Here We Go...The First Dangerous Heat Wave of 2026

We have made it to July in great shape and are about to find out how durable we are.  By "we" I mean the hand watering team (Joel, Will, Connor, Luke, Cody, Me) as well as the course.  The forecast is miserable for people and bentgrass.  Unfortunately the bentgrass can not seek shelter in the air conditioning like we can.  Temperatures above 100 for the next few days is a helpless feeling.  Night time lows that don't get below 80 is even worse than the high temps.  Bentgrass will struggle and suffer for the next few days, but I believe we have done all we can to position ourselves to survive.  We've raised mowing heights on greens mowers slightly and have monitored moisture levels to the nth degree with our new meters.  We've also made preventive applications for diseases that thrive in the conditions we are facing.  There is a threat of an afternoon storm on both Saturday and Sunday.  With the extreme temperatures, rain would be bad for bentgrass.  We need complete control if the moisture levels through this heatwave and rains take that away from us.  We can easily (it's actually hard work) add water when and where needed with hoses, but we don't have the infrastructure to remove moisture if it rains.  If we lose grass over the next few days it will most likely be due to excess moisture in the presence of extreme heat.  Stay safe and thanks for your support and patience with our staff as we try to keep greens alive during play in the heat.    

Our new USGA moisture meters have been super at tracking things.  
I wish soil temps were about 25-30 degrees lower.

The USGA Deacon app gives us a great overview of our data.

The team got all 18 holes of bunker slopes mowed last Monday.
It was a rare outing free day and we made huge strides in 
course conditioning that day.

Most of the team last Thursday morning

Luke stayed late Thursday evening to finish mowing fairways

Lucy made the rounds on Friday

This leak actually appeared on Monday of last week.  Thankfully
we were able to isolate it throughout the weekend so we didn't have a 
big hole in the ground.  That would not have been ideal for Member Guest.

Irrigation issues are flaring up again.  Will has fixed several 
leaks in the past two weeks.  They always seem to appear
in the worst place at the worst time.  18 green before Member Guest 
in this example

We added some sand to the fairway bunkers on 6

Connor Briganti has done an amazing job learning the
ropes in the shop.  He's grinding reels in this picture. His 
role is perhaps the most critical role at our club.