Softer in the summer

It can seem counterintuitive that golf course conditions may not be as firm during periods of hot, dry summer weather, as they are during cooler periods when we receive more consistent rainfall.  

The USGA recently addressed this issue in an article:  How Can A Course Be Soft When The Weather Is Dry?

Many of the points mentioned in this article are relevant to Laurel Creek:

• Let's start with the irrigation system itself.  Our system was designed in the 1980s and doesn't provide the uniformity of coverage of a more modern design.  Despite having employees spend up to 500 man hours per month hand watering to supplement coverage deficiencies, we still can't provide the uniformity of rainfall.  Thus, at times, it feels like Goldilocks--this area is too wet, this area is too dry, this area is just right.
• Obviously daily moisture loss is much higher now than at other times of the year.  For Poa greens, with very short roots during the summer, there is a small amount of root zone for them to draw moisture from.  
• Cart traffic also leads to higher moisture needs, than are required for a course that is walking only.

The shortest roots of the year are in August.

Soon enough, fall will be here, a season which often leads to some of the best playing conditions of the year.

A little rain and a lot of pain...

If the first part of July is any indication of things to come, we may actually break our 11 month streak of below average precipitation.  (Yes, it was a full year ago, in July, 2025, when we were above average for a month.)  While the recent rain has helped to get the water levels up in the ponds, the precipitation did come at a cost.  The smallest rain event yielded a meager 0.15" on Friday, July 3, but it caused some serious headaches.

We arrived on Saturday, July 4, to find damage from a lightning strike near #15 Laurel tee.  This hit the tree in the background, blew an irrigation pipe out of the ground, caused electrical issues in the controllers throughout the course, and destroyed more than a dozen solenoids in sprinklers on #14 and 15.

Two nights later, the small irrigation controller at the Centerton Road entrance island took a hit, and blasted the PVC off the backflow preventer.  While on a much smaller scale than the golf course, this repair also required both plumbing and electrical work.

One thing is for sure, summer in this region is never boring!

Today's Green Speed: Alive

This past week's temperatures put the "fire" into the holiday's fireworks!  With the exception of the practice tee, the golf course is comprised entirely of cool-season turf that isn't loving this summer's blowtorch conditions.  What does "cool-season" mean?

As the name implies, these species grow best in cooler climates, not in the blistering heat we've been experiencing.  During the spring and fall, we get root growth, but as the heat increases in the summer, plants lose root mass.  

During the latest heat wave, we heard many people say that after 15 minutes outside, they had to head back into the A/C.  Of course the turf doesn't have that option, and is baking all day, every day.  The challenges to turf health become exacerbated when there is no relief at night.  Low temperatures in the 80s don't allow for any recovery.  

So what changes are we making in our maintenance practices in these extreme situations to protect the course for the long-term, and what can you expect?  

Well, we don't stop mowing and we rarely (if ever) raise the height of cut on the greens--they are currently still being cut daily at 0.100".  However, we do back off on any cultural practices that can cause additional stress such as verticutting and topdressing.  Additionally, we may reduce the number of days per week that we roll the greens.  For greens in some of the more challenging growing conditions, an extra venting, using micro-tines has proven to be helpful in getting them through these weather patterns.  Lastly, if we anticipate temperatures in the triple digits, we may give the greens' sprinklers a spin during the day to temporarily cool off the turf canopy.

Green speeds will typically drop somewhat during mid-summer regardless of what we do.  The plants swell, and similar to how we feel in the heat, the greens may seem sticky.  We treat the greens like elite athletes, closely monitoring their inputs and conditioning protocols.  Pushing for fast greens at this time of year by lowering the height of cut, aggressive grooming, double-mowing, and rolling is ill-advised.  You won't find many athletes going for a personal record in 100 degree heat!

And for the record, the greens were 11'3" on July3, and 11' 2" on July 4--we must have set the bar pretty high if players are saying the greens are slow now...

Why today?

Over the years, we occasionally hear comments regarding the timing of our maintenance practices.  This may include questioning why we need to spray "every time" you are playing a round.  While we try our best to avoid interfering with your enjoyment of the course, there are several factors that may impact what, when and why we need to make a plant protectant application (or perform any task) on a regular basis.

The reality is that at this time of year we are likely spraying one of the playing surfaces five days per week.  For example, the greens don't receive any granular fertilizer applications, so depending on the growth rate, we may be applying a nutrient spray weekly.  The primary rough is typically treated monthly, however if we see a need to pivot due to weather conditions, that timing may require a change.

A disease breakthrough in the rough warranted an unscheduled application last week.

With the course's round counts up by approximately 50% over the past several years, we have a challenging combination of increased maintenance needs on the course, along with fewer times to perform these tasks without encountering play.  In order to help with the issue, we have shifted our morning start time back by half an hour in 2026--this is the earliest it has ever been since the course opened.

Feeling Funky

We have been pushing the greens hard the past couple of months, and based on feedback, the results have been appreciated by players.  Of course, just when things appear to be running like clockwork, we get a curveball thrown at us.

What is sometimes referred to as "Poa funk"  appeared on several greens this past week.

While this might have some of the same visual symptoms that you would see with a turf disease, the cause is actually environmental stress and often appears in areas with higher moisture levels.  As you can see above, the aerification holes are green, and less likely to suffer from this funk.

By dotting the margins lightly, we can easily compare how things are trending from day to day.  More often than not, when these spots appear, they do not grow in size.  So we've got that going for us--which is nice...

Quick Fix

Many irrigation repairs are unplanned, which can make them challenging.  This past Thursday, a quick coupler (that we connect a hose to for hand watering) at #1 green broke off, leading to a river running down the approach and a deposit of mud on the front of the green. With this occurring 45 minutes before the first tee time, the team had to quickly jump into action.

While it wasn't the way we like to start the day, it was great to see the repair completed in less than an hour, with only one group having to play the hole as we worked on it. 

This does also highlight the fact that we have an irrigation system that was installed almost 38 years ago.  There is approximately 20 miles of pipe in the system, which is always under 115 PSI, whether sprinklers are running or not.

Bunker Basics

It might be a bit naive to expect that we would ever receive compliments about bunkers.  Realistically, if we aren't hearing complaints, we should probably chalk it up as a win.  What you might not realize, is that in order to achieve this not so lofty goal, it still takes a tremendous amount of time and effort.

Of course raking is a part of the process, but there is a lot more to it than just that.  Bunker surrounds must be mown by hand,  the bunker faces need to be edged, weeded, then the sand packed and rolled.  Additionally, sand depth uniformity is checked periodically, as neither too much nor too little sand is desirable.

Again, all of this takes a lot of labor.  Fortunately, the team is now at full strength and we are catching up on these tasks.