No Wake...

It is always appreciated when players observe posted signage on the golf course.  For September, we gave up on using "No Carts" signs, and switched to something a bit more appropriate:

Yes, the Philadelphia region reached its average rainfall amount for the entire year a week ago.  Since that mark was hit, we had six straight days with measurable precipitation, totaling an additional 4.3 inches of rain for the week.  And with three months left in 2018, it's hard to know what the year's total will ultimately end up being.

It's been tough keeping up with the rough.

It may be something of an understatement to say the golf course is saturated--if you picture a sponge that can hold no more water, that's right where we are at the moment.  Given the warm temperatures and high humidity throughout the month, the grass keeps growing aggressively, and we have had difficulty finding a window when it's dry enough to mow the turf without causing damage.

Mechanical damage on a slippery slope.

There is an old saying among grass-growers:  The best defense against weed encroachment is a dense stand of turf.  Unfortunately, keeping thick, healthy grass this year has been impossible in many areas.  Both golf carts and maintenance equipment have led to turf thinning, particularly around high traffic pinch points.  Additionally, the region has been clobbered by Gray Leaf Spot, a disease which can quickly damage the Ryegrass in our rough.

Excessive rain and heat led to the breakdown of pre-emergent herbicides earlier in the year, and most courses in the area have dealt with large quantities of Crabgrass and Goosegrass.   Combining the abundance of these plants in the summer of 2018, with the thin turf areas we see now, it seems likely that these opportunistic weeds will be even more troublesome in 2019.

We often say that weather trends tend to even out over the long run.  However, it's now clear that the long run may need to be looked at as a decade or longer, and not a single year.  When we close the books on 2018, by itself, it will certainly not be average in many ways.