Power Outage

We lost power this afternoon and power company says it will be out for 24 hrs. Not good with this heat. Lake Course #6, 7, and 8 greens are taking quite a beating with this heat and lack of roots from the wet spring.

Because of this, we will skip the morning mowing and roll greens instead. This will help ease the stress level for a very long day tomorrow. Normal mowing practices will resume Saturday morning, assuming we have power back.

HOT, HOT, HOT

It has been a few years since we've had a summer this dry, and the next few days are going to be hot as well. Fortunately not as hot as the Midwest has seen recently (upwards of 110* in some areas), but hot by our standards.

I read on a turfgrass disease blog recently that cool season grass roots pretty much quit growing around 77*F at 4" deep in the soil. Our temp on #13 Lake Course green yesterday was 82*F at 4" deep at 4:00pm. It is going to be a tough stretch for the rest of the summer.

What does the heat this mean for golfers? Not much other than tolerating some daytime irrigation to keep the grass alive until we get some cooler weather. Also, please be patient with some of my boys who are out trying to repair irrigation leaks and wiring issues. They are instructed to be courteous and get out of the way when golfers approach, but please give them a heads up when you are approaching so they know you are there.

Drink lots of water!

Home Lawn Care

As we head into the heat of the summer, be careful of when and how you mow your lawn. Try to keep the height of cut around 3" and, if possible, mow after a rain rather than in the middle of the day during a hot, dry spell. If things are getting shaggy and you can't wait for a rain, then mowing later in the evening is your best choice as it is cooling down and has all night to recover before the next day's heat.

Happy 4th!

This has been one our better 4th of July weekends for weather in a long time. Hope everyone has had a chance to play.

Enjoy your day!