The holiday season is upon us and the winter golf season in Florida is cranking up. As November winds down, everyone is able to breathe a sigh of relief because this also means that the 2006 Atlantic Hurricane Season is coming to an end and the state was not hit by a major storm. After the last two years of multiple hurricanes hitting Florida, everyone desperately needed a break!
Naturally, with not having to conduct storm recovery it has been much easier to prepare for the winter play season. During TAS visits over the past few weeks, it has been found that in general, good quality course conditioning is being provided. Interestingly, in some areas of the state, rainfall is running 10-20 inches below year-to-date averages. While this creates some course management challenges, I am sure that everyone will take this situation over the hurricanes.
On November 16th, the NOAA Climate Prediction Center issued its final forecast for the 2006-2007 U.S. winter season (December, January, February). For Florida and the Southeast, near-average temperatures are predicted. The outlook is for wetter-than-average precipitation conditions across the entire southern tier of the country.
At first glance this forecast does not sound that bad. However, we should not forget the problems experienced at many courses throughout the state during the El Nino winters of the mid-90's. Record setting cold temperatures did not occur, but the prolonged periods of cool and wet weather took its toll on course conditioning and quality. Even with only moderate traffic and wear, a pronounced decline in coverage and density occurred; and with this, rapid algae invasion quickly followed. Regardless of inputs, producing any degree of recovery was a very slow process and sometimes not completed until the late spring to early summer.
Based on previous experience, it is strongly urged that course managers error on the side of caution and maintain as much grass as possible going into the winter. For some, the greens are never fast enough; but remember slow greens are better than no greens. Also, cart traffic management and directional control devices are generally not popular, but are a necessary part of course management to minimize deterioration and help survive until the weather is favorable to sustained turf growth, hopefully by mid-February to early March in South Florida.
Source: John Foy, jfoy@usga.org
