'Weakness leaving the body...'

I like to read books about the stories of the brave men who live and serve in our special operations community. These guys go through the most rigorous training in the world.

One of the phrases they hold to is, "Pain is weakness leaving the body."

As we enter the months of July and August, cool season turf enters into the least friendly months for growth and recovery.

The bright spot in all of this is that the weaker species of turf (mostly annual bluegrass) is leaving the playing surfaces and the stronger varieties (mainly bent grass and bermudagrass) are filling the voids.

Now some of the lower lying areas that lay wet through the hottest part of the day will require replacement through seeding or sodding. But the general thinning of the turf can be a good thing to allow the stronger turfs to spread and take over.

These small areas, mostly on the older fairways, allow the surrounding bent to spread. As the bentgrass population continues to expand, the playing surfaces will continue to improve year after year; providing a more consistent stand of turf.

So remember that some areas of thinning  turf is just 'weakness leaving the playing surfaces.'