This spring has been a test of everyone's patience thus far. Mine, my crew's, and of course the golfers. Golfers are having a hard time finding golfable days and are unhappy with carts being kept off the course.

On the maintenance end, we have been making very tough decisions on what we should be doing out on the course. I have had to make a choice between keeping the course looking good and clean, and mowing to keep the turf at a healthy and manageable but leaving mud tracks everywhere. In the end we mowed because the weather forecast called for more rain and if it got any more wet we may not have been able to mow until next week. As it turned out, we were incredibly lucky and avoided the heavy downpours other areas received and, with the strong winds, we have been able to dry out significantly and get some areas mowed twice this week.

Here is a link to a nice article from the USGA explaining the difficulties most golf courses in the Northeast are dealing with. You may have to copy and paste to your browser. It doesn't appear to be coming up as a direct link.

http://www.usga.org/course_care/regional_updates/regional_reports/midatlantic/Controlling-Stress-Variables-Now-Pays-Off-Later-In-The-Season---April-2011/