The rain was welcome as all of our ponds were down and the inefficiency of the irrigation system could really be seen with as many wet areas as dry areas. We had invested/wasted countless man hours in dragging hoses and hand watering over the past 2 months to keep key areas alive if not green.
Most un-irrigated places on the golf course are just dormant and will quickly green up although there are some areas that are dead and will need reseeding. We use a infrared thermometer to monitor surface temperatures of the turf to help gauge what time to syringe the turf with a mist of water to cool it down on hot days.
It is tough to grow grass when the surface temperature is 126! This was taken in the rough on hole 12. |
Cart traffic during the drought no doubt made things worse as what would normally be a slight wear areas became paths of dead turf. Also green turf that is under heat / moisture stress is susceptible to damage from cart traffic. The picture above shows a fairway that had traffic at just the wrong time and how the turf is damaged by the may wheels that go over it each day.
Cart traffic has a negative impact on turf under heat / moisture stress in the afternoon. |
In total we have 7 trees down completely and another 10 that are damaged to the point of being dangerous and they will need to come down. With the recent burn ban we have not been able to burn our burn pile so it is full from a summer of tree trimming. To accommodate the large number of downed limbs and trees we started a few temporary piles on the golf course to stockpile the wood until we can rent a chipper and mulch them up. This will be done quickly before the brush piles can kill the turf underneath.
Using multiple piles allowed us the opportunity to clean up more debris from the playing surface because it saved travel time to a single central location. We appreciate your patience during this time.
The Tent Was a Mess With Tables and Chairs Everywhere. |
This damage near 23 tee was typical of what we saw throughout the course. |
More of the same between hole 18 and 19 |
Many dangereous and hanging branches were removed. |
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