From Rainy Season to Dry Season: Managing the Transition

Every year around October 15, Southwest Florida's rainy season unofficially comes to an end. While the date isn't exact, the change can be remarkably quick. I often describe it as someone simply turning off the faucet.

Throughout the summer, we receive the vast majority of our approximately 60 inches of annual rainfall. Those almost daily showers, combined with intense heat, high humidity, and long days, create exceptional growing conditions for bermudagrass. During these months, the grass grows at an incredible rate, often faster than we can mow it.

As we move into fall, temperatures cool, the days get shorter, and rainfall decreases dramatically. While bermudagrass continues to grow well, it simply doesn't grow at the same rate as during the summer. By winter, growth can slow to a crawl.

Interestingly, this change coincides with the beginning of our busiest golf season. Our seasonal members return to enjoy cooler temperatures, lower humidity, and beautiful, dry weather. Unfortunately, those same conditions make growing bermudagrass more challenging.

Beyond providing moisture, our almost daily summer rains help flush salts and other unwanted materials through the soil. I often refer to rainwater as "liquid gold" because of its tremendous benefits to our turfgrass. When the rains stop, we become increasingly dependent on irrigation water from our lakes, which has a higher pH and higher levels of bicarbonates than rainwater.

Another challenge is the variety of soils throughout our fairways. Unlike our greens and tees, which were built using a consistent mixture of sand and peat, our fairways contain several different soil types. Some areas have heavier soils that hold moisture longer, while others have sandier soils that drain much faster. Frequent summer rains help minimize these differences, but maintaining consistent moisture becomes more challenging once we return to irrigation.

What many members may not realize is how much attention goes into managing our irrigation system. We have more than 1,298 individually controlled sprinkler heads, and each night we adjust their running times based on the moisture needs of the turfgrass. One sprinkler might run for 60 minutes, while another may run for a minute or less. We also have 191 quick-coupling valves that allow our team to hand water specific areas needing additional attention.

Our team hand watering a dry area on the 18th fairway to provide additional moisture exactly where it's needed

Even with this level of control, balancing moisture takes time. Areas that hold more moisture often continue to have thick, lush bermudagrass, while areas that dry out quickly may appear thinner or less vigorous. Sometimes these differences are visible within the same fairway.

This year, we experienced an additional challenge. As the rainy season was winding down, we received nearly 15 inches of rain over six weeks. While rain is certainly beneficial, excessive amounts can wash valuable nutrients from the soil, particularly nitrogen, which is essential for healthy turfgrass growth.

Several of those heavy rains also washed grass clippings into narrow lines throughout the fairways. Because the golf course was so saturated, it took our team several days to clean them up.

The combination of nutrient loss, changing moisture conditions, and slower seasonal growth has made the differences in our fairways more noticeable this year.

As we do each year, our team has made several adjustments to restore consistency. We are applying small amounts of nitrogen fertilizer three times per week to encourage healthy growth, along with a fertilizer blend throughout the golf course to replenish essential nutrients.

In areas where the soil has become especially dry or has difficulty absorbing water, we are applying wetting agents that help water soak into the soil more evenly. We are also hand watering these areas to provide moisture exactly where it's needed without overwatering other portions of the fairways.

We've temporarily stopped using brushes on our fairway mowers, replaced the grooved front roller with a solid roller and slightly raised the mowing height. This leaves more leaf surface on the grass, allowing it to capture additional sunlight and produce the energy needed for healthy growth.

The good news is that we're already seeing improvement each day.

I expect the fairways to become increasingly consistent as we continue making adjustments. This seasonal transition is something we manage every year, and our team is focused on providing the healthy turfgrass and quality playing conditions our members have come to expect.

2026 Summer Update – Restoring Our Bunkers

During my regular walks around Olde Florida Golf Club this past winter, I began noticing something interesting. Several of our greenside bunkers appeared smaller than I remembered. It wasn’t a dramatic change, and the bunker edges were clearly defined and regularly maintained. However, something wasn’t quite right.

As I looked more closely, I realized that the surrounding TifTuf bermudagrass had gradually encroached into the bunkers. The change had occurred so slowly over the five years since our 2021 renovation that it was almost unnoticeable. In some locations, we had actually lost several feet of bunker area!

With that discovery, restoring the original bunker perimeters became one of our priorities for the summer. We also took the opportunity to inspect all 89 bunkers, redistribute the existing sand, and replenish it where necessary to restore a consistent depth of seven inches throughout the golf course.

Restoring the Original Bunker Perimeters

During our 2021 golf course renovation, we completely reconstructed all 89 bunkers using the Better Billy Bunker system. These bunkers encompass 3.27 acres and represented nearly 20% of the total renovation cost, making them one of the most significant investments in the project.

Working with Greg Muirhead, Senior Vice President/Senior Designer with Rees Jones, Inc., we reestablished the original bunker shapes and contours, restoring architectural features that had gradually been lost since the golf course opened in 1993.

As part of the renovation, we also completed a wall-to-wall regrassing of the golf course, selecting TifTuf bermudagrass for our tees, fairways, and roughs, including the areas surrounding the bunkers.

