Respecting the wet spots

Below is a article written by Pace Turf explaining some reasons for wet spots.

Regards,

Eric Wenzinger

Golf Course Superintendent

Respecting the wet spots

Rain is prefect, irrigation systems are not: Get­ting the right amount of wa­ter to turf, exactly where and when it needs it, is difficult, particularly for courses that rely on irrigation. This is due to the unfortunate fact that irrigation systems — even the best ones available — deliver water unevenly. As a result, while most areas get the right amount of water, others may get too much or too little.

Adding insult to injury: This problem is compounded by the fact soil types and drainage systems vary around the golf course, and also from course to course. For example, san­dy soils absorb water rapidly, which permits them to stay dry even when overwatered. In other soils, puddles can easily form, even when little water is applied. Variation in soil type explains why some courses have very few problems with wet spots, while others suffer from them all the time.

Which do you prefer? All of this variation causes a dilem­ma for superintendents and an annoyance for golfers. In order to keep the course free of wet spots, dry areas will oc­cur some locations. The turf here will decline due to lack of water, as in the photo below. Eventually, club-eating, wrist-cracking, unsightly bare areas of soil will form.

The alternative is to adjust the irrigation system so that the dry areas receive enough water, even though this means that more than enough wa­ter will be delivered to other areas of the course, and wet spots will develop. Yet this is the only way to ensure that turf will be alive, and turf qual­ity can be more consistently maintained through the year. Given this choice, while you may never love the wet spots, you will hopefully understand that their presence means that turf health and quality are being taken care of as well as possible. !

Bottom line:

Golf courses can be wetter in some areas than golfers like. This is often due to un­even irrigation cover­age — a problem that irrigation designers have not yet been able to solve. As a result, some areas of turf receive just the right amount of wa­ter, but other areas receive too much.

Although wet patch­es are not desirable, the alternative -- of allowing dry areas to become even dri­er and to eventually die -- is even less ac­ceptable.

In the end, suffering with occasional wet spots is a small price to pay for obtaining turf that is as consis­tent and high quality as possible.

©2010 PACE Turf, 1267 Diamond Street, San Diego CA 92109 www.paceturf.org