter days and cooler nights of autumn which are the best time to be on the golf course. My hope is that all the great people that play at Nemadji can appreciate the kind of effort it takes to present the best possible product we can with the resources that we have. I have nothing but sincere appreciation and respect for the Nemadji GCM staff of 2022.
Nemadji Crew of 2022
Moving on to the golf course, I pleased with the work this same crew has been performing on golf course bunkers over the past month. We recently began a long overdue edging process on bunkers where we try to give the course a more polished look. As they say, a picture says a thousand words and so I asked a helpful staff member to photograph the process.
5N 8-4-2022 Before Edging-Note jagged edge on greenside
5N 8-4-2022 During Edging-Note quantity off material removed
5N 8-4-2022-Finished Product
We are well aware that Nemadji bunkers are still in need of more drainage, sand, and other work-plans are in place to systematically correct these issues over time. This is not something that can happen overnight or even in a couple of years. We have pressing labor and investment needs in other areas as well and so must be patient. We will get there eventually. Before and after pictures are very helpful to illustrate much of the work that has been accomplished at Nemadji over the past few years. I find the following two pictures to be particularly interesting:
Entrance Sign End of Summer 2020
Entrance Sign 8-8-2022
A complete renovation of this entire weed ridden and overgrown area has resulted in an initial impression for the customer that is now positive. Once the perennials fully flower in a few weeks this area will really pop. A similar transformation has occurred in much of the landscaping around the clubhouse and golf course as well. While improvements like this may not directly affect the playability of the golf course, I really feel they have a positive effect by enhancing the Nemadji experience and overall ambiance. Keep in mind that improvements such as this have been performed entirely in-house. This is a lot of work. Much work and thought has also been put into the maintenance of putting greens at Nemadji over the past few years as well. We are, to put it simply, making much progress in improving the health of greens at Nemadji through practices that encourage the growth of creeping bentgrass. The picture below is a great example of this:
8E Green 8-8-2022
This picture is of a part of 8N green(lower tier) that has historically had a very high population of annual bluegrass or you may have heard it called Poa annua or simply Poa. The sunken in areas are of Poa in decline and the vigorous darker green turf is desirable bentgrass. Here is a closeup:
Bentgrass taking over July 2022
This picture really shows how sad we are making life for annual bluegrass and so encouraging the more desirable bentgrass. We do this through proper fertilization, growth regulation, irrigation(the best we can anyway), and other maintenance practices like maintaining a sensible height of cut (Poa likes low heights of cut and lowering mowing heights encourages Poa encroachment). Also important is a regular topdressing(adding a thin layer of sand and brushing in) program. In addition, we have been implementing deeper but less disruptive aerification processes that I think have really benefitted this facility-especially the older, horribly draining North/South greens. You may ask why go through all this effort. Grass is grass and as long as it is green who cares? I would agree except for the fact that annual bluegrass has a nasty habit of readily dying during the winter. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is worse on a northern golf course than coming through the winter looking like this:
Anonymous Picture. Winterkill-likely ice damage-on a putting green
Bentgrass is much more likely to endure the hardships of a bad winter than annual bluegrass. This has been proven by studies and practical experience for decades. That being said, I have experienced winters that took out everything-bentgrass included-but these types of winters are quite rare. About once every ten years or so has been my experience. With Poa, it seems like issues occur every other year. Our whole maintenance program at Nemadji is geared towards long-term health and sustainability of the facility over short-term playability gains from, for example, excessively lowering height of cut in the quest for more speed. Great way to encourage Poa encroachment and thus affect the condition of the golf course negatively months in the future. Successful golf course management requires this sort of forward thinking or else the Superintendent finds that the golf course is managing them instead of him/her managing the golf course. Just my thoughts. On a final note, we were preparing for one of the many events here at Nemadji in preparation for a modified shotgun start. We had freshly raked bunkers and after few of the early pre-shotgun groups played through I found this: 
8E-July 2022
As can be seen here, the player walked right by the rake to play their shot and then simply left the bunker that way. Pretty sad that this player shows such little regard for the players coming to play behind them. This type of behavior is pretty common not just here at Nemadji but pretty much everywhere. I only ask that those of you that practice golf course etiquette-thank you by the way-please pass this knowledge on to those who may not know anything about golf course etiquette. Maybe they were never taught. Or maybe they simply do not care. Either way, the solution to these issues is not more rakes or signage as I have tried this to no avail(and considerable expense) at other facilities. I am not sure if there is a real solution but if there was one, I think that it would be for the players to educate one another within their group when they see things like an unrepaired ballmark occur. It is all about education in proper golf course behavior and actually caring about the experience of those around you.
See you on the golf course.