It finally came...cool weather and some needed moisture

I have finally taken my first big breath of air in over 48 days.  To say it was a hot dry summer would be a under statement.  We received very little rain this summer and heat decided to stick around for another month and a half.  We hit record numbers for the month of October.  It turned out to be the 4th hottest October on record since 1946 and we are at least 4 inches behind on moisture.  When you only average 12 inches per year, 4 inches is a pretty big shortage.  The record heat kept going through the first 16 days of November and I kept on wearing shorts and a polo shirt to work!  We kept hand watering the course and utilizing roller bases on the big dry spots.  We had several hot spots on the course in the fairways and rough but we kept at it. 
All of a sudden the forecast finally changed and there was a rain drop/snowflake on the weather forecast.  Finally mother nature allowed me to sleep through the night by dropping down 4 inches of wet snow on November 17th.  We recorded a melt .30 inches from the snow and I was smiling ear to ear!  Time now to apply our annual snow mold fungicide to protect the turf for next year. 
We still have a few project to wrap up to "put the course to bed."  We have delayed our irrigation blow out till December 5th and 6th due to the dry weather we were having.  We still need to bring in all the golf course accessories and install the 1.5 miles of snow fence.  Yup, that's right, snow fence time!

#1 with a little heat stress in fairway and rough

#8 showing a little stress

#16 with some fresh snow! Denver in the background

#8 now covered absorbing in the moisture