Is this Seattle?

The cloudy, rainy weather has been the big topic
lately.  It seems that so far this spring, the sun just doesn't want to come out.  Now, we always expect a fair amount of clouds and rain, but this year has been exceptional.  According to the National Weather Service in Tulsa, it has rained 25 out of the last 44 days since April 1st.  That's an amazing 57% of the time.  As you'd imagine, this coincides with our rainfall totals being ahead of pace for the year.  Based on the average monthly rain totals, we should be at 14 inches so far for the year.  As of today, we are just over 20 inches for the year.

Wherever there's rain, there's clouds.  Since April 1st, we've had at least 50% cloud cover 84% of the time.  This almost constant presence of clouds has had a serious impact on the overall health of our Bermudagrass.  As has been discussed before, Bermuda requires 8 hours of direct sunlight to reach it's maximum growth potential.  Since the grass woke up from dormancy in late March, it hasn't been able to create enough energy on its own.  Therefore, the turf's density and color are poor and the golf course hasn't reached it's full potential.  I expect this weather pattern to break sometime in the next few weeks a more normal summer weather pattern to take hold.  The staff has been busy fertilizing the Bermuda to encourage it as much as possible, but fertilizer will only go so far without heat and sunlight.  Once we get into June, the temperatures go up, and the sun comes out, the golf course will look great.