A few of our golfers have commented on the "shagginess" of our golf course the past few days. Truthfully, they're right!
However, it's something that's almost completely out of the control of our greenskeeping crew. The kind of cool, wet weather we've had since the first of May is ideal for growing grass. In fact, greens, fairways and roughs will grow fast enough to change from ideal to overly-long in just a few hours under the kind of growing conditions we've been experiencing.
So...why don't we just mow more often to keep up?
That's the other side of the wet-cool coin. The soil is soft because it is holding a high amount of moisture right now. Running mowers over the greens multiple times a day will only lead to ruts and depressions on the green.
This next week looks to be much warmer (by 10-20 degrees), and much drier...with sunshine finally taking over for several days. That will help to sturdy up the soil for mowing...and the higher temps will slow the growth of the grass. The combination should speed up the greens.
It will probably take a couple of weeks to fully catch up on mowing the roughs and fairways back to ideal heights. In the meantime, try to enjoy the new challenge of slightly softer conditions.
We'll be working hard to catch up with the turf!