TifTuf has performed exceptionally well for us. Its vigorous growth and ability to recover are among the many characteristics that make it such an outstanding turfgrass. Over the past five years, however, that same vigorous growth allowed the turfgrass to gradually extend into the bunkers, slowly reducing their original dimensions.

What I found particularly interesting was that this occurred despite our regular bunker edging practices. The edges had remained well-defined, but over time, they had gradually moved inward. It was a subtle change that became much more apparent when compared to the dimensions established during the renovation.

Fortunately, an important feature of the Better Billy Bunker system made the restoration process considerably more accurate.

During construction, three inches of granite gravel were installed, with the upper portion secured using a polymer binder before the bunker sand was added. This layer provides exceptional drainage and resistance to washouts, but it also gave us something particularly valuable during this summer’s work: a permanent reference point beneath the sand.

Using a metal probe, our staff could locate the original edge of the polymer-secured gravel and accurately identify the bunker perimeter established in 2021. Rather than estimating where the bunker edges should be, we had a reliable reference to guide the restoration.

#7 Greenside Bunker 2026

#7 Greenside Bunker 2026

Throughout the summer, our agronomy team carefully removed the encroaching turfgrass and restored every greenside bunker to its original 2021 dimensions.

Although restoring a few feet of bunker perimeter might seem like a relatively minor improvement, it is important from an architectural standpoint. Bunkers are an integral part of the strategy and visual character of a golf hole. When their shapes and dimensions change, even gradually, they can influence both the appearance of the golf course and the way it plays.

#3 Greenside Bunker (Back) 2026

#3 Greenside Bunker (Back) 2021

Redistributing and Replenishing Bunker Sand

The second component of our summer project involved inspecting and restoring the sand depth in all 89 bunkers.

During the 2021 renovation, we established a consistent sand depth of seven inches throughout the bunkers. This was not an arbitrary number. It was an intentional decision based on our understanding of how moisture behaves within a lined bunker.

When water moves through a sand profile and encounters an underlying material with different drainage characteristics, moisture can accumulate near that interface, creating what is commonly referred to as a perched water table. This is not necessarily a negative characteristic, but it is an important consideration when determining the appropriate depth of bunker sand.

We recognized that the lower portion of the sand profile could remain moist following rainfall or irrigation. Rather than viewing this as a problem, we accounted for it in our original specifications.

By installing seven inches of bunker sand, we allowed for the possibility that approximately two inches at the bottom of the profile could retain moisture, leaving roughly five inches above that zone to provide more consistent playing conditions. The actual moisture distribution will vary, but the additional sand depth was intended to minimize the influence of that lower moisture zone on the playing surface.

Our objective was simple: We wanted golfers to experience essentially the same playing conditions regardless of which bunker they entered or where their ball came to rest within it.

Of course, bunker sand naturally moves over time. Routine raking, golfer activity, rainfall, and normal maintenance practices can cause sand to accumulate in some areas while leaving others with less than the desired depth.

Rather than simply adding new sand, our staff began by inspecting each bunker and redistributing the existing material to restore a uniform depth. This was an important first step because adding sand without correcting its distribution can actually compound inconsistencies.

Once the existing sand had been properly redistributed, we added new G-Angle bunker sand where necessary to restore the original seven-inch depth.

This approach also allowed us to make the most efficient use of the sand already in place, adding only the material needed to achieve our desired results.

Five years after the renovation, maintaining that original specification remains just as important. By redistributing and replenishing the sand, we are preserving the playing conditions we intentionally designed into our bunkers in 2021.

#11 Greenside 

Protecting Our Investment

When we selected the Better Billy Bunker system for our 2021 renovation, one of our primary objectives was to reduce the time and labor required to repair bunker washouts following significant rainfall.

Prior to the renovation, heavy rain events could result in substantial bunker damage, requiring considerable staff time to restore acceptable playing conditions. In some instances, as many as 16 employees would spend an entire day or more repairing bunkers following a significant rain event.

Five years later, the Better Billy Bunker system continues to exceed my expectations. The dramatic reduction in bunker washouts has been invaluable, and this summer’s restoration project highlighted another benefit of the system that I had not fully appreciated when it was originally installed.

The ability to locate the original bunker perimeters using the polymer-secured gravel gave us a level of accuracy that would have been difficult to achieve otherwise. What began as a project to address gradual turfgrass encroachment became an opportunity to restore architectural integrity while preserving the playing conditions established during our renovation.

I am particularly proud that our entire agronomy team completed this work in-house. Their attention to detail and commitment to quality allowed us to restore the original greenside bunker dimensions while reestablishing the sand depths throughout all 89 bunkers.

One of the lessons I have learned during my years at Olde Florida Golf Club is that completing a successful renovation is only part of the responsibility. Preserving those improvements requires the same attention to detail, commitment, and pride that went into the original project.

It is rewarding to see the investments we made in 2021 continuing to provide value, and equally rewarding to work with a team that understands the importance of protecting them.

For those interested in learning more about our original bunker renovation and the