Monday, July 9, 2012

Course Update

The golf course did pretty well in the heat and humidity of last week. The weather is still warm and dry but the humidity has broken and the night time lows are under 70 degrees which is a huge relief to yours truly. We have been in a dry spell here since June 23 when we had a half inch of rain. The majority of the thunderstorms last week missed the club which is good news as too much water during hot periods can cause rapid decline of the turf.

All of the playing surfaces were treated with wetting agents today to help the irrigation water penetrate into the dry soil. The greens also received a group of fertilizers that help to break up the sodium and bicarbonates that are building up in the soil from our irrigation water. The sodium blocks the turf from taking up water so we must break the soils bond with the sodium and flush it away. Rain does this naturally because it is acidic but in times of dry weather we must use calcium and potassium to break that bond. Our irrigation comes from two wells on the property and our water test show that both the bicarbonate and sodium levels are much higher then desired.

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