September Newsletter - Old South Country Club

September 2016 Newsletter
New Members
& Associates
Welcome to Old South!
Golfing Members
Single Golf, Young Executive
Mr. Doug Smith
Associate License
Mr. Robert Emmert
A Message From
Our President
Summer is almost over and what a hot one it has been! These hot temperatures have taken their toll on the golf course and on all of us! Many of us have retreated indoors and avoiding playing golf or tennis. Not to worry, fall will be arriving soon and with fall comes cooler temperatures. Hopefully these cooler temperatures will en ce us all to come enjoy all Old South has to offer. Old South's Member/
Member and Husband/Wife golf tournaments will be held in September. In October our Junior/Senior tournament will be played. We also have our popular Ba le of the Beltways and our annual Pink and Blue golf and tennis tournament and our 5k fun run/walk that raises money for CMH and AAMC. The Doubles Tennis league will con nue through the fall months as well. In addi on to golf and tennis events, Old South has other social events scheduled that offers some‐
thing for everyone. Our Concert on the Green will be held in September and in October we have Pub night, a Wine din‐
ner, Kids Halloween party and our adults only costume Scar‐
yoke party. Hopefully, you see something here that appeals to you and your family. Spread the word, invite guests and join your Old South friends at these events. I'm looking forward to seeing you at the club. Mickie Frazer President OS BoG Membership Special
& Associate License
As Fall approaches, we will enjoy some of
the season’s best golf!! This is a perfect
time to invite your guests to enjoy your
Club. And, for those guests interested in
joining Old South, we have a membership
special and a new associate license promotion underway. If you are interested in a
$100 credit on your monthly bill, dues excluded, refer a friend to our Associate License -- $1,200 down(pro-rated until
March 2017), $350 per month, $300 per
quarter food and beverage minimum. As
members, you have a lot to be proud of.
So, be sure to invite those who will appreciate the value of an Old South
membership.
HURRY THERE ARE ONLY 19
AVAILABLE!
UPCOMING GOLF & EVENTS FOR SEPTEMBER
FOR SEPTEMBER George Kalas, Jr Dear Old South Members, It is with great sadness that Old South announces the passing of long me member and friend, George Kalas Jr. He passed away on the morning of August 15th at his An‐
napolis home. George and his wife Ellen were inaugural mem‐
bers (1991) of Old South. He served many years as a board member and was a loyal supporter of everything Old South represented. Being a cancer survivor, he was especially passionate about the Old South Pink and Blue Tournament, which annually honors club members who have lost their lives to cancer, while raising money for cancer research and possible cures. This club tournament provides funds to both CMH and AAMC in their fight against breast and prostate cancer. His generosity and hardworking support of this event has helped elevate this annual tournament to one of the largest fund raisers for both hospitals in their fight against cancer. He was serving as this year's co‐chair of the event. The family has asked that in lieu of flowers that contribu ons be made to the Pink and Blue Tournament. George was an amazing husband, father, grandfather and friend. His friendly smile, his joking mannerisms and never ending generosity will be greatly missed by his many friends and loved ones. May God Bless George and his family during this most difficult me. Mickie Frazer President Old South Country Club, Board of Governors Golf News
TEE TIMES
Members - 1 week in advance; i.e. Saturday for
following Saturday. Sunday for following Sunday.
Congratulations to
August’s Golf Winners:
Associates - 4 days in advance; i.e.
Wednesday for Saturday. Thursday for Sunday.
Please no emails or voice mails for weekend
tee times.
