Mission Impossible
The golf course is open and i suggest if you come out to walk to bring a extra pair of dry socks. Id also suggest extra balls because the grass is green, lush and very thick. We have received 9 inches of rain since April 1st. The historical average for the month of April is 2.25 inches of rain.
Why is it still so wet and why are carts not available? As noted in a earlier blog post the frost dissipated from the soils around April 10th. Once the frost leaves the soil needs to firm up to withstand our heavy equipment. The soil has never completely dried out due to the persistent rain.
Our property is in flood plain and has "heavy" soils that have low permeability rates. Low permeability rates equates to very slow drainage. Other factors that are working against us is soil temperatures are still on the cool side. Cold soils do not drain well. Lastly there is no subsurface drainage on the course. Mother nature has to do all the heavy lifting and she is not cooperating.
What we need is a high pressure weather pattern to blow out this unsettled weather pattern. So once you see four or five days of continuous sun and wind is when carts will be allowed.
The LCC green team is maintaining what we can. We are routinely mowing the greens and tees at normal levels and they are in fine shape. We are mowing some fairways at .5 inch, others at 1 inch and some other areas will be mowed at two inches.
I attempted to mow part of the first fairway yesterday with our smallest and lightest tractor.
Parts of 1,2,4,7,8th and 9th fairways hasn't been mowed since last October. Our lightest tractor was making tire impressions and we are rolling it today to try and smooth it out and firm it up. This is a time consuming and painstakingly slow process with our brutus roller.
I have resurrected another relic in our tool shed. The gang units.
These were used to mow the entire course up until the late 1980s. We will employ the gang units to mow down the fairways on 1,4,7, and the 8th. This will also help firm up the soils as the units weigh 250lbs apiece. Regretfully the lower part of the 8th fairway will not be mowed until next week or beyond. Below is a picture of part of the 7th fairway. I will not be able to mow this until it dries out and firms up.
We have been unable to mow the rough on the 8th hole. Yesterday I attempted to mow some rough on the 8th with our lightest rough mower and immediately sunk into the ground. I have a landscaper coming today with a commercial walk behind mower to start knocking down the rough on 8 and other parts of the course that haven't been touched since last fall.
We are in a difficult situation but every other golf course in the area is in the same situation. We will recover and move forward.
Why is it still so wet and why are carts not available? As noted in a earlier blog post the frost dissipated from the soils around April 10th. Once the frost leaves the soil needs to firm up to withstand our heavy equipment. The soil has never completely dried out due to the persistent rain.
Our property is in flood plain and has "heavy" soils that have low permeability rates. Low permeability rates equates to very slow drainage. Other factors that are working against us is soil temperatures are still on the cool side. Cold soils do not drain well. Lastly there is no subsurface drainage on the course. Mother nature has to do all the heavy lifting and she is not cooperating.
What we need is a high pressure weather pattern to blow out this unsettled weather pattern. So once you see four or five days of continuous sun and wind is when carts will be allowed.
The LCC green team is maintaining what we can. We are routinely mowing the greens and tees at normal levels and they are in fine shape. We are mowing some fairways at .5 inch, others at 1 inch and some other areas will be mowed at two inches.
I attempted to mow part of the first fairway yesterday with our smallest and lightest tractor.
Parts of 1,2,4,7,8th and 9th fairways hasn't been mowed since last October. Our lightest tractor was making tire impressions and we are rolling it today to try and smooth it out and firm it up. This is a time consuming and painstakingly slow process with our brutus roller.
I have resurrected another relic in our tool shed. The gang units.
These were used to mow the entire course up until the late 1980s. We will employ the gang units to mow down the fairways on 1,4,7, and the 8th. This will also help firm up the soils as the units weigh 250lbs apiece. Regretfully the lower part of the 8th fairway will not be mowed until next week or beyond. Below is a picture of part of the 7th fairway. I will not be able to mow this until it dries out and firms up.
We have been unable to mow the rough on the 8th hole. Yesterday I attempted to mow some rough on the 8th with our lightest rough mower and immediately sunk into the ground. I have a landscaper coming today with a commercial walk behind mower to start knocking down the rough on 8 and other parts of the course that haven't been touched since last fall.
We are in a difficult situation but every other golf course in the area is in the same situation. We will recover and move forward.
"Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit."
-- Conrad Hilton
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