2012: A Summer to Remember

Ask anyone who spent any time outdoors this summer and they will tell you that 2012 was brutal. We should have known, as March brought with it temperatures in the low 90’s and was relatively dry. Despite a cool snap in April, summer was here and it was set to challenge golf course personnel in ways we have not been challenged since 1988, some even say the dust bowl. We broke records all summer with the high heat and lack of rain, and the efforts put forth by the CCC Grounds Staff were monumental. Below are some “interesting facts” about the summer of 2012…




- Starting in March, it was confirmed that Illinois had just come off the third warmest winter on record.

- Also in March, Central Illinois was added to the US Drought Monitor as being “abnormally dry”.

- March became the warmest March on record with an average temperature of 54.7 degrees. A full 14.1 degrees above normal!

- After a relatively cool April, May became the 5th warmest on record. A warm May finished off the warmest spring on record. Year-to-date, 2012 had become the warmest January to May on record.

- By the end of June, Champaign County was in a moderate drought and was verging on a severe drought according to the US Drought Monitor. At this point 89% of the state was in some sort of drought.

- July went into the record books as being the 2nd hottest and 4th driest on record. Only the dust bowl years eclipsed these records. The US Drought Monitor indicated that 71% of the state (including Champaign County) was in a D3 or “extreme” drought. Crop loss reports began piling up.

- During the month of July, we used just over 7.5 million gallons of water to keep CCC alive. One third of this amount or 2.5 million gallons were used through hand watering with hoses. On many occasions we had six staff members at a time hand watering dry areas to keep them alive. This proved to be a game changer in our quest to keep CCC green.

- The month of August finally gave us “normal” conditions with the average temperature 0.1 degree below normal and rainfall at 95% of normal.

- September actually was slightly below normal for temperatures and above normal for precipitation. Discussions of the drought subsiding were common and turf recovery went into high gear.



Despite broken records, a historical drought, and a summer that started in March, we survived. Water was king this summer and courses that didn’t use it enough or who ran short suffered miserably. I feel fortunate that we have ample water available to us however we will always be vigilant on how much we use. We saw first hand this July that, while we have plenty of water available, it is not free! Our approach to hand water as much as we did not only helped save our turf, but saved a considerable amount of water in the process. I spoke to many superintendents during the summer about irrigation practices and found that many courses in our area were using upwards of 500,000 gallons of water each night to keep up with the drought. We never topped 250,000 gallons per night at CCC.



In retrospect, 2012 was a good year. On the heels of two seasons of turf loss we made it through a very difficult summer in good shape. The difference? We were in control of the water for the entire season! A member told me this summer “this place loves to be dry!” and I would have to say that he was spot on with that statement. Our major turf loss comes during times of too much water and high temperatures. Our course cannot shed water fast enough, remains saturated for long periods of time, and suffers through wet stretches. When we are in control of the water, we see far healthier turf!



Looking ahead, no one knows what 2013 will bring. My hope is that it will bring moderate temperatures with occasional light rain… only at night… and only when we need it.

Frustrating...

Three weeks ago we were having a record breaking spring with all phenological things springing to life two to three weeks ahead of schedule.  As such, we decided to aerate our greens two weeks early and take advantage of the weather that had become the norm for the past couple weeks.  Aerification went well and we were able to use our new ProCore 648 aerator, which performed perfectly.  Hole quality was incredible and we pulled very healthy 1/2" cores.  After topdressing and cleaning them up, the greens were set for a quick recovery and satisfied golfers...

Then it got cold!  Since aerification we have been thrust back to "normal" spring temperatures which included four nights of frosty or near frosty temperatures immediately following aerification.  This cold snap effectively halted the growth of our greens and along with it the recovery from aerification. 

Today marks the beginning of a warming trend that has already spurred growth on our greens, which we have noticed through a remarkable increase in our clipping yield when we mow.  I am hopeful that within the next week we will see nearly full closure of our aerification holes and putting will become smooth and true.  As it is in the golf course maintenance industry, we are so often at the mercy of Mother Nature!  Frustrating at times, but the forecast looks good for recovery to begin!

Looking down on a green you can see holes that are beginning to disappear.

This picture shows a patch of a more cold tolerant variety of bent that has
already healed.

Very Dry!

The crew was hard at work today getting the course mowed and ready for the Easter weekend, but Assistant Superintendent Ben Christie and I spent most of the day chasing wilt.  Yes, we are hand watering dry spots in April!  Already I have run several full irrigation cycles on the golf course and I will be turning it up tonight in preparation for Monday's greens aerification.  Never before have I seen the golf course this dry so early in the year!  With the 10 day forcast showing little signs of any precipitation, we will continue to pump water to keep up with dry turf.  Keep your fingers crossed for rain in the next week or so... 