Clubwide Member Guest
Winners:
GOLF SHOP HAPPENINGS
1st Net—Mike Thompson, Time McCaffrey, Bill
Bush and Joe Burnette
1st Gross—Ron Thomas, Dave Reynolds, Brad
Gould and Adam Peterson
Old South Club Champions
Men’s Club Champion
MIKE KELLY
Women’s Club Champion
NELL MARIE CHANEY
54-Hole Extravaganza Winners:
1st Gross—Joe Stallings and Joey DiLodovico
1st Net—Sean McGarvey and Andrew Turgeon
Reminder—Due to being open on Labor Day, Monday September 5th, the Golf Course and Clubhouse will be CLOSED on Tuesday, Sept. 6th. The Golf Course and Clubhouse will be closed on September 29, 30 and October 1st for our annual Men’s Member Guest. Thank You! Save
the Date
Bridge For Everyone
Founders
Room
It is open to couples and singles, men and
women. This event will start on Thurs,
September 15, from 6:00-7:30, and will be
followed by dinner.
Hours of Opera on If this is successful, the Social Committee is
hoping to have it the first Thursday of the
month.
If you are interested or want more details, please
contact Diana Doswell at 410-610-3849. Tuesday
11 AM—8 PM
Wednesday
11 AM— 8 PM
Thursday
11 AM—8 PM
Friday
11 AM—9 PM
Saturday
7 AM—8 PM
Sunday
7 AM—8 PM
Monday
CLUB CLOSED
SUNDAY
SPECIALS
$5.00 sliders
& $2.00 off
pitchers of
beer!
Check out
other Founders Room
Final Week of Pool
Have you seen me? TENNIS ANYONE?
Hours:
Thurs & Fri—4—8 PM
Drop in Doubles—Sundays at 2 PM
Saturday & Sunday—11 AM—8 PM
Doubles League—Wednesdays at 6 PM
Labor Day Monday— Pool Open with
Corn Hole -12 PM—7 PM
Contact Leanne Barton @
410-741-8000 for more information about any
The Pool will officially close after
tennis related event or to reserve a court.
Labor Day
The Old South Book Club, hosted by Tom
Byrnes, meets the 3rd Wednesday of the
month.
The next meeting is September 21st.
They are going old school retro with this
month’s book - “To Kill a Mocking Bird” by
Harper Lee. REMINDER— Per the Fire Marshall There is no parking beside the Clubhouse or in Service Driveway. Turf Talk with Marlin This has been one of the most difficult summers to grow turf in recent memory. Some of the damage/problems stem back to late April/May when we received 6.68” of rain on 22 days out of 36. Dur‐
ing one stretch, we received rainfall during 11 consecu ve days which made it impossible to core aerate the fairways and to make the necessary chemical applica ons to control pests like Summer Patch and Goosegrass. I believe we would not have as many problems on the fairways had we been able to core aerate them. By core aera ng them, we would have been able to remove thatch which holds an abundant amount of water and create a passage for air to enter the soil to help dry the soil. We did solid ne aerate the fairways however, this does nothing to reduce the amount of thatch and the hole closes rather quickly. Below is a photo showing the importance of aera‐
on. Take note the living turf is growing in an aera on hole. This photo illustrates how southern facing slopes can be impacted by summer patch if not preventa vely treated. Another challenge we faced this spring was applying a granular herbicide called Ronstar G to control a summer annual weed called goosegrass. When applying Ronstar to bentgrass, the turf needs to be completely dry; otherwise injury will occur on the bentgrass. The ideal me to apply the Ronstar is late April/ early May; which is when we experienced many days when the turf never dried out. The abundant rainfall in the spring also prevented us from apply‐
ing fungicides for Summer Patch preven on. The op mum me to treat Summer Patch is when the soil temperature reaches 65 de‐
grees for about a week. This usually occurs in late April/early May. Since we missed the window to apply preventa ve applica ons of fungicides to control the disease, we have reverted to applying cura ve fungicides to help reduce the severity of the disease. Below is a close up of the summer patch disease. Summer patch can be dis nguished by the classic “Frog Eye” shown above. Goosegrass can be iden fied by the silverish colored center and when the goosegrass has gone to seed, the seed pod looks like a zipper. This weed is difficult to control in bentgrass, especially when the bentgrass is under extreme environmental stress like we have encountered in July and August. This is a close up photo of the goosegrass plant. This weed can be controlled by applying a herbicide called Pylex. When spraying Pylex on bentgrass it takes approximately three light applica ons