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Originally Posted by Janie123
Thanks for the update Brian. I live near Savannah Center and play the 4 northern courses along with Diablo/Santiago. We hear the amount of play is a major factor but those 4 courses get probably 95% the play the Roosevelt/Truman/Bogart/Bacall type courses get. We have also heard the 4 north courses are managed by the Lopez crew… maybe just a rumor but they have never been in anywhere near as bad conditions as the middle courses that had to be closes and are usually in the same conditions as the Lopez course. Can you confirm?
I used to work a golf course when I was young and I see bizarre practices here. For example, Escambia. We played it one weekend, the greens were grown to probably 1/4” one weekend. Maybe wanting them to get a good growing in as the weather gets warm. then, bang they were cut to normal playing conditions all at one time, lots of scalping, tearing, etc. We never would cut more than a 1/16 off the top when coming out of winter conditions.
Finally, how do you relate to Mitch and his crew where he took the time with you? I think it’s great that he did, I think the scorecard is great addition and hope as you said grows to a weekly update on all courses and their status
thanks again…
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I also thank Brian for his efforts and for sharing his findings.
Escambia happens to be where we've played the majority of our recent rounds. Had forgotten about the day when the grass on the greens there was so long and that the putts were so slow. They were *very* lush and pretty that way. :-) But, I *did* notice the recent scalping there. With your work history you'd know more about it than I, but my sense was that it was more of a "settings" problems with the "reels" on the mower - as if it (or part of a set of reels) weren't "level" - based on the intermittent scalping pattern. I would've expected the whole surface of the greens to have been scalped, rather than the patchy, angled, "spots" of damage if it were all just mown too short, too quickly.
Anyway, it reminded me of how I've wondered whether the curve behind which maintenance got with the horrible greens this winter might've been as simple as scalping areas (from poor settings?) just as the grass was going dormant. Certain slopes lend themselves more to scalpage, and the patterns could conceivably have been explained by such. I ran that speculation by the USGA inspector who met recently with Mitch (and who shared his email address with us). I haven't yet received a response to my longish inquiry.
Like Brian, I did receive a response from Howard Brown from the district when I emailed him about the conditions back early on. Shared his response here on TOTV. Still haven't heard whether the testing for fungus yielded any results. If Brian isn't sharing all that he learned, I suspect that he probably has pretty good reasons. He strikes me as being particularly knowledgeable on the subject, right eloquent, and as one operating with a sharing and helpful "intention". I again thank him.