Below are some interesting pictures that sort of sum up the spring we are having.

A world map of temperature departures from normal.  According
to this map, we are the "hottest place on earth" when compared to
average temperatures for this time of year.

Already the State Climatologist is posting U.S. Drought Monitor
figures.  Champaign is on the edge of an "abnormally dry" area.
With no rain in the forcast, we will likely move into a "moderate
drought" in the next week or so.

Assistant Superintendent Ben Christie monitors and waters dry
spots on #16 green.  We are already having to spend afternoons
watching our turf for signs of wilt.

Goose Patrol

I couldn't resist posting this...

Lucy, my 2 year old Brittany, has been honing her skills as the resident "goose chaser." With her speed, tenacity, and increasing fearlessness she has been harassing the geese at every opportunity.  I took this video the other day when we came upon our nesting pair off the nest and in the #13 pond.

Apologies for the sloppy camera work, but you'll still probably appreciate the hard work that Lucy gives!  It's hard to believe that not quite 12 months ago she was recovering from achilles re-attachment surgery!

Enjoy...

A Spring of Plenty!

 During this unusually warm spring, the golf course seems to be moving in double time towards summer conditions.  We have already made our spring crabgrass preventative application, an application we normally wouldn't be making for another couple of weeks! Because of a potentially longer season, we will be following up our crabgrass application with a second application later this spring.  This "split application" will allow the herbicide to outlast the window of crabgrass germination.  Next on tap is a much earlier than normal grub control application. 

This warm spring has also brought with it plenty of "plenty's"!  Our flowering trees have come into full bloom and "plentiful" hardly describes them right now.  It has been rare to see our trees in such a showy bloom!  Our other deciduous trees have also decided to leaf out early.  Many of our maples seem to have almost come into their summer leaf out.  Last week I was noticing how many leaves were already on our silver maples, but when I looked closer I found that there were very few leaves, but "plenty" of seeds!  Not a good sign for the weeks to come!  We will have our blowers working overtime to keep up with what will surely be a bumper crop of maple seeds this year.

Last, but certainly not least, are the Poa annua seedheads.  This spring we elected to not make our spring growth regulator application to control seedheads, partly because the timing of the application came and went so fast, but also because of the fact that the seedheads came on so early that they will be finishing up before many golfers begin to play with regularity.  Allowing Poa to produce a seedhead helps in our longterm battle against Poa in that the plant expends a considerable amount of its stored energy producing that seedhead.  A weaker plant gives bentgrass a bit of a competitive advantage later in the growing season.  The amount of seed produced by the Poa does present a problem if it were to germinate, but it is merely a drop in the bucket when you consider the amount of Poa seed already in our soil.  My hope is to prevent the Poa seed from germinating through the use of pre-emergant herbicides, and continue to give bentrass the competitive edge through our cultural programs and our Velocity program.

Flowering crabs and a redbud near #17 green are in full display.

At first glance, our silver maples seem to be leafing out early.



Upon closer inspection, it is obvious these aren't leaves!!



The emergence of Poa seedheads is earlier and heavier than usual.



Mowing Right Along...

Not many of us in the golf course industry have seen a spring quite like this one.  With a week of 70's behind us and the 7 day forcast showing highs in the 70's and even a couple 80's there is no doubt we will be seeing our golf course come into its own much earlier this year than any that I can remember.  Tomorrow will mark our third mowing of the greens this year, and next week we will likely begin mowing every other day.  My gut tells me that we will still have a significant cool down yet this spring, and dare I say some "wintery precipitation" could still fall, but we will certainly enjoy this preview of what I hope to be a great year.

Alan puts the first cut of the year on #17 fairway.

Assistant Superintendent Ben Christie works on

smoothing the root pruning trenches.  These will

get seeded in April.

A downside of the early spring is that we have spent

so much time mowing grass that our winter crew hasn't

been able to finish our winter cleanup yet.

Another victim of an early spring is an unprepared bunker.

We will be bringing back some seasonal help next week to

start getting bunkers ready for the year.  Golfers will have to

show patience while we finish our prep work.

First cut of 2012!

March 7th could be one of the earliest "first cuts" in the eight seasons I've been at CCC.  The non-winter we had and the recent warm temperatures have caused some growth and greening up on the golf course.  We mowed greens only today and will likely get collars and approaches mowed yet this week.  I am not in a huge hurry to mow tees and fairways partly because we have about a week's worth of cleanup to do after two days of nearly constant 35mph wind!  Any weakly attached branch managed to find its way to the ground, including half of a tree next to the practice range and a crab apple near the 18th green. We will likely be spending some time during the next week cleaning the branches up and slowly get around to mowing tees and fairways as areas become clean enough to mow.  In the next few weeks we will start bringing back part of our seasonal crew to help prepare the rest of the course for the season.