Golf Course Conditions – July 2024

June was one of the driest on record. At the golf course, we received less than 1 inch of rain all month, most of that came in the last week. Last year, we had almost 10 inches of rain in June. We have been continuing to irrigate the course as much as possible, but if we continue this pattern into July, we will have to stop irrigating the entire course and focus on greens and a few other areas to spot treat. We have a good water management system but, in these conditions, there is a limited supply. Our system works as follows, we pump water from below the big lake on 6 and 12, up into the upper pond on 16. At the bottom of the dam from the pond on 16, we open a valve to release water into the pond on 17. At the bottom of the dam on 17, we do the same to release water into the lake on 6 and 12. The lake on 6 and 12 is where we pump water from to irrigate the golf course. All ponds receive rainwater from run off and we open and close these valves on the ponds to balance our water, as needed.

On the greens, we will continue to spray wetting agents and hand water to help balance out the mois-ture on greens. On the greens, we will also be doing some venting. This is where we punch small holes in some areas, to help with hydrophobic spots. These are areas that repel water instead of letting it into the soil. The small holes let water and air in and help get water to the roots as needed. Tees will contin-ue to receive some overhead irrigation and be hand watered as needed. Fairways, Tees, and Greens are being sprayed with fertilizer and growth regulators to help with plant health, growth, and color.

Our bunkers are new and nice. The maintenance staff rakes them regularly in the mornings, but we can-not rake them all day. As a golfer, it is your responsibility to rake a bunker after you have played out of it. There are players coming behind you that don’t want to be in your divot or footprint in an unraked trap. Please continue to repair divots and ball marks. If you have any questions on how to do these things, please flag me down and ask. Thank you to all our members who do these things regularly.