2015 Drought

Although summer just officially arrived last week, I think it's safe to say it's been here for weeks now and it plans on staying for quite some time.  

The drought of 2015 continues on from the spring and there are no signs of that changing anytime soon.  The last measurable rain the course received was a nice shot of 6.3mm of rainfall on June 1st.  Prior to that, it hadn't received any significant rainfall all the way back to before our spring aeration at the end of April.  In fact, May of 2015 was the driest May on record, which dates all the way back to 1937 when rainfall totals began being recorded.

So what does all of this amount to for the course?  Being that we aren't even into July yet, it has forced us to focus our efforts more than ever on "down the middle" conditioning when it comes to irrigating turf.  We do have an irrigation budget to adhere to and these record dry conditions have really minimized the water that we are applying to our rough and surrounds.  Greens, approaches, tees and fairways are receiving sufficient, not excessive, water and we are hand-watering more than ever in an effort to conserve as much water as possible.  Expect to see more brown turf than you are used to this summer, especially on our drainage lines, and trust that it will "bounce back" as we move into the cooler temperatures and seasonal rains of fall.

Many of our trees are suffering badly through this drought.  An obvious sign of stress for them is that they are already dropping their leaves in an effort to conserve energy.  This is quite common during our dry summer months, but we don't typically observe them do this until sometime in mid-August or even later.  We anticipate that some of our very weak birch trees will succumb to the drought and heat stress.

While irrigation does provide some moisture and much needed relief for the turf to withstand the summer stress of heat and traffic, I would once again like to point out that irrigation is not nearly as effective or beneficial as rainfall.  Irrigation systems are designed to provide supplemental moisture during the summer months for turf to survive.  The benefits of rainfall far exceed what we can deliver via irrigation.  How so?  Please refer to one of my previous blog posts from 2013 that explains why: Why Rain Makes The Course Look So Good

One last statistical figure I'd like to leave you with is that from May 1st to June 26th of this year, we have received only 13.97mm of rainfall (just over 1/2").  Throughout the same time period in 2014, we received 91.43mm of rain (3.66").  Yes, we are in a drought, but on a positive note, the playability of the course is fantastic!

ENJOY THE EXTRA ROLL WHILE IT LASTS!