January Recap!

Hello and welcome to The Greenkeeper! Today is Wednesday, February 1, 2023. With the first month of the year now behind us, thought I would take a moment to recap and look ahead. Since my last post we have received 2.70 inches (68.5mm) additional rain, and the longest consecutive stretch of dry days has been three.

Our total for January 2023 reached 5.73 inches (145.5mm) and was the 26th wettest of all-time. All I can say is thank goodness we didn't have a repeat of 1936!

Courtesy of Brad Panovich, WCNC

I've been looking back over our weather records and interestingly from 2006-2016 Carolina Golf Club averaged only 2.90 inches (73.6mm) rain in the month of January. But since 2017 that average has jumped by more than two inches to 4.93 (125.2mm). Also, four of the past seven years (2017,2019,2020, and 2023) saw greater than five inches fall on the golf course. 

Rainfall at CGC

I know, it's wet and we're all tired of it. I get asked frequently why I always share weather related info in the blog updates. Like I said at the Annual Meeting, Carolina Golf Club is not a simulator. We play golf outdoors year round, in all the elements. I know there are some of you that believe the weather is a convenient excuse, but I am merely sharing facts that explain why some things are the way they are at any given moment. Believe me, my team and I are more frustrated than you we can't do more on the course right now.

But enough about that, we did manage to wrap up the patching of all stump holes and made repairs to damaged turf along the cart path edges. For this we installed new TifTuf bermudagrass https://tiftufbermudagrass.com/. Born out of a quarter century of breeding at the University of Georgia, TifTuf is recognized as the most drought tolerant bermudagrass variety and by establishing it in multiple areas of the rough this gives us an opportunity to evaluate its performance in our environment over the coming year. 

TifTuf

We have always evaluated new bermudagrass varieties when the opportunity permits. In addition to our original Tifway 419 we also have Celebration bermudagrass and Latitude 36 bermudagrass growing on select parts of the golf course. Celebration was chosen for its greater shade tolerance and Lat 36 was selected for its greater cold tolerance. We test these new varieties should the need to reestablish ever arise allowing us to make an informed selection. 

I also referenced potholes during my last post, and we have procured the material necessary for patching. But unfortunately we cannot effectively patch holes filled with water. Until Mother Nature plays nice we are on standby waiting for our opportunity.

In the meantime I have been enjoying the new book The Golf Architecture of Donald Ross written by Donald Ross Society President, Bradford A. Becken, Jr. The book is full of photographs, drawings and field notes sewn together by Mr. Becken's recall of having played every golf course Donald Ross has designed still in existence.

One thing I really enjoyed was Appendix A, titled An Ideal Routing. This is actually an excerpt from a previous publication, Golf's Grand Design: The evolution of golf architecture in America co-authored by Ron Whitten and the late golf course architect Bob Cupp. It is a back-and-forth conversation on the routing of Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida. And I was struck by their reverent description of the par 4 sixth hole and could not help but recognize its similarity to our par 4 seventeenth. 

No. 6

No. 17

Okay, there are vast differences in appearances considering the open sandy waste areas at Seminole compared to the maintained rough at CGC, but the strategy of these holes is the same. One needs to challenge the left side fairway bunker(s) in order to provide the proper angle to play up the diagonal green guarded by a long diagonal bunker. Other similarities not depicted by the 2D overhead image is both holes play uphill from their respective teeing grounds and the landing areas both slope to the player's right leaving a shot slightly below your feet. Although that lie helps promote a fade for the right-handed player, hitting a fade from the middle or right side of the fairway can make safely carrying the long, diagonal bunker and reaching the putting surface extremely difficult. 

So there you have it, a little weather and golf course architecture to start your February. Tomorrow is Groundhog Day and rain is in the forecast. Of course it is!

See you on the course,

Matthew Wharton, CGCS, MG