November 13, 2013

Season wrap up.

Considering the cold weather that will dominate the next week, I am comfortable saying that the 2013 golf season has come to an end. It was by far the most difficult season I have experienced in almost twenty years working on golf courses.  In general I feel that the season was a success considering we survived extreme weather conditions with minimal damage to prime playing areas, and I have a much better understanding of the golf course and its limitations. 
Coming out of a winter that blessed us with a blizzard that dumped 3 ' of snow, we were faced with the challenge of completing the recovery from the second storm surge in as many years. Thankfully the extent of the damage was minor compared to the year before. As March turned to April, we were trying to transition from winter maintenance to spring cleanup, while building a new forward tee and developing a plan to replace the damaged tree on the 3rd fairway. 
April was extremely dry and cool, which made it difficult to establish new grass from seed and delayed recovery from our early greens aeration. The greens recovered just in time for the spring member-member, and the deep verticutting helped smooth and firm up the putting surfaces for the first half of the year. We followed up this process with minor cultivation practices as part of the "Greens Maintenance Days" that were built into the golf calendar. This strategy allowed us to survive the extreme conditions that were right around the corner. 
June was dominated by heavy rain events, including one that dumped over 5" in one night, flooding the 1st and 18th fairways forcing us to cancel a Golf Breakfast. In one ten day stretch we received over 9" of rain, which revealed a number of drainage issues especially on the 3rd fairway. Coming out of the extreme rains of June, July  and August seemed to occur simultaneously.  If you read this scenario in an almanac one would expect significant significant turf loss due to extreme disease pressure and decreased root mass. The wet weather in June typically affects the depth and density of deep roots, since there is little oxygen in the lower root zone. July was the warmest month in recorded history, largely due to the fact the overnight lows remained in the low to mid 70's.  We almost made it through with minimal damage, but a heavy downpour in the last week was too much for the struggling turf on the 6th tees and the 5th green.  
Thankfully August was manageable and even gave us an opportunity to begin recovery efforts a few weeks early.  We started aerifying rough and weak fairway areas and seed was flying everywhere. Unfortunately the sky dried up and August was the start of an extended period of drought that continued through November. On a positive note, the cool, dry weather meant that the course was in great shape and we were able to keep the greens dry and firm from the Invitational through the end of the season. 
To end the season we have been focusing on topdressing and aerifying, which will set us up for another great season next year. We hired a contractor to deep tine the greens using 3/4" tines that made holes up to 8" deep, more than twice as deep as we make with our machine. We incorporated over 30 tons into the greens which will allow them to drain better and set up earlier next season. 
Looking forward I will be reviewing our programs from last year and making adjustments that will make our department more efficient and effective. 
We hope you enjoyed your time on the golf course this year and wish you all a very healthy, happy holiday season. 

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