With all the moisture this can cause a number of problems on the course. Temperatures are going to be in the low 90's this weekend with high humidity. The high humidity will hamper the soils ability to dry out. Water logged soils are not good. Turfgrass needs oxygen. Oxygen is taken up by the roots system. If water is in the root zone very little oxygen is taken up. Roots will begin to die. Another problem with saturated soils is disease pressure. The rough will have an explosion of disease this weekend. The best thing that can happen is cooler temperatures or for the soils to dry out. That will not happen soon enough. Compaction will be another issue with waterlogged soils. Compaction is easily corrected with aerification. We are scheduled to aerate our fairways and tees this month.
We are taking measures to help dry our greens out. We have started to spike our greens to open them up so they will dry down quicker. We are making slits in the green on 1.5 inch x 2 inch pattern. Spiking is a form of aerification that is not as aggressive as punching holes. It is less disruptive but still gets the job done. We then mow behind the spiker to smooth putting surface If greens stay too wet we will lose turf there first. I am not worried about disease on the greens we are on a preventative spray schedule and should be o.k.
Cart will be on cart paths only for the next couples of day. Please be careful. Try to avoid passing other carts. Please be cautious when walking to and from your ball especially on slopes. You can easily slip and fall. Thanks for your patience. This has been a summer to remember.
Dan spiking greens
After spiking turf is tuff up
Tim mowing after spiking
Chapstick is on mowed part of green much smoother
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