Weather

     Warm and Dry in December is very hard on the golf course.  We winterized the Irrigation system in November.  On Monday we had to start it back up and water our turf.  This is the first time in 32 years in this business I had to do this.  We have recorded .81 inches of rain since October 23rd.  So far in December we recorded .28 inches of rain and that was on December 5th.  It has been so dry In the rough between 9 and 18 you can see dormant cool season turf under the drip line of the Sweet Gum trees. This shows it has been so warm the trees are still using water.  If we did  not have Irrigation mainlines that come out of the ground on holes 3 and 7 we could keep the system up longer.  When the temperatures get down below freezing the exposed mainlines could freeze and break.  We will Winterize the system a second time on Thursday before the extreme cold weather set in.  I watered the entire golf course for 3 days to help get moisture to our greens, greens surrounds and cool season roughs.  The Zoysia grass fairways and tee's are dormant they can withstand the drought.  Cool season turf on the other hand is not dormant and it can be damaged or killed by the dry weather.  When the crown of the plant dries out this can kill the turf.  I hope this is the last time until next spring we will have to do this.  This has been one crazy year.  The warm weather in February caused me to start up the Irrigation system one month ahead of schedule.  Now the  warm and dry weather in November and December had me restart the system.  There is never a dull moment on the golf course.

 Ring around Sweet Gum tree.  Brown turf is dormant

 

  Watering 18 green December 20th.  This is the latest I have ever watered turf.