Idylwylde Turf Management Department: How far we've come.

You never want to wish the days away because you never get them back, but after that May I'm glad it's June! Normal rainfall amounts for the month of May are 78mm and we received 108mm. Spring is typically a wet time of year without above normal amounts of precipitation adding to it. This now confirms to me that since I arrived here in 2009 I have never seen the golf course so wet. I would say that the weather, project wise has us about two weeks behind where I thought we would be by this time. The person who figures out how to control the weather will be the most powerful person in the world!

With all the rain and the last week of humidity it was a perfect storm for growing grass. Wow is it ever juicy out there. The mowers are running as much as possible and we still can't keep up. Looks like the cooler temperatures forecast will help us out a bit and slow things down. Not only is the rough growing rapidly, but the greens are as well. All these conditions are making it difficult to get the green speed up. Firmness is one of the key factors when it comes to ball roll and it's been next to impossible to achieve. Not to mention the annual bluegrass on the greens is seeding and that also affects speed by producing an uneven surface. You may have noticed this on many of the greens, the off coloured blotches (pale green) is the seed head of our predominant grass species on the greens. This usually last a couple of weeks. We will be trying to roll the greens daily (and cut of course) to help smooth things out and increase the speed of the greens.

I'm hoping at this point considering the start, everyone is as pleased as I am with regards to the condition of the golf course (forget how wet it is), in particular the greens. When I pulled the tarps off this season I wasn't sure if we were going to ever be able to recover. But, with the use of some tricks, hard work and patience we have been able to provide fairly respectable greens. Yes there is still a long way to go but we are heading in the right directions. Check out how far we've come!

Jay Sisko
Golf Course Superintendent

May 7, 2013