Recently there have been some questions on the condition of the golf course and why we don't look as good as some other properties. This shouldn't be any big surprise to anyone as we have been discussing our concerns about this years transition in all of our meetings because of the extremely cool temperatures and high winds throughout May and June, along with the fact that it happens every year at this time. Comparing one course to another is always a sore subject for superintendents, because it's like comparing an apple to an orange. It just can't be done. There are too many contributing factors such as the variety of turf and things like that, so I won't go into them here. But, in an attempt to explain our conditions as simply as possible, it's the wind and irrigation system. I won't speak on other properties irrigation systems because they all vary so much. But our irrigation system is a 26 year old block system, meaning several (4 to 6) sprinklers run together at the same time. In most modern day systems, you have individual head control where each sprinkler head runs individually. This gives you the ability to turn up a weak area without creating a problem (wet spot) in an adjacent area. Another factor is that our brass impact irrigation heads in our system have been out of circulation for so long that they quit making replacement/repair parts for them two years ago. (This is why we started replacing all the green sprinklers this year). Our irrigation head spacing is an issue as well. During the winter months when it's not very hot or windy and not much water is required, it's sufficient. But this time of year (especially during transition) if a head quits turning or does not get proper coverage because of the wind, the winter Rye grass dies rapidly (over night) and it takes a week or two to get the Bermuda grass to start filling in. This takes even longer under windy conditions because you cannot get enough water in the area where you need it. When you transition naturally without spraying chemicals to remove the winter grass, transition appears to take even longer because as one area recovers, another area checks-out. We have a tendency to only see the brown (transition) areas and don't really realize that it's not always the same spot. Now even though there are other properties in close proximity to ours, they are outside of the "wind tunnel" that runs through our property. A great example to see just how much more protected other properties can be from the wind as compared to ours, is to take a look at the sand build up along the sidewalk at the South East corner of Cook St. and Frank Sinatra Dr. The wind blows so hard through there and across our property that the sand is built up a good 8 to 10 inches, and if you look at the sidewalks along most other properties you will see very little sand build up caused by the wind. You can also see the difference the wind makes on our own property by looking at the front (windy) nine and at the more wind protected holes (10, 13, 17) on the back nine. There are quite a few more hot spots on the front nine. I hope this helps somewhat to clarify why we struggle more then some other courses at this time of year.
The question now becomes, what can we do to correct this? The simple solution would be to completely replace our old irrigation system. But that's not going to happen anytime soon, so what we can do in the meantime is to aerify, fertilize and try to get as much water on these areas as possible and hope for good Bermuda growing weather. In the meantime, trust that no one wants to get through this more then we do.