Last week's rainfall was another substantial one. We are trying to stay positive and you will notice as you make your way around the course that we have dug some surface drainage swales in areas around the front nine. We saw dramatic improvement in water runoff as we did this last week and are in the process of repairing these areas and blending them back in. Again, the warmer weather will help the sod knit together and a ball in these areas can be played as GUR. We are working to mark these areas as we develop and repair them.
The drainage work going on behind 13 green and between 14 green and 15 tee is still a work in progress. The rains have really hampered our efforts in these two areas as they are just too wet to realistically get equipment into and on. Hopefully we will get some better weather and continue the work on those two areas soon.
On a final note: You will notice that the back 1/3 of #6 green is rather unsightly to say the least. We have aerified that turf and topdressed to get air into the root system. We are also in the process of getting some core samples into a rapid diagnostic lab in case it is a disease. It is very possible that with the winter shade and frigid conditions that the turf was weakened. Winter shade is a very serious problem on southern turfs and we are working to identify areas that trees can be thinned or marked for removal with new trees planted in less problematic areas throughout the golf course. Below are two very telling photos of the putting green and #14 green.
