A Not So Good Start to President's Cup Week , Douglas Lowe, CGCS

Despite a nice little reprieve last week from the persistent rains we could be falling back into that very same weather pattern.  Last night (7/21) we had a storm that affected both our two courses.  The Farm recorded 1.6 inches of rainfall while the Irving Park course received a little over 3 inches.

Creek Inundated Bunker 

More Bunker Washing

Tree Damage

The Irving Park course was by far the most affected of the two courses with severely washed out bunkers and a significant amount of tree and creek debris for the staff to cleanup and remove.  The effect, especially at Irving Park, is the staff loses an entire day or more of mowing and conditioning to cleanup the damage left by this storm and to allow the course a chance to dry out.  While we hope this will be the last and only storm of the week the forecast does have higher than normal rain percentages for the next few days.  The real effect is we lose a lot of valuable manpower working on storm cleanup that we cannot makeup and all from a storm that will be long forgotten by the competitors of this weekend's event.

A Lot of Work to do Before Next Week's President's Cup, Douglas Lowe, CGCS

#4 Farm 2012 President's Cup

#4 IP 2012 President's Cup

The 2012 President's Cup provided for some pretty good course conditions and we expect nothing less in 2013.  Now that the 2013 monsoon season seems to have stalled and we finally find ourselves in a more typical July weather pattern our task is clear, Get the two courses in tournament condition - ASAP.

So for those interested in what the course maintenance staff  has on their to-do list for the next two weeks, I have provided below a condensed summary of the items we will be focusing on for the next two weeks:



Week 1 (7/15-7/21)

1) Extend work hours for staff by a minimum of one hour per day.
2) Hire Temp labor.
3) Double the mowing frequency everywhere in an effort to catch up with scalping and leaf clippings.
4) Begin trimming curbs, sprinklers, yardage markers, paths, creeks, ponds etc.
5) Bentgrass greens are expected to see prolonged sunshine and the hottest temperatures year to date. Greens will need to be closely monitored for wilt.  Begin hand watering dry and weak areas daily in addition to misting greens during the hottest hours of the day.
6) Monitor disease activity on greens.  Disease probability is very high based on a long period of saturated soil conditions, a weakened root system and a rapid increase in soil temperatures.
7) Complete delayed or scheduled projects, which may include but not be limited to drainage, landscaping, sod work, etc.
8) Apply growth regulators to tees, fairway, tee and green surrounds.
9) Focus on weed control in both the play and non-play areas.
10) Closely manage pond aesthetics.

Week 2 (7/22 - 7/28)

1) Extend work week to whatever is required to achieve tournament conditioning standards.
2) Dress up the mulched areas.
3) Complete all trim work.
4) Maintain an aggressive mowing schedule.
5) Increase the blowing schedule.
6) Balance green health with green speeds to maximize firmness and ball roll for the period Friday (7/26) - Sunday (7/28).

While tournament preparations are always extensive in nature, with all the rainfall, this year will prove to be especially difficult.  None the less, the staff will work their hardest to have a course the membership both enjoys and is proud of by the middle part of next week.

16 Consecutive Days of Rain

The past 38 days have been difficult due to the consistent rains but the last sixteen days have been extremely difficult.  Our last completely dry day fell of June 22.  Since then we have had rain every day for the past 16 days and have recorded over 6 inches during this time period.

The effect of all this rain and cloud cover has been a course that has stayed saturated and has been nearly impossible to mow.  The Farm course with an extensive storm drainage system has fared much better than the Irving Park course but it too has been pushed to the limit.  The Zoysia at the Farm has shown a low tolerance for poorly drained areas.  Symptoms of decline have become noticeable over the past few weeks in low lying swales that are without any type of sub-surface drainage.  The good news is additional funding to drain the worst of these areas was approved and we have begun some of that work.  The bad news is we haven't made much progress on installing the new drain lines due to saturated soils that make it impossible to do this type of work.

Saturated soils on the Irving Park course seem to be the norm versus some type of unusual extreme.  In a year where we have seen well above rainfall totals nearly every month of the year and on a course that has little to no significant drainage infrastructure the days of mentioning course conditions and firmness in the same sentence have been few and far between.

#13 Flooding

While flooding has occurred in recent weeks and is a major nuisance due to all the cleanup and repair work to the streams and bunkers, the flooding in itself is not the biggest part of the problem we currently face. What is causing us the greatest problem is the extremely long periods of rain without any type of drying cycle in between.  Today is July 8 and we have not been able to mow any significant portions of the course, outside of the greens, since Monday July 1.  Both the fairways and the rough at each of the two courses are extremely long and getting longer every day.  These areas of the course are so wet the heavy mowers would do way more damage than good if they are used.  Our primary strategy is to wait as long as it takes before sending the mowers out and if need be raise the heights so we don't scalp the turf more than it can handle. We received nearly an inch of rain last night and the forecast this week is really no different from the past two weeks, so we are not overly optimistic about our chances of getting caught up this week. But if the opportunity presents itself we will take every advantage of it.  Looking at it more from a long term perspective the course will eventually dry up and we will get everything back into condition but until then the golfers will need to be a little more patient than normal with some of the wet and long turf playing conditions created by this sustained period of wetter than normal weather.

Rain - I Guess It Could Be Worse

Despite what seems like an entire year of wet, cloudy weather conditions I guess it could be worse. Speaking with friends in both the Pinehurst and Hilton head areas they both witnessed over 20 inches of rain in the month of June.  Our measly little 10 inches of rain in June doesn't even seem worth mentioning.  A big part of the rainfall total was the tropical storm Andrea that produced heavy rainfalls all along the eastern seaboard.
Regardless of whether 10 inches in June and already experiencing 2 inches in July, just three days into the month, is as much as those around us it is none the less frustrating.

Yes, The Flash Was Working

What's Down

• Seemingly the sun
• Drought Warnings - At least along the Eastern seaboard and the one positive message that is easy to lose focus on if your not careful.
• Golf rounds and corresponding revenues
• Morale of a staff that has spent countless hours and days working in the rain and dealing with all the cleanup and repairs from frequent storms
• Sand on our bunker faces from the heavy rains
• Trees and tree debris from the occasional heavy winds associated with some of the passing storms
• Mowing frequency due to consistently saturated soils and our desire to minimize damage to the turf
• Overall course conditions
• Green Speeds

What's Up

• Clouds - Everyday day more and more clouds
• Disease Pressure - While not yet apparent there is no doubt a growing population of fungal pathogens building in the soil profile underneath our greens are just waiting for a little heat and humidity in order to explode in numbers.
• Weed Control - Much like we experienced throughout the prolonged wet winter not even the best pre-emergent herbicides can withstand the excessive leaching conditions produced by well above normal rainfall totals.
• The color of green - Not even the best fertilizer program can mimic the deep green canvas throughout our two courses from lush growing conditions and infrequent mowing cycles. 
• Turf heights -  We recently went 8 days between mowing fairways.

But like the title says it could be worse. With everything going on in the world I am quick to recognize that working on something as beautiful as a golf course and more specifically the two courses at Greensboro Country Club is a blessing not to be overlooked.