The weather has definitely posed a challenge for the golf course in June. We had a stretch of over 3 weeks with some of hottest sunny days with little to no rainfall. The golf course during this stretch has experienced some definite challenges in trying to put enough water on the course without becoming overly saturated. The greens and surrounds have stayed in very good condition. Most of this can be attributed from the irrigation improvement project in the fall, that allows us good efficient coverage.
During extended periods of hot dry weather we do see some inadequacies of our irrigation system though. Our fairway irrigation was designed several years ago with a double and single row sprinkler head setup. This allows us the ability to water some of the fairway at 100% efficient coverage while areas on the edges of fairways only receive 50% and less. Over the past few weeks we have spent a great deal of effort trying to maintain the edges without completely saturating the fairways. Although some of the fairway edges are showing stress, we should see rejuvenation of these areas with some rain and milder weather. The rough areas outside the fairways have minimal sprinkler coverage and you will see the maintenance staff working hard to maintain these areas with quick couplers and hoses.
 |
| Chipping Green |
We have also see a decline in turf on some tee boxes and the south-west corner of the chipping green. These areas are challenged with excessive thatch. Thatch is a layer of grass stems, roots, clippings, and debris that settle on the ground and either slowly decompose and/or accumulate over time. This area becomes a compressed compacted mat that prevents water from penetrating through the profile to the roots. During these very hot days it has been a tremendous struggle to move enough water through to the roots. We have been working at aerifying these areas and will be out topdressing them frequency. These areas are a primary focus to us, in isolating damage as well as improving the health. The long term solution is to increase the frequency and amount we aerify, top-dress and verti-cut these areas. Over the period of a few years we should be able to substantially minimize this thatch layer and we will see improvement during the peak heat stress period of the golf season.
 |
| Thatch profile of the chipping green |
 |
| #6 White tee |
The weather has definitely posed a challenge for the golf course in June. We had a stretch of over 3 weeks with some of hottest sunny days with little to no rainfall. The golf course during this stretch has experienced some definite challenges in trying to put enough water on the course without becoming overly saturated. The greens and surrounds have stayed in very good condition. Most of this can be attributed from the irrigation improvement project in the fall, that allows us good efficient coverage.
