Chris Threatt

As many of ya’ll may already know, it has been an extremely wet seven weeks.  Since June 23^rd, the club has received roughly 36” of rainfall.  The amount of water is noticeable around the course.  There are standing water areas throughout the back nine, especially #12-16.  Many of the native, cypress-wooded areas now resemble swamps and literally define the name “wetland.”  However, I wanted to follow-up on last month’s topic and pass on information of how this much water/rainfall affects the turf and golf conditions.  

 
 Cypress Creek was constructed with the native soil uses the topography to move the water to certain areas.  This was the common construction method of the late 80’s; it just takes more time to drain compared to today’s construction practices with subsurface drainage.  With the onset of this rainy season, we have had trouble passing our mowers through several areas since they are staying wet longer.  This decreases our mowing frequency, thus the need to raise the mowing height (avoid scalping and high clipping count).  Our roughs have taken most the hits, the height is up and frequency down (golf balls hide easier in the tall grass).  We are taking risks with soil compaction, scalping, creating ruts, and possibly stuck mowers when we mow in wet conditions, but are necessary in order to create the best “playability” we can with our current weather pattern.  As conditions dry some, we can then lower our mowing height and increase our frequency to improve playing conditions.  Same for the greens; height is up, frequency down.  The greens also rely on topography to drain (except 13 and now 12), some slower than others.  The greens that drain slowly are easily noticed by their wet appearance and algae pressure (#9, 10).  We must then adjust our mowing frequency and timing to avoid detrimental conditions as explained above.  This is the root cause of our work on #12; the drainage was put in to allow water to move off the green and help get air back into the soil for the roots to breathe.  Saturated soils cause root suffocation and can lead to turf decline and death, not to mention a conducive environment for algal growth too, unfortunately.   Much of the crew’s current work is geared toward improving air/water exchange in the soil and decreasing the algae pressure (aerify, spike, topdress, etc.).  So when you see us out there, hopefully now you’ll understand the goal we’re working towards.