With the storms in the late afternoon on May 30th, we officially broke the record for the wettest May on record at O'Hare. Somehow the airport only received .9" of rain yesterday for a total of 8.21" for the month. At our location in Villa Park, we received 3.1" yesterday making our total for the month well over 10". Surprisingly, the course has not suffered much from all the rain this month. The storms were spaced out with dryer periods in between so the turf had a chance to recover before the next saturation. Yesterday's 3" was the most we received in one storm. While the creek did temporarily flow over its banks and flood a few areas, it receded by this morning with minimal debris left to clean up.
As wet months go, we have been lucky that the days of high heat did not come immediately after a storm. It is usually the combination of standing water, heat, and scalding sun where we see lasting turf damage. It is much easier for turf to handle a wet month in May, or any cooler month, than during June, July, and August when the temperatures are usually higher and grass is more stressed.
We saw a scene like the picture below a few times this month, but in general the course has been in great shape.
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| High Water |
Most mornings have been more like this:
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