2010 Father/ Daughter Final

Father/Daughter National Championship

Father/Daughter National Championship Prep

Pictures by Tim Burns

The Summer of 2010

Some golf clubs have been closing greens or whole courses due to the weather this summer. As we have been writing here, this has been the most difficult season in recent memory for maintaining the turfgrass.
Click on the title above for an accurate article from the Wall Street Journal (my favorite golf writer, John Paul Newport) on turfgrass and the stressful summer. A must read for turfgrass enthusiasts!

Rain Storm

On Thursday evening a thunderstorm dropped one and an half inches of rain on Longwood in a very short time. The storm drains could not handle it, so the water backed up and formed ponds on the courts. With the water not going anywhere, silt settled and covered the courts. Below are pictures of the silt covered courts (also lots of organic matter like grass clippings), washouts, the crew repairing the courts and the final product. Brick walkways were also undermined and the parking lot was a mess of sand that washed down from Route 9.

Special note on grass court opening. Despite the heavy rain, our 2 month streak of having the grass courts open continues - all grass courts opened today.

NESTMA Field Day

The New England Sport Turf Managers held their annual Field Day/Symposium at Wellesley College. 125 attendees learned about field construction, dealing with concerts on the field and the story behind the ice rink at Fenway Park last winter. This was all in the Wang Campus Center.
In the afternoon we switched to the Wellesley College athletic fields for equipment demonstrations. Check out the aerator and the turf managers running over to check out the holes in the ground!

Clay Court Maintenance

The crew working on the clay courts at sunrise.

The links list to the right includes a number of articles on turfgrass stress. Check out the new update on annual bluegrass.