Some of the damage from last years Derecho
I was at Merion on Tuesday, one of the benefits of going on a practice day is that you can take pictures and not have to deal with the bigger crowds that attend over the weekend. The course was spectacular as always and it is always fun to watch the course staff do their thing at the end of play. The amount of volunteer help that is needed to make sure all the details are taken care of at a tournament of this caliber is something to behold. Walking back to the shuttle I got this great picture of the crew tacking the second hole and the speed at which they can move through the course. The orange machine is a fairway roller which the Director of Grounds at Merion had built to get the fairways to where he wanted for the Open. I really hope the weather cooperates and it dries out over the weekend and there is another big finish at Merion -which hopefully will bring it back there in the future.
A couple of my countrymen during practice
The greens have been relatively slow since we topdressed last week. This is due to the wet weather pattern we are in. I was happy to see the first shot of rain as it washed the remaining sand in, however I have kept the rollers off the greens since as I don't want to push them too far in the wet as it may lead to issues down the road. It is always wise to sacrifice a little speed at times like this to make sure everything is healthy for when the heat and high stress of the summer comes. The long range forecast looks like the rain will stay away for a period after tonight so the greens will be back to their normal speed over the weekend and for the busy outing/tournament schedule over the next few weeks. Overall I can't complain about the weather too much as the spring has been pretty nice but I'm a superintendent so the weather will never make me happy!!
Other than dealing with the rain we have not had too many issues. The biggest that popped up over the last few days is our rough mowers. The newer machine broke down earlier in the week - luckily it is still under warranty but it had to go to the dealer for repairs (Thankfully the dealer picked it up almost immediately and are promising it back early next week). Normally that would not be too much of an issue, but our old back up machine also broke down shortly after the other one.... Scott and Jeff are working hard diagnosing the issue with it and are hoping it will be operational soon. These break downs couldn't happen at a worse time as the roughs are growing vigorously from the rain and we also have not been able to mow them as regular because of the moisture (to minimize the damage to the turf from compaction and machines sliding which are also a safety issue for the operators).
Scott making an initial evaluation on the older rough mower
Up on the lift getting repaired
Luckily we managed to mow all the roughs with the trim mowers before todays rains and the plan is to at least spot hit the worst areas before the weekend to minimize the inconvenience. We are working on it and it will take a few days to catch up but if everything goes to plan, it will not be long before it is back to normal. At least it is not as long as the rough the players at the Open have to deal with as can be seen here.
Lastly with all the rain I wanted to remind people about the cart rules post. While we try our best to let carts out as much as possible, there are times when it is not practical for various reason such as protecting the turf and for the safety of the golfers.
I'm looking forward to the action here over the weekend as the 2013 US Open champ is crowned.
