The finish line is in sight...

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past three months, you have heard about the drought we've been experiencing.  A quick look back at rainfall totals shows how little precipitation we received:  

• September--80% below average
• October--100% below average
• November--44% below average (as of 11/24)

Cumulatively, from September 1-October 31, we were 6.86" below average.

While we were able to survive this time by relying on the irrigation system, that just doesn't provide the uniformity that rainfall brings.  The other impact of this weather pattern has been the need to devote resources to hand watering.  Over 120 hours per week have gone into this task throughout the fall--a time when we would have preferred to be addressing other needed projects on the golf course.

It's been a minute since we had to empty the rain gauge.

Obviously the rain this past week was welcomed.  Historically, the end of November is when we prepare to winterize the irrigation system, and the possibility of needing to run sprinklers in December  would have been no fun.

While the recent rain will help to perk up the turf, we are at the time of year when growth slows down significantly.  It's unlikely that areas which were stressed and thinned throughout the year will now recover until next spring.

Wrapping up tee work...

This year's tee work was completed last week.  One of the much needed improvements was the rebuilding of the Honors tee on #16.  While we still wouldn't call it a huge tee, it has doubled in area, and is no longer the size of a postage stamp.

The Palmer/Champion tee on #14 also got releveled.  

While we would always prefer seeding to sodding surfaces, given the timing of this project, we opted for some store bought grass.

Superintendent's Revenge?

Given the hole locations for this past Saturday's tournament, many players may have been uttering expletives directed at the Grounds team.  However, we can't take credit for these.  

No, the diabolical pin placements were not selected by the grass-growers, but chosen by the Pro Shop staff.  So the next time you see Bob and Brett, be sure to let them know how much you truly enjoyed their sense of humor!

Of course we did add a few obstacles and distractions ourselves:

When changing cups, it can often be challenging to find a small paint dot on a green, indicating the hole location.  However, in this case it was pretty easy--we just walked to the area of each green where we would never ever consider putting a pin, and that's where the dot was... 

Back in the dirt...

Several tees are being improved this fall, starting with #2.  The Champion/Palmer, and Medal tees are being combined into one large tee.  This will eliminate the loss of usable teeing ground that we previously had at the front of the rear tee and back of the forward tee, along with picking up the area that was rough in between the two old tees.

As you stand on the new tee, it appears to be significantly longer than the old tees.  However, the back of the tee and front of the tee are unchanged from the old tees.  The fact that the new tee appears to be so large just shows how much unusable area there was in the past.

This additional teeing space will allow for greater flexibility in daily setup, as well as tee marker rotation for turf recovery.