It's Been A While!
Idle Hour Golf Course Maintenance
Oh my goodness, my apologies for not posting something sooner. If I’m being honest, it certainly doesn’t feel like it’s been six weeks since we last gathered here, but here we are. Hopefully you have kept up with the weekly posts in the club’s bulletin emails.
Where to begin? Needless to say we were smack in the middle of a busy June, full of big events (The Classic, Men’s Championships, Lady’s Member Guest) plus Mother Nature kept the heat away for as long as possible while continuing to supply abundant rainfall.
June wrapped up with 4.02 inches rainfall over sixteen measurable events, that’s more than half the days of the month. When it did rain it was always consecutively as we had three stretches of four, seven, and five days respectively. Our rain total for 2025 currently sits at 34.76 inches! For perspective we only received 38.81 inches in all of 2023 just two short years ago.
We received several compliments about the condition of the putting greens during our two-week period of The Classic followed by the Men’s Championships. Thank you, we worked hard preparing for those events and focusing our efforts to peak just at that time. The plan all along was to make the most of that stretch then take our foot off the accelerator afterwards and ease our way into the heat and humidity of July and August.
And the timing was perfect, as the first heat wave of the season arrived as we crowned our men’s champions. The next six days consisted of temperatures between 92 and 94 degrees matched with dew point temperatures above 70 degrees. For those unfamiliar, it’s the dew point temperatures that are really key and anything north of 70 degrees is extremely humid and uncomfortable.
The Monday immediately following the championships we performed a mini aerification with micro tines to alleviate stress and help our surfaces “breathe” as the warm, humid air made its way into central Kentucky. With Men’s League currently enjoying a “halftime” we have now relaxed our mowing height along with our mowing and rolling schedule to ensure we keep things smooth and healthy during what is historically the most challenging weather of the season. We have also altered the mowing schedule of our fairways to reduce traffic stress.
The goal is to survive the summer, which means we need to have the stamina to finish strong down the stretch next month. Plant health is our focus as hot, humid, and wet weather elevates disease pressure. We have been diligently applying plant protectants to playing surfaces while keeping our eyes out for any unwanted weed pressure.
It’s that time of year where the days are long and hot, and we’re working hard to hold onto and maintain what we’ve established at this point in the year. We still have a ways to go, but at this stage it is one down, and two to go.
Thanks for reading, and happy golfing!
