Another Typical Spring

Of all the four seasons, Spring is always the most frustrating for us in the golf world.  All we really want are some warm sunny days to dry the course out, get some grass growing, and get everyone out enjoying the golf course.  As usual, Spring likes to give us a few teaser days of how nice it could be, but goes right back into being an extension of winter.

While we are still ahead of where we were last year at this time, the excessive rainfall the last week has been a struggle.  We have been able to get most of the seeding work done around the course, so hopefully by the time the warm weather comes our seed will be nice and moist and ready to pop!

All of the new tees have been seeded and covered, and are ready to
start growing as soon as the sun decides to come back.

The middle of 14 fairway where we installed new pipes between the two
ponds last fall has also been regraded and seeded.  Considering how high
traffic this area is, we may end up sodding some of it as soon as it dries up.

Thanks to all the work on the irrigation pond last fall, we have more water than ever stored in our reservoir now.  More importantly, the leaking overflow that was causing us to lose 60,000 gallons a day out of the pond last summer has been fixed (mostly).  It is amazing how water can find its way around a 5000 lb concrete slab, but the old overflow pipe is just barely leaking a trickle now, maybe only 2000 gallons a day.  I cannot state enough how difficult it has been for us to keep that pond full during the summer months, having this project completed will save us a countless amount of wasted time and money fixing and running pumps.

Pond leakage last summer

Pond leakage this spring (hard to see, but just a trickle.)

Another project we completed last fall that is paying huge dividends was our drainage work.  With the 1.5" of soaking rain we had yesterday, one of our worst puddle areas on the course was water free without having to run a pump or squeegee.  This area is directly in front of the left greenside bunker on 6 where last fall we put drainage in that bunker, created a catch basin in the rough, and then trenched a pipe across the fairway to the wooden drainage sump in the right rough.  This area has historically been a massive pond that has required hours of pumping and squeegeeing after a large rain.  Not anymore.

Not a man hour spent or pump run, and hardly a drop of standing water.
We need more drainage!

Unfortunately, it looks like all the rain is going to send the river back over flood stage.  At this point, the prediction is for 32' by this weekend.  Cole Creek was running more water today that I have ever seen it move in the 4 years I have been here.  The flooding shouldn't really cause any problems other than closing the bridge on 17 for a few days.  Hopefully the soil and water temperatures are still cold enough that no turf in 9, 15, or 18 rough will be lost.

Cole Creek was running so hard today there were actually small rapids in it.

Hopefully May will bring us the sunshine and warm temperatures we are all hoping for to finally get this golf season going!

We've had one nice morning for golf so far this season, hopefully more
are on the near horizon.