Drought

Notice the ring of brown grass around the tree.
From the base of the tree out past the drip line,
the tree roots are out-competing the grass roots
for water.

September was a very dry month. One of the driest over the last two years. It has been a while since we have discussed what happens when it is very dry.

At this time last year, we were discussing how wet it was. 2018 was a record year for rainfall throughout the area. Water was seeping out of the ground across the property. Our mowing schedules were all out of whack and we had several storms damage bunkers and the soccer complex.

While the ground water was certainly replenished by all that rain, the surface can dry out again. This is where we find ourselves right now. We would love to be able to store up rain from a wet time and use it in a dry time, but it doesn’t work this way. September was a time we could have used some extra rain. We finished 3” under our normal rain totals for the month.

One of the first things you can notice as the soil dries out, is the brown grass underneath trees. Tree roots compete with grass roots for the same water. Tree roots are larger, more extensive and more capable of extracting the water, so they win the battle. The result is drought stressed grass.

An example of how dry the soil is. The brown
lines veering off to the left is where the
old cart path used to be. It is visible
now because of how dry it is.

We also must heavily rely on our irrigation system when conditions are this dry. Our system is very capable, but any system would show inefficiencies when used this much. Having to irrigate as frequently as we have recently, overly wet and dry areas start to appear. Certain areas that have irrigation coverage from more than one sprinkler start to get soggy. We adjust how long certain sprinklers will be on, coordinate to only run one or another at any given time, and rotate through our irrigation programs, but problems still arise. Similarly, areas that receive poor coverage from sprinklers can also continue to be dry. To combat this, we will run the sprinklers that best impact the dry area for extra time, or multiple times in a day. But no irrigation system has coverage and consistency like rain.

We were extremely wet last year and now the pendulum has swung back in the other direction. We look forward to some upcoming showers and hope that we get out of the drastic weather shifts.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Now that it is legal to leave the flag in for put

ting, please be extra conscious to not damage the lip of

the cup when retrieving your ball.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org