Some Relief

Thankfully the temperatures have fallen and we have received some much needed rain in the amount .75 of an inch. The course absorbed all the rain with no problem except a few bunker washouts which the crew fixed this morning. The turf will rebound with these cooler nights and adequate moisture but the heat returns at the end of the week so we will continue our heat stress management program of rotating mowing and rolling on the greens and reducing fairway mowing to twice a week. I have also applied some liquid fertilizer to the greens, approaches, tees, and fairways to help grow out the damaged areas. I have also backed off on my growth regulator programs to aid in the growing out of the dead Poa. This will make the course look shaggy and the greens slower but I want to grow as much of the brown turf out before the next round of heat begins. The fairway sprinkler replacements that I did on the 9th fairway did very well during the dry weather when you compare 9 fairway to 5 and 6. While I did not budget to replace the irrigation heads this year on 5 and 6 I have ordered 6 new heads for the really bad trouble spots on those fairways. The replacement of these heads will help in the recovery of these areas as well as prevent more damage the rest of the summer. I thank you for you patience while I struggle through this time of year.