No, it's not that kind of four letter word, but one that is just as cringe-worthy in the golf maintenance world: Leak
If you've been on #4 green lately, the racing stripes from a hydraulic leak are hard to miss. While it's virtually impossible to completely prevent these from occurring, this one was more frustrating than most.
The triplex mower which leaked the oil, had been serviced over the winter, including the replacement of the key hydraulic hoses--all done in an effort to prevent such a problem. Unfortunately, in this case, a small o-ring split, causing the leak.
The other factor which led to more turf damage here, was the fact that this accident happened prior to the spring irrigation system start-up. While we are prepared to quickly address any oil spill, one of the keys to diluting the oil is water. With no immediate source of water out on #4, there was a significant delay in getting the cleanup underway.
While it's tough to just look at these lines each day, they are primarily an aesthetic issue. We will be aerifying the greens in a few weeks, which will be a great opportunity to address the problem and push recovery. Any other measures we took prior to that would definitely cause some surface disruption, so this is a time for patience.
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