Making the Most of a Beautiful Fall

The weather certainly took a turn from our last blog post! The summer heat finally subsided, giving way to beautiful fall weather throughout October. Although it was a bit on the dry side, with only a half-inch of rainfall for the entire month, October turned out to be a great month for turf recovery and getting the course back in shape (click here for a NWS October summary).

Aeration

The grounds crew has been busy completing aeration across many of the course’s playing surfaces over the past month. Greens were completed in early September, followed by tees, isolated fairway areas, approaches, rough, all fairways, and practice tees. These maintenance practices are essential for relieving compaction, improving soil conditions, and promoting healthier turf as we recover from this past season and prepare for winter and spring. While the process left some playing surfaces muddy for a period of time, we appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding. Aeration may temporarily impact playing conditions, but it plays an important role in maintaining the long-term health and quality of the golf course.

Aerating 1 fairway

Aerating the south tee

Aerating 14 tee

6 approach after core aeration

Draggin in the plugs on 4 fairway

Fairway Recovery

The condition of the fairways has been a hot topic throughout this past golf season. Although conditions improved considerably from 2025, we still saw additional areas of dead turf develop this summer, particularly from late August into September. We slit-seeded many of these areas in early September, and by the time of this writing, many have nearly healed in. Our new Vredo slit seeder has proven to be a great investment, allowing us to get seed into the ground at the right time and achieve much better results.

My biggest takeaway from this season, and what gives me a positive outlook moving forward, is that despite another hot and humid summer, the fairways held up much better in 2026 than they did in 2025. (See my previous post for a recap of this past summer.) The difficult conditions of 2025 exposed some of the course's weaknesses, but the drainage improvements in problem areas and the introduction of new bentgrass varieties into our heavily poa annua-infested fairways have helped us move in the right direction.

It's also important to remember the timing of our seeding efforts. We purchased the Vredo slit seeder in late October 2025, just about two weeks before our first snowfall on November 10. That left us with a very short window for germination, followed by an unfavorable late-fall and early-winter period. Much of the new seed had only the spring to establish, and some areas simply didn't have enough time to mature before facing another challenging summer. This year, we were able to seed throughout September and early October, giving the new grass a much better opportunity to establish before winter.

Another important piece of this story is that these older fairways had gone decades without any significant reseeding. Sure, we seeded an occasional spot here and there during aeration, but the majority of the fairway acreage had not received interseeding. The summer of 2025 essentially reset the table and showed us where improvements were needed. Now, with nearly a full year of new seed incorporated into the fairways, additional drainage installed in problem areas, and better timing with our seeding efforts, I feel good about the direction we're heading. We still have work to do, but I'm optimistic that these improvements will continue to pay dividends in the seasons ahead.

In addition, in the areas where Bermuda grass has become established, we have also been slit-seeding perennial ryegrass to provide winter coverage. Ryegrass is a good fit for these areas because of its quick germination, ability to establish relatively quickly, and considerably lower cost compared to bentgrass. It also competes better for winter coverage, helping maintain a more consistent playing surface while the Bermuda is dormant.

4 hillside 2025

4 hillside October of this year. Much better!

Bad fairway spot on 1 in early September.

Another bad patch but seeding starting to germinate.

Same area after core aeration and slit seeding. Almost completely healed in early October.

Vredo slit seeder on 6 fairway valley.

Slit seeding 1 fairway.

Seed germinating in the back of 18 green.

Perennial ryegrass germinating in a bermuda patch beginning of 6 fairway.

So, What's the Game Plan Moving Forward?

One of the questions I have heard from many members is, "What's the game plan for the future of our fairways?" Considering the age of the WHCC fairways and the challenges that come with maintaining older golf courses (click here for a previous post on maintaining older courses), how do we keep them from declining during the summer months? I believe we have three options moving forward.

Option 1: Continue with our current approach.

The first option is to continue down the road we have been traveling over the past year and a half. As I discussed in the previous paragraphs, we are just beginning to see the benefits of our overseeding efforts. The biggest drawback to this approach is that we aren't necessarily addressing the underlying issue of having so many different grasses and varieties accumulated over several decades. Our fairways are currently made up of several different turfgrass species, including five varieties of older and newer bentgrasses (German bentgrass, Penncross, Authority, L-93, and S1), Kentucky bluegrass from overseeding efforts in the 1980s, poa annua, Bermuda grass, and some perennial ryegrass.. Maintaining this combination of grasses presents its challenges, particularly during the heat of summer, but it is manageable. We have had success with this approach in the past, and continued improvements in drainage, tree management, and overseeding should help us build on that progress.

Option 2: Gradually renovate sections of fairways.

The second option would be to kill off and reseed selected sections of fairways or renovate a couple of fairways each year. This would allow us to target some of the worst areas and gradually introduce more consistent turf varieties throughout the property. While this approach would help address individual problem areas, it would not completely eliminate the underlying issue of having so many different grasses throughout the course. On the other hand, it would be a less expensive and less disruptive alternative to renovating all the fairways at once.

Option 3: A complete fairway renovation.

The final option is a full-scale fairway renovation. If expectations for fairway conditions continue to increase, this may ultimately be the best way to achieve the consistency and quality of playing surfaces that membership desires. Several clubs in the area have taken this approach with the help of a golf course architect and have seen excellent results. A complete renovation would also give us the opportunity to address other aging infrastructure throughout the course, including older bunkers, outdated tee boxes, and fairway shaping, while establishing an entirely new turfgrass base. As you can imagine, this is by far the most expensive option and would also create the greatest disruption to golfers, likely requiring at least a year-long course closure.

Beyond the fairways

Regardless of which direction we eventually take with the fairway grasses, we are continuing to move forward with drainage improvements and tree management. There is no question that large trees have a significant impact on the health and performance of turfgrass, particularly on an older property like WHCC. Reducing shade and competition for water, along with improving air movement and drying conditions, is an important part of addressing the large amount of poa annua and the summer turf loss we continue to experience. We are scheduled to remove additional trees this winter, and I will provide an update on those plans in a future post.

Ultimately, there isn't one simple fix for the challenges facing our older fairways. Each option comes with its own advantages, costs, and level of disruption. Any decisions regarding the future direction of the fairways will involve working closely with the Green Committee and Board to evaluate these options and determine what makes the most sense for WHCC in the long term. In the meantime, we will continue working on the improvements already underway while keeping an open mind about the best path forward.

Sodding and Horticulture Work

The crew has also been busy with several sodding projects throughout the course. The area behind #1 tee continues to take a beating from the foot traffic between the pro shop and putting green. We resodded the back portion of the tee with fescue and made an effort to reclaim the remaining area with bentgrass.

We also addressed several bunker edges that have taken a beating over the years from the constant impact of sand being blasted out of bunkers. The #18 green bunker, left bunker on #12, right bunker on #3, and the fairway bunkers on #10 and #13 all received new sod in worn areas.

In addition to the turf work, we have planted several trees in proper locations around the course. October Glory red maples were planted along the fence on #7, replacing the white pines that were removed in August. These were positioned farther away from the teeing area and closer to the fence to provide better spacing. A Southern magnolia was also planted to replace the weed-infested holly tree to the right of #10 tee.

Finally, the crew has started planting more than 5,000 tulip bulbs throughout the clubhouse grounds. Looking forward to another great spring display!

Demolition work behind 1 tee.

Finished product.

Fixing 18 bunker

Finished product

October glory red maples by 7 tee.

Southern Magnolia 10 tee.

Planting tulips.

Still to go!

Instagram Account

Finally, taking the advice of our new golf professional, Mr. Motley, that there is no such thing as too much communication, below is a link to our new Instagram account. For those who may not have the patience to read through an entire blog post (probably just about everyone who has ever read one!), this will give the Grounds Department another way to share quick updates on daily course conditions, maintenance activities, and ongoing projects.

Follow the WHCC Grounds Department on Instagram for more course updates and photos!

The fall weather really has been spectacular this year, and with a strong El Niño forecasted, we may be in for a warmer-than-usual winter. We'll continue to provide updates as we head into the holiday season, but in the meantime, try to get out and enjoy the course before those beautiful fall colors fade away!

Brad Piecuch

Grounds Superintendent