Golf and Florida remain synonymous with each other, thanks to the year-round proposition of golf in the region. It is a unique challenge to offer consistent and quality conditions throughout the winter seasons. Most people often play during the warm season. So, questions like how the golfers can have dry and firm conditions during the entire winter in Florida, let’s find out whether it is possible or not.
Preparing the Turf for the Winter
Due to some commonly used turfgrasses failing to grow during winter, it keeps the golfers away from the courses. These grasses are not actively growing; hence, there is a need for disruptive and aggressive cultural management programs throughout the summer to prepare the turfs for winter. Doing this will help make the turf thrive during the winter. The trend to prepare the turf for the winters seemed to have increased in the past few years, particularly in the southern part of Florida. Most private clubs are now seen executing these programs only to make golf playing practical during the winter and summer and allow for a boost in their annual revenues. However, during the summer months, these programs are minimized or averted only to reduce the inconveniences and disruptions.
Providing Firm and Dry Course Conditions
Offering firm and dry course conditions have remained the primary topic of debate. Apart from being good in the golf game, ongoing things are required to reduce fertilizer, irrigation, and pesticide inputs. It also helps regulate the operating costs to a certain extent, which is again one of the key reasons to shift towards the above-mentioned course management ideas.
One of the vital considerations of this idea is to offer dry and firm playing conditions by regulating the thatch or organic matter accumulation, which occurs with the warm season turfgrasses in this sub-tropical region and the 8 to 10 months of the growing season.
It helps in reiterating the requirements of carrying out aggressive cultural management practices regarding core aeration, topdressing, and verticutting during the summer season. It further helps in physically reducing and regulating the natural matter collection.
The Challenges
Despite having the perfect and aggressive summertime cultural management programs for the courses, offering firm and dry conditions to the turf during the entire winter months is sometimes not possible. The surrounding environmental conditions are often seen during the winter play season. The northern golfer migration is witnessed in the state within the earlier days of October. All the clubs and golf courses mandatorily complete the summertime programs and their final course preparations for the upcoming winter by this time.
However, they still face afternoon thunderstorms, and don’t forget that the Atlantic hurricane season is yet to end by the 30th of November. Even when they do not meet any direct storm, the blend of heavy downpours and thunderstorms develops tropical waves coming up from the Caribbean. It creates saturated course conditions.
The next challenge the clubs encounter is the transition from the wet to the dry season during the latter days of November and December. This transition brings in very dry and firm kind of course conditions. This is when we see the evapotranspiration or E/T rates fall. Yet, you can find the relative humidity on the higher side. This brings in the surface and dew moisture without drying off instantly during the morning. Once you find the transition period of the wet season ends in January, it becomes plausible to offer firm and dry conditions in the remaining winter golf season in Florida.
Why Are Firm and Dry Course Conditions Good?
Maintaining dry and firm conditions helps both the environment and the game. However, the weather remains the critical regulating factor in the different agricultural efforts, including golf courses; consistently helping create the required golf course conditions is only sometimes feasible. As discussed above, this is undoubtedly the classic case of winter play season in the states, as weather patterns occur in the entire basic play season.
Conclusion
Maintaining firm and dry conditions through the winter season in Florida is often a complex task. You must meet certain conditions and put in much effort to see desired results. However, it demands expertise, tools, and a competent team. In other words, you need to rely on a professional team. With DTE Golf, outsourcing professional golf course maintenance services becomes easy. Feel free to contact DTE Golf® for more information and ask for a visit to your course.