Why do you ask for carts to stay in the fairways?

Often, following rainfall periods, we ask golfers to keep their carts in then fairways. This is done in hopes of limiting damage to the golf course. Except for the lowest parts of the fairways, the fairways are better drained and do not have standing water and they dry quicker than the roughs.
The photo below shows one of the may wet and standing water pockets in the roughs. This is due to the fact that the roughs are not as level as the fairways, do not have the subsurface drainage as the fairways, and they are not aerified and topdressed as much as the fairways.
The course is extremely wet today following 4 inches of rain this week as evidenced by the photos below. Notice how even foot traffic is causing visual damage to the turf.

Totally saturated soil conditions and overcast climate conditions leave little opportunity for the turf to dry.

The tracking and rutting below is why we ask carts to stay on the path on the white nine when it is wet.

Exposing the course to carts today would have resulted in hundreds of these tracked and rutted areas. These areas occurred on the white nine alone where carts we asked carts to please stay on the paths.

Notice that there are no tracks or rutting behind the cart in the fairway cut? This photo verifies our request to limit damage to the course in wet conditions. The fairways generally have better drainage than the roughs and do not hold as many pockets of water.

Storms Hit Northmoor

We received over an inch of rain in about 20 minutes at NCC this morning. Below are photos of three holes on the course but all 27 holes are under water to some degree. With cooler temperatures and overcast conditions for the next few days, it will take some time for the course to dry enough to be exposed to golf cart traffic. Please check the condition line for course updates.
Blue #1 fairway is flooded Red #1 fairway is flooded White #1 fairway is flooded

April Rainfall

On the calendar below, I have circled the days that it rained in April. We received 4.72 inches of rain for the month. We received some degree of rainfall on 13 days of the month. The rain, combined with cool temperatures and the lack of sunshine has left the golf course very soft. Hopefully this week we will begin to dry a bit.

In addition to the excessive moisture making for wet and muddy playing conditions, is the fact that cool - saturated soil conditions in the spring reduce the spring rooting capability of the grassplant. The spring period is when a healthy turf is able to establish a deep and dense root system following the winter months. The root structure is the mainstay of the grassplant as it enters the stressful summer months. The saturated soil conditions during the month of April may well have an impact on the health of the course in the months ahead. We will be taking advantage of all agronomic practices available at our disposal over the next few weeks to promote increased root growth on the turf.