The 2012 Drought

By now you've all noticed just how dry the course has been over the last few weeks. The word “drought” is no hyperbole. We are currently more than four inches short of the average rainfall for this time of year, while temperatures find a way into the nineties each week. This is the season we find Cress Creek in at the moment: July’s temperatures, July’s watering needs, July’s hours- in May and June. Add to this our early start and you have a recipe for one thing: Stress.

Believe it or not, the temperatures have been working with us as much as against us for the most part.  Though the daily highs brought summer-like heat, the nights were still making it down into the forties and fifties.  These night time lows are perfect for the cool-season turf on the course, and as such have saved us from even more wilt and burnout then we are already seeing.  Unfortunately, the daily lows are slowly creeping up the thermometer- as they are known to do in June. beginning Friday the forecast calls for a week straight of night temperatures in the mid to high sixties, and I have little hope that this trend won't continue or rise in the weeks to come.

As such I am writing to make you aware of the things you will be seeing (or seeing more of) from grounds staff. You have already undoubtedly noticed the increased presence of men with hoses on the greens, tees, and fairways. Expect to see even more of this. We will be running irrigation heads and hand watering all over the course, and while we will -as always- endeavor to stay out of the way of play, we ask for your understanding of our increased presence.

Another thing you will notice is an increased amount of dormant areas in the out of play rough. Any irrigation system is a proxy for true, natural precipitation. And as such it will never water as thoroughly and efficiently as rain can. A perfect example of this is our fairway irrigation, which is set up in three parallel rows running the length of each fairway.  While the middle row delivers water to only the fairways, a primary function of the outer rows is putting water into the rough. While all of these heads are called "fairway heads", the outer rows comprise the majority of our rough heads in this "double-duty" manner.

Pair this with the knowledge that blue grass requires more water than bentgrass and a revelation comes to light. The design of our irrigation is such that the outer row heads cannot be allowed to distribute the maximum amount of water that the blue grass can handle, for fear of drowning or making soggy our bentgrass fairways. And since our array of dedicated rough heads is limited, we are left with some areas in the rough that the irrigation system either won't fully irrigate or cannot irrigate period. Were the rough our only concern hand watering could address this easily, but hoses and the men that operate them must give priority to greens and tees first- a sentiment that I'm sure any member would echo.

The application of wetting agents, the suspension of potentially stressful maintenance procedures, alterations to our irrigation system practices; all of these and more are things already being done to help the course through this drought. While I am prepared to begin more drastic measures to ensure the health of our greens through the coming trials, I do not feel they are necessary at this juncture. Should that time come, and it very well may, I will keep you all informed.

See you on the course!
Elliott Dowling