During the final week of 2021, conditions on the golf course became quite soft. On the one hand this makes sense, as the ground certainly wasn't frozen, and the overall weather conditions have been somewhat damp and dreary lately. However, given the current puddles we see on cart paths, it may come as a surprise to find out that for the two month period of November and December, we were 70% below average in precipitation.
That is a very significant deficit of close to 5", and even a pond like #7 was showing it. So how do we make sense of this simultaneous wet and dry situation?
Well, first of all, with seven days of measurable rainfall in November, it might not have felt as if it was all that dry, but the grand total of all of those rain events was less than one inch for the entire month, leading to an an unusual zero No Cart days for November.
Similarly, December had nine days of rainfall, however the largest one day total was only 0.30" on December 30, again leaving us well behind for the monthly total.
In other words, we have been getting the "Seattle" version of moisture, which is light and frequent. The overall water table of the course may be lowering, but with extremely little evaporation this time of year, the surface remains quite wet after these showers. Had the rain events of November and December been less frequent, but had more volume--say, 1" or more each--then a good amount of that water would have helped to recharge the course's ponds. Of course during this time of year, both overall evaporation and the turf's water needs are minimal, therefore a little moisture can go a long way.
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