What happened, why is the golf course so wet?

I've worked here at Glendale CC for a long time, and I don't recall conditions being any wetter than they are now. Many areas of the course are almost unplayable, and even the driest parts are sloppy wet. Several people have asked me over the past week why is the course so wet? I asked myself the same question, so I went looking for the past several months rainfall data. The following rainfall data is from the King County Hydrologic Information Center, and the numbers I'm reporting are taken from a collection site at the Bellevue Crossroads area.
Average rainfall for October: 3.41 inches, actual for Oct '12: 7.86 inches.
Average rainfall for November: 5.84 in, actual for Nov '12: 9.56 inches.
Average rainfall for December: 5.43 in, actual for Dec '12 with one four days left in the month: 8.29 inches.
The average rainfall for October  through December is 14.68 inches.
The amount of rainfall we have received from Oct through Dec is 25.71 inches. That's 11.03 inches above normal for the three month period!

I guess all we can do is hope for drier weather to come our way and try to remember what it was like to play the course last summer. Merry Christmas and best wishes for a healthy and happy 2013.

Please level out our gold tees!

Over the past year we have had a lot more golfers "teeing it forward" and playing from the gold tees. If you haven't played from the gold tees, I recommend you get your regular group and have them play from the gold's. I'm a single digit handicap player and I've played from them several times. It's way more fun than you can imagine. I came close to driving several greens, and I hit more 50 yard wedge shots into greens than any round I can remember. I had five birdies the first time out from the gold tees, but I still shot my handicap. Those short wedge shots are not my specialty, and I wound up in a lot more trouble than expected. But I had a lot of fun, and so did the guys I played with.

When the gold tees were built, we never thought they would get the number of rounds per year that they are getting today. If we were to build them today, they would be much larger. One comment that I have received from the gold tee players is that the tees need to be leveled, some have a developed a large crown in the center, or slope one direction.

The photo above is the gold tee on #6, you can see the crown in the middle. We prioritized a list of the gold tees that need work, and put a team together to do the work. The past two weeks the "Gold Team" has leveled out #1, 6, 10, and 15. #17, and 18 are next, with others to follow soon.
Check out the photos below of the work done on #1 gold tee.

 The sod is stripped and the teeing area is adjusted as needed to make it level.

Greg is making some final tuning to get it "just right."

After the leveling is complete, the sod goes back down and the tee surface is blended into the surrounding area. The three photos below are of #10 gold tee which the "Gold Team" is working on today. This is one of the worst, and will require some extra sand to get it level. We'll stay off this tee for a month or two until the sod is stable and can handle foot traffic again. Special thanks to the "Gold Team" (Kyle, Vic, Greg, and Joel) for a job well done!

Bunker washouts

There are several bunkers on the course that "washout" everytime we get a big rainstorm. Surface drainage runs to a lowspot which just happens to be the edge of these bunkers, and the sand moves off the slope to the bottom of the bunker. Ten days ago we got 3 1/2 inches of rain in a week, and the bunkers were in bad shape. We spent an entire day moving the sand back and raking them out, only to see it washed back down the next day. Enough is enough!

 The photos below show the front left bunker on #6. Water would run off the green down to the bunker and over the edge taking the sand with it. We stripped the sod above the bunker, brought in enough fill to raise the area, and replaced the sod.

No more washouts and wasted time fixing this bunker. We'll keep the sodded area roped off for a month or so until the sod is rooted in and stable enough to handle foot traffic.

Pictured below are the "A" Team that did the work on this bunker.

Left to right: Mario with dog Bowden, Nate, Greg, Coach, and Vic. Nice job guys!