After remaining rain-free for the better part of June, this last week of rain has been a welcome sight. We had a few greens surprise us by suffering badly through last weekend's low humidity and high temperatures. We made some adjustments to them and with this cool wet week we've had, I expect them to be back to normal soon. These are greens we'll be keeping a close eye on for the rest of the summer.
All greens and green surrounds have been fertilized prior to the rain this week. This was done partly for recovery but mostly to keep them thick and dense through the summer. The color difference you'll see is primarily from the fertilizer.
Bunker edging on the back 9 is almost complete. The crew will move on to the front 9 this week.
Clover that was small enough, at the time of our first herbicide application to avoid our sprayer, is now popping through in some places. We are going after it daily and should have it all cleaned up within the week.
I want to take a minute to mention what is and isn't possible when the course is rain-soaked and moist, since it's fresh in everyone's mind. Sometimes what we deal with regarding weather and it's effect on conditions isn't so obvious to the untrained eye. So, here's a review on how soaking rains affect the course.
Ballmarks: Soaking rain has a positive effect on ballmark fixing. This is due to golfers actually being able to see their mark instead of not finding it at all. When they can see it, they usually fix it.
Cup edges: When greens are saturated, fresh-cut cup edges will only look that way for about 12 foursomes. By then, the edge has been physically damaged by a combination of ball, flagstick, putter, suction cup ball retriever, hands, etc..
I know nobody intends to damage a cup edge -- it's purely accidental. But when it's done, it's done. The rest of the players that day get to look at a crushed cup edge and wonder about the aptitude of the cup cutting guy. If you play later in the day, and it's soft, expect the cup edge to show the scars from the wars of the day. When it's firmer, obviously the edge holds together longer under the same abuse. On the days the cups are cut, they're left, by us, in perfect condition and most of the players that play early will tell you this. All it takes is one slip of the wrist, or arm, or puff of wind to cause a misjudgement when replacing a flagstick to damage a cup edge for the rest of the players that day. Please do your best to preserve the cup edge at all the times, but especially when its wet.
Green speed: Soft, wet greens will putt slower than hard, dry greens. Expect drops in green speeds by at least 1 foot when the greens feel soft under your feet, especially if we're getting rain everyday.
Water in Bunkers: The bunkers at Tuscarora drain naturally through cracks in the rock. With chronic rain, this draining can take some time.
Maintenance Schedules: Depending on when the rain hits and how much we get, the days scheduled maintenance can change by the minute. Greens may not be mowed, cups may not be cut, and bunkers may be partially raked. It's the nature of the business that the weather dictates your day -- not dissimilar to farming. Point being, if you expect cups to be cut and they're not, chances are we've changed the schedule due to rain or some other factor that puts the health of the course over a time table.
To be sure, it's easier to not change our schedule and barge ahead to mow or rake regardless of conditions -- but that leads to muddy bunkers, scalped-down greens, and cup plugs that take longer than normal to heal because they're too wet to handle.
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