Another 1.6" and rising with no place for it to go.  Rainfall total since July 17th is now over 24 inches.  The sun is supposed to shine tomorrow but don't expect the course to be dry yet.

Its becoming a bad habit checking the rain gauge in the morning before scheduling work assignments.

Fifteen collar soaked again.  New seedlings were emerging all over before the deluge but will they be there tomorrow?

Sixteen tee with standing water.  No wonder this tee is so weak. 

Eight tee soaked and needing a rebuild.

Opening a clogged drain on the ninth hole. 

A very chlorotic green in need of some sun. 

Here is some disease damage to the 12th tee rough surrounds.  Notice how the bent tee surface is unaffected.  The disease is called gray leafspot and it affects ryegrass and to a lesser degree tall fescue.  These damaged areas have been reseeded.

Earthworms seeking dry ground.

Richard and Josh plugging areas on the practice green.  This green will reopen Friday.

A closer look at Richard's plugging masterpiece.

Let's not forget about our unsung hero Rony.

 

Edging bunkers throughout the course.  No mowing except the greens tomorrow.  Too wet! 

Oscar sharpening greens mowers for a sharp cut on Wednesday.

Jose B giving a hand.

I wonder if Chef Francesco can make use of these?

Not everything is grim.  Here winterberry is thriving by the sixth green.  Planted in 2017 these plants will put on a real show in a few years.

Just a quick update Saturday morning.  The course is trying to recover but without sun it is difficult.  Humidity levels have been unusually high as well.  Using air circulation fans this late in the season is an indication of the moisture levels we are experiencing.

Greens were mowed for the first time after aerification on Thursday.  The height of cut has increased but will gradually be reduced this week.

Seeding rough where bermudagrass has encroached in tall fescue sod.

Turf that was lost around specific tees has been seeded.

Repaired damage from foxes on the third green.

Consequences from a very wet fairway.  This is a size 14 beaver pelt.

Notice the water when I put weight on my foot.

  A proud Mr. Julio doing some nice work at the 17th tee.

The finished product.  Plenty of edging will be installed to spruce up these areas this fall.  New mulch will be added as most of it washed away.

Another blog, another entry concerning too much rain and excessive humidity. Such is the norm for 2018. Maybe the next blog will feature weather positives.

Recovery begins.  Using bayonet tines the first fairway receives some needed oxygen.  Roots were too shallow to allow more aggressive aeration.

Minimal disturbance on fairways certainly makes players happy.

Greens aerification went terrific.   Here the entire crew clears cores and readies the green for sanding.

After sand is added it is gently brushed into the profile.  The crew then uses blowers to better disperse the sand as too much brushing damages the turf.

When complete the green should look like this.

  

Rain after aerification is usually a good thing but not this much.  

The crew did an awesome job building a new greens nursery.  Here Richard presses in the seed with his knobby tires.  When finished we can water.

Unfortunately Mother Nature had to help- and as has been the case for 2018 too much at one time.

Of course we had deer flies throughout this gross weather.  I understand why repellent was applied but why on our fairways???

During the week before Labor Day we had four really cool spectacular days which allowed us to spray some herbicides to help eradicate bermudagrass encroaching in some of our rough.

Two weeks later we have some really sick bermudagrass.  The fescue/blue will eventually fill this area in.

This is not sick bermudagrass.  This is damage from a disease called summer patch in the 14th green surround.  We apply fungicides for this but sometimes the weather is just too extreme.

While the course was too wet to work on we attacked an invasive weed in the wildflower bed on the third hole.  The light green plant is called horsetail and needed to be removed by hand.

Look close and you'll see some of our crew on a horsetail removal party.  Mission accomplished!

This year has not been much fun managing the course.  Weeds, insects, disease were all winners for the most part.  Fortunately there is better weather forecast and the course is on the mend. 

Up and down and around we go with the crazy weather.  This week has been very trying with the heat and humidity but conditions improve Friday and it looks a nice beginning for our club  championship.

What's more fitting than this as an example of our summer.  Three measly tenths of rain and nowhere for it to go.  This was after a two inch deluge the night before.

All we can say is bring on aerification.  I decided to try these bayonet tines on our fairways as they are SO compacted and these might do the trick.

We finally found a window to apply some herbicides in the rough to control yellow nutsedge.

Today we solid tined the greens to help them breathe.  This won't effect ball roll for our competitions this weekend.

Most of our fairways will bounce back quickly.  Here recovery is occurring in some dormant turf with those four dream days we just experienced.

Ten fairway looking good and in recovery mode but set right back with this awful weather.

We are relocating our greens nursery to below 15 tee. 

The crew has begun installing landscape edging around beds on the course.  This will improve their appearance and reduce labor.

Beautiful sunrise on August 25th with temperatures in the upper 50's!

Gill continues to be a friend to all.  What a treat it is having her!

2018 is a year most golf course managers would like to forget.  The course is holding its own but it has been tough.  This hot humid weather is not what the doctor ordered and the course is showing the stress.

This is cart traffic damage to the second fairway on Thursday. Turf roots have shrunk due to the enormous amount of rain we received.  This is why carts are restricted to the paths until the plant can fully recover.  This area will take several weeks to heal if growing conditions improve.

Heavy rain on August 2nd at the 15th green.

Thinning of the turf five days later.

If you think it is not difficult growing grass check this out. This is damage to the practice green from not enough water in the root zone!  The soil was like powder underneath and caught us off guard.

Our native soil lacks of quality topsoil and has a high clay content.  Adding to this is many of our fine turf areas are sitting on a large rocky base.  This makes growing quality turf almost impossible when we get into the summer grunge.

Preemergent herbicides have been pretty successful but not perfect.  Man is that goosegrass plant ugly.

Too much water has these new dogwoods in decline.

It's been a great environment if you're a mushroom.

How about the job our guys did getting the bunkers back in shape?  Here Tano, Francisco, and Eric compact the bunker faces on 15 fairway bunkers.  That is hard work.

There are some victories occurring.  Here new bent stolons fill in an area on the eighth green aided by our growth regulator use.

Even with the bad weather most of our fairways are performing well.  By the way I happen to believe the course looks its best in the morning.

Changes are happening and summer is gradually fading.  Here purple martins rest in preparation for a long trip south on August 2nd.

On August 4th they are gone not returning till next April and the start of a new spring.