It is no news flash to anyone that the weather has been wet. We keep informal weather records (highs, lows, precipitation amounts, etc) for reference. Same can be said for the water output of the irrigation pump station. Over the last 6 weeks of 2010 we have used 3.5 million gallons of water. Although that may sound like a lot of water but one needs to know that (best case scenario) the irrigation system at KGC can distribute about 450, 000 gallons/night when we are watering everything. So really 3.5 million gallons is only just under 7 complete irrigation cycles (i.e. 7 nights of watering everything). In the past we have usage as been: 2005-8.3 million gallons, 2006-10.8 million, 2007-12.9 million, 2008-7 million, and 13 million gallons last year.
The amount of rain fall (approximately) recorded at KGC this year is 52mm for May and 32 mm for June (not including this weekend). The weird and sort of disappointing part is, according to statistics for the past 30 years, the average rainfall for May is 42 mm and for June is 51mm. It sure feels like an above average year for rain to me! To be fair, Environment Canada has a little disclaimer regarding the accuracy of the weather records for Kimberly since during weekends and holidays no weather data is recorded. One tool I've been looking into for the past couple years has been a weather station for KGC that would log environmental conditions. There is numerous models ranging from the low $100's up to $15,000. Expensive weather stations pay for themselves over time since they can be integrated into the irrigation system and save on water and power usage. At this point in time we are lucky in that water costs are still relatively cheap at KGC so any weather station we would buy would be on the very low end of the price range.
Golf course wise the weather seems to have come during the week days which really cramps our style since most staff and work hours occur Monday to Friday and we depend on good weather conditions to get things done. Most of the cart path sodding is completed. Any remaining areas next to cart paths will be finished using aeration cores such as described in the May 19th posting. We have begun to replace the damage turf on the collars and aprons on some of the front nine greens and will continue for the rest of the following week. If possible we will begin to aerate parts of those fairways that were damage this past winter and try to get some more recovery in the weak areas. We are falling behind with respect to flower beds, string trimming, fertilizing, green aeration, and bunker maintenance. I am hoping to get caught up by bringing on more staff (school is out soon) to help with projects and routine maintenance.
