Submitted by Chad Vibert, Golf Course Superintendent
Our spring Poa patrol is now in full effect, the poa is now in seed and is easy to identify and physically remove from our putting surfaces. It has been a great spring season for poa, very cool to start the season for the most part, Poa starts to grow at much lower temperatures than does creeping bent grass. We will be on patrol for about 2-3 weeks, you may notice large groups of staff crawling across greens at times, this is an extremely tedious and time-consuming task, our staff do a fantastic job keeping our bent grass surfaces clean. We try to have these areas rolled quickly after removal, sometimes though we have some small mounds of sand, gently tap these areas down with your putter if you have one in your line.
In the spring of the year we keep our greens at a little higher height of cut in order to grow roots so they can withstand the heat and stresses of the summer season ahead. Right now, all grasses are trying to produce seed, even our bent grass plants on our greens, this usually produces a little coarser textured leaf blade. In the coming days, we will be lowering our heights of cut and green speeds will increase, this is no different than years past, we must be patient as it is still early in the golf season.