to kill the goosegrass without injuring the bentgrass. When applying Pylex, it turns the weeds white; which you may have no ced earlier this year. As soon as the bentgrass started to show signs of stress, we had to back off the applica ons of Pylex for fear of killing the bentgrass. As soon as the temperatures declines and the bentgrass starts to recover, we will resume applica ons of Pylex to help clean up the goosegrass prior to fall. Turf Talk with Marlin, cont. As I men oned earlier, the bentgrass has been under extreme environmental stress this summer. With the abundance of rainfall, heat and humidity, wet wilt began to show up on areas where the soil was saturated. Wet wilt is a condi on where the turf plant wilts and cannot cool itself through transpira on. Under normal condi‐
ons, the turf cools itself by pulling water from the soil through the roots and water vapor is then released from small microscopic pores called stomates. When the root system is compromised like is has been this summer, the plant cannot transpire like it normally does and the grass blades start to wilt. Transpira on in turf is much like perspira on in humans, when you perspire; it’s your bodies’ way of cooling itself and the same with the turf plant. Once I determine that soil moisture is adequate, I use what I call the foot print test to determine if the turf is wil ng due to wet wilt. If I step on a suspected spot and the foot print remains visible for more than 8‐10 seconds, the turf is wil ng and the turf needs to be syringed with a small amount of water to cool the plant down. “Foot prin ng” from wet wilt. I know this sounds counterintui ve but it is the only way to cool the plant and stop the wil ng process. The key to syringing is to apply enough water to stop the wilt but not too much to add water to the soil. Ideally, I prefer to syringe by hand with a hose but in large areas such as fairways, syringing by hand requires a lot of man power. Even the weight of a golf cart caused the turf to wilt even though there was adequate soil moisture. Below are a few pictures of cart tracks in the fairways, which led us to restrict carts to the path un l the weather improves and the turf becomes strong enough to tolerate cart traffic. Wilted Cart tracks Turf Talk with Marlin, cont. As you can see, if we did not restrict carts to the path, we would have had a tremendous amount of damage to the fairways; which would have taken months to heal. I commend everyone for their coopera on during this difficult me. I know that keeping the carts on the path during those hot days was extremely ring. Thank you for your coopera on! The fairway on hole #13 has received the most damage from the sever environmental stress we have received in recent weeks. The site where #13 fairway is located does not receive the air movement the turf needs. We have had problems with this fairway in the past and on August 15th I met with our turf consultant, Steve McDonald to discuss a solu on to this problem. We both agreed that signifi‐
cant tree removal must occur if we want to improve the growing environment of this site. We discussed removing the trees behind #13 green to the edge of our property le of the cart path as well as trees le of the fairway to provide more sunlight on the fairway, especially in the fall, winter and spring. Currently we are looking at various ways to efficiently remove the trees to improve the growing environment. Below are a few pictures of #13 fairway. So, why is the turf on the right side of the line in good condi on? It’s simple; this area receives abundant shade in the a ernoon, re‐
ducing the amount of stress on the turf. The photo below illustrates the shade line in the a ernoon. As we approach fall, we will over‐seed this fairway with a more heat tolerant type of bentgrass to help tolerate the difficult growing condi ons. I know this picture is difficult to decipher, but the turf right of the line in this photo is in good condi on. The turf le of the line is in poor condi on from the extreme environmental stress this summer. If anyone has any ques ons about the content of this ar cle or any other topic, please feel free to e‐mail me at [email protected]. See you on the course, Marlin Ewing Golf Course Superintendent Message of Sorrow
It is with great regret we
announce the passing of Shiloh,
Marlin’s confidant and loyal
Assistant of 7 years. Please extend
your heartfelt sympathy to Marlin
and Nell when you see them.