The woes of winter

Cart Path Only

These three words are more feared than "you're still away." Unfortunately, you've all been hearing "cart path only" for a few weeks straight. With another inch about to come down, we won't be driving on the course any time soon.

This year's rain total, now up to 6.13 inches since October 1st, has been excellent for the course, but not so great for playing conditions. Slow, soaking rains have saturated the soil and we need a stretch of dry weather to firm up. Hopefully, we get some dry days after the next storm.


Weeds

A very high maintenance priority for the next four months will be weed control throughout the course. We lost a very effective weed barrier when we removed 35 acres of turfgrass and replaced it all with mulch and decomposed granite. This year, we are training additional staff to spray weeds and we'll be experimenting with some pre-emergent herbicides. You'll see a lot of little weeds peeking through the mulch. We go hole-by-hole in a continuous loop to keep the landscape as clean as possible.

Frost Delays

To end on a positive note, we only had a single frost delay this year and I don't expect to have another as days lengthen and temperatures begin to climb. This has been good for the members, but it has been especially good for the bermuda. Normally, we spend March just waiting for the bermuda to green up, but this year, we didn't lose much color in the first place. The growing season is longer thanks to the mild conditions and we will take full advantage.

Everybody knows that California needs every drop of this moisture to make up for too many dry years. Let's appreciate our good fortune even when we are cleaning mud off our spikes.