Protecting our greens is crucial during the warm summer months of July, August, and September, when heat and humidity leads to both turf and root stress. This especially
important because when the turf and root system becomes compromised, it is vulnerable to a variety of turfgrass diseases and insect pressure, ultimately leading to turf loss.

At Pelican Hill, we can only use recycled (reclaimed) water to irrigate the entire golf course, including our greens. Unfortunately, recycled water comes with drawbacks and challenges as it pertains to maintaining turf health.

Recycled water has high levels of nitrates, salts, chlorine, bicarbonates, and other harmful elements, which ultimately build up in our soils over time. This requires us to
“flush” the greens with water, driving these elements through the green’s profile and down into the drainage system. Since we are still flushing with recycled water, we never get a “true flush” like we do when it rains in the winter.

The flushing process helps us reduce the salt levels, but we are adding more nitrogen (nitrates) to the soil which leads to excessive growth on the greens. This growth is the reason that green speeds are slower in the summer months. Keep in mind that if we did not flush our soils, the salt levels would continue to build and our root systems would become significantly compromised, leading to turf loss.

Many of our competitors around Orange County are allowed to use clean (domestic) water on their greens, so they’re able to maintain consistent playing conditions 12 months of the year.

Also during the summer months, we raise the mowing height to further protect the turf. This slight raise in mowing height does slow down green speeds, but it provides a tremendous benefit from a turf health perspective.

Summer months bring the warmest temperatures, longest hours of sunlight, and the most amount of play. This requires us to focus strictly on turf health and protect the greens through the summer.

Once we get towards October, the shorter days and cooler night temperatures will allow us to change our management strategy on the greens