The last 6 days have been extremely wet. Following are the rain totals to date:
- Rain season total through January 31st – 25.88 inches
- February 1st – 1 inch
- February 2nd – 2.7 inches
- February 3rd – .78 of an inch
- February 4th – 1.75 inches
- February 5th – 2.2 inches
- February 6th – 1.04 inches
- Total through February 6th – 35.35 inches
As you can see, we have received 9.47 inches of rainfall during the first six days of February. For obvious reasons golf carts will be cart path only for ALL golfers. In the picture below you can see someone did not adhere to the cart restrictions after 8.43 inches of rain in five days.
This will be the third rain season in a row that we have received above average rainfall. What does that mean for the aquifers that supply our irrigation water in the summer months? My discussions with the local water agencies indicate that the shallow aquifers recovered after the prior two rain seasons. However, the deeper aquifers have not. Hopefully this season improves that situation.
We have finished up the new forward tee at #3. The only task remaining is to seed the native area. This area was affected by the construction, as you can see in the picture below. Once the weather cooperates, we will start building a new forward tee at #15 next.
It looks like we have some dry weather until Tuesday evening. We do expect some frosty mornings. Please check with the golf shop if you have an early tee time over the next several days.
Yours in turf,
Stacy L. Wallace, Class A Golf Course Superintendent
Sonoma Agronomy 