Week of July 11th - Dry Weather Continues

7th hole - hanging in despite drought

Over the past week, I have received a lot of questions on why we are watering so much during the day. Generally we go through greens, tees, and fairways in the morning ahead of play and don't touch these surfaces again. My team and I utilize moisture meters to take readings and we have numbers where we want greens, tees, and fairways to be for the day. We are still following this process with greens.

Currently the agronomy team and I need to manage the water that we have and best utilize our irrigation supply. We can not put out enough water on fairways and tees at night to replenish what is lost during the day. Due to this the plant will start wilting in the early afternoon requiring us to lightly water for the wilt doesn't go too far and harm the plant. Basically our afternoon watering is allowing the plant to survive to the next day and then start the process all over. Not only is this draining on the plant, but also on all staff members involved in the watering process. This is also the best process to conserve irrigation water.

Also especially on tees and fairway drain trenches we develop localized dry spots in the soil. Even with use of wetting agents when conditions are this dry the localized spots will form. The only way to combat them is to pull hose and hand water.

Also in an effort to conserve water all rough in non crucial areas has been turned off. We have reached the point where we need to sacrifice some aesthetics.

Drought map showing the deficit Ipswich is in

We did receive .3 inches of rain this week. Turf responded well to it and the rain gave us a day break from watering.

The wildlife was a little shy this week, but we did capture a picture of a tree frog sitting on the collar on 10. Tree frogs has the ability to change colors and this guy had turned a greenish color.

Humidity looks to build next week and with it the chance of thunderstorms. Disease pressure will increase, but we really need some rain! Usually the agronomy team is not wishing for afternoon thunderstorms, but next week we will be hoping for them.