Middle of Summer

Hard to believe that July 4th weekend is here.  Doesn't feel like we should be half way through summer, I think the cooler weather has a lot to do with that feeling.  Can't change anything though, so Happy 4th of July!  The season has been great for growing grass, cool with timely rains has the turf very happy.  With the adequate temperatures we've been able to do all that we've wanted to.  Rolling, verticutting, topdressing, etc... all these things put stress on the turf.  When we have the moderate temps like we've had these added stresses cause no concern, it would be a different story if we were hot and dry.  The upcoming weekend shows some higher temps coming back to the area, a few days in the 90's but then it looks to cool back off a bit.  A few days of heat isn't bad, but if we get on a stretch of 5 or more days with warmer night time temperatures, we get a bit worried.  Afternoons over the next few days will be spent monitoring the golf course for areas of wilt.  Wilting areas will be lightly touched with some water just to cool the surface rather than to actually water the area.  Too much water when it is hot causes more concern as that water can then heat up and boil the turf.  We tell our guys just a light mist across the surface to help reduce soil temperatures and cool the plant.

We've finally recovered from the heavy wind storm last week.  A bit of worry entered my mind Sunday afternoon as we still had no power to our pumphouse.  The pumphouse is the heart of the course, our pumps are there which pump water throughout the underground irrigation lines.  No power means no water.  With Saturday and Sunday being slightly warm and not having any rain since last Tuesday night things were beginning to dry out.  Fortunately we made it to Monday where we were able to get everything fixed and back up and running. 

This past Monday we prepped for a busy few weeks ahead.  I believe we'll be very busy throughout the holiday weekend and then Mens guest day on Wednesday.  A great deal of work is ahead for us.  But for now we are happy with the way things are and playing.  The ball is rolling in the fairways as things have dried out and the greens seem to be putting smooth with moderate speed.  Hope things are well on your end!