The winter solstice occurred this morning at 4:19  a.m. EST. At that exact time, the sun shone above the Tropic of Capricorn, its most southerly point. This is a key date for those of us living in the northern hemisphere because it marks the shortest day of the year. 

Hole 1, Olde Florida Golf Club

The word solstice comes from the Latin word solstitium, which literally translates to "the standing still of the sun". Solstitium is made up of the Latin words sōl, meaning "sun," and sistere, meaning "to stand still”. It refers to the point where the sun’s apparent movement north or south pauses before reversing direction.”

After the last twelve months, for this turfgrass manager, a reverse in direction of not only the sun, but the weather in general would be welcomed! 

On this date a year ago we were deep into a very strong El Niño weather pattern and I was asking, actually pleading with Santa for some sunshine for Christmas. "All I want for Christmas... is Sunshine! I guess I was on Santa’s naughty list, because it didn’t arrive. In fact, December (2023) and January of this year were the two cloudiest months in Naples in over 100 years. 

After finishing the 2024 winter golf season strong, the El Niño weather pattern flipped to a La Niña pattern and the adverse weather continued.  This summer was the wettest on record. We received 73.65” of rain from June through September at Olde Florida. To add perspective, we average 56” of rain annually, so we significantly exceeded our annual average in just four months. 

Year to date we’ve received 99.40” of rain at Olde Florida, with 0” in the month of April and only 1” since Hurricane Milton passed by our coastline 72 days ago on October 9. In addition to Milton, Hurricanes Helene and Debby also caused significant impacts to Southwest Florida this summer. 

Without a doubt the last 12 months have been the most challenging in my nearly 40 years in the golf course management industry. With that said, my team and I are excited to enter 2025 with excellent turfgrass coverage and a golf course that is playing terrific!

Sunrise, Olde Florida Golf Club