Struggling...

I'll be brief today as I have a golf course to try and baby through another day.  Today I measured the 2" root zone temperature and, as you can see it is hot! About 96 degrees in fact... Supra-optimal is what the experts call this... I call it something else (which I will keep to myself).  Combine the root zone temperature, humidity and nighttime lows in the upper 70's and you can see why we struggle to keep things pretty.  Improvements will come, but right now we are simply focused on maintaining a solid stand of turf.

The weather is supposed to break tomorrow and we will drop our daily highs about 10 degrees, more importantly our nighttime lows will be dipping into the 60's for the first time in what seems like forever...

Drainage Pimple, Bunker Repairs (again)

Mother Nature continues to keep us on our toes.  This afternoon we recieved around 1" of rain in about 30 minutes while the Golf Shop guage showed nearly 2" (just about 220 yds north of our shop).  After touring the golf course, it is apparant that the northen half of the golf course took much more rain than the south half!  Crazy weather...

The deluge caused a rather large bulge in the 9th fairway due to an old clogged drain line.  See picture and video to see just how much water was trapped under the sod!

 

                                        

As always, the heavy rain caused our bunkers to washout.  We were able to start repairs right away and will continue the process tomorrow.  Kudos to the crew for their hard work fixing our bunkers after heavy rains!

Disheartening Irony

As I mentioned in my previous post, we suffered some turf loss due to "too much, too long" referring to the heat, humidity, and water on the golf course.  Since that post, the humidity has pretty much left along with all excess water from the course, although the heat remains.  Good news, right? Well not entirely.  When I say the humidity left, I mean it really left!  We have been experiencing ET's (evapotranspiration - a numerical value that refers to the amount of water lost during a day due to evaporation and plant transpiration) in the 0.3" range for over a week now.  That basically means we have to supplement 0.3" of water just to break even, more to re-hydrate the soil.  Currently, I am watering to the maximum capability of our irrigation system, about 320,000 gallons of water per night.  It takes our system from 9pm to nearly 7am to put out this amount of water due to the supply situation at the pumphouse.  With all of this water being used, I struggle to match the 0.3" of water. 

Now to the irony...  we have been seeing the worst wilt and dry turf around the areas where we lost turf due to an overabundance of water!  I believe this is largely due to a compromised root system from the heat and saturated soils.  So here I am watering the "wet spots" to prevent further turf loss!  Frustrating to say the least.

We have been seeding into the areas where the turf will not recover and will continue to do so until we make it through the entire golf course.  With cooperative weather I would expect this to be by the end of this week. 

Too much, too long...

Rain, heat, humidity...  it all fits into the "Too much, too long..." title.  Recently we've endured the toughest stretch of weather for several years with heat, and rain approaching record levels in June.  Consider the following:

-  As of today (June 28th) we are finishing up the 2nd wettest June on record, dating back to 1895.  The average rainfall throughout the state is at 7.92", 4.1" above normal.  Here at CCC we have recieved closer to 9" for the month, more than double the average.

-  The month of June has been a warm one with the average temperature of 74.9 degrees, 3.9 degrees above normal.  As of June 25th, this is the 10th warmest June on record.  While 74.9 degrees does not seem all that warm, consider that it is the average, not the high.  Our daytime high tempertures in the month of June were regularly in the upper 80's and lower 90's.

Anytime you combine near record heat and precipitation, you're bound to run into problems... and we did.  Over the past week we had excessive rain, creating multiple areas on the golf course that were saturated with water, and in some cases submerged for days.  With temperatures exceeding 90 degrees during the day and not dipping much below 75 degrees at night, the turf (specifically the Poa annua) in these wet areas was brought to the breaking point and we have been left with areas in our fairways and first cut of rough that will need some seeding and special attention.  Over the next week or two we will be addressing these areas to bring them back to health.  You will likely see some rope or stakes directing you away from the newly seeded areas.

Pictured below is #18 fairway where water sat for several days.  This area has a higher Poa annua population due to the persistant wetness and suffered damage.

Now have a look at #9 fairway where we recently patched some damage with bent sod.  This area stayed rather wet throughout the recent heat and the Poa suffered.  Notice the healthy bent.  This is a pretty good reason to press forward with our Velocity work to eliminate Poa and allow bent to flourish.

As I have said before, only bad things happen quickly on a golf course.  Most of this turf damage happened in a matter of days, yet it will take weeks to recover.  We will be treating the affected areas with extra special attention to ensure the fastest recovery possible.

Hot, Humid, and Wet...

Three words us superintendents don't like in combination.  Unfortunately we are in the middle of them and there doesn't seem to be much end in sight.  Although our course is covered with fungicides and the immediate threat of a disease outbreak is minimal, the conditions are wet.  We have roped off several areas (like the one shown on #17 fairway) to keep traffic out, hoping to minimize any golf cart damage during the wet period.  The forcast is not showing much for rain over the next few days, so it is likely the ropes will be coming down.  I would ask that all golfers use some common sense while negotiating our course and steer clear of noticeably we or roped areas!

In the meantime... go after those pins, the greens are holding!!

Persistance Pays Off

Over the past four weeks we have been watching a mallard hen sit on her nest near our bag drop.  She managed to pick a spot that was in the middle of two of the busiest sidewalks at the club, and right in the middle of a flower bed!  Why would a duck pick such a spot that is so far from water and completely void of any sort of peace and quiet?  Maybe she knew something... bowls of water and oyster crackers appeared as members and staff did their best to keep her comfortable, and from what I hear she even inherited a name... "Madeline" I think it is...

Either way, "Madeline's" persistance and patience have paid off as she has hatched a brace of baby ducks!  Carley Cresap, our club horticulturist, counted seven babies and two unhatched eggs.  Seeing that "Madeline" has some mothering skills, we will let her care for the babies and not disturb her.  If you see children harrassing her, please instruct them to let her be.  We will be excited to watch her raise her young..

A Tough Call...

Making the decision to park all electric carts on a Saturday morning is not a decision many superintendents take lightly.  The decision instantly kills a substantial amount of revenue for the day and turns away a fair amount of golfers.  It's a lose-lose scenario across the board.

However difficult the decision is, superintendents know that it is their job to make tough decisions with the condition of the golf course in mind.  If carts run when they shouldn't, the result is muddy wheel tracks throughout the golf course.  These tracks will linger and ultimately result in poor conditions and thinned turf.  Keeping the carts parked when it is too wet will cause an inconvenience for a day or two and will certainly frustrate golfers, but will prevent long term damage to the golf course.

Pictured above are some tracks produced when carts ran through a wet area.  The damage is somewhat superficial, but nonetheless is there.  There are areas of the course that are much more prone to damage than the spot pictured, which is why we decide to keep carts in when the course is too wet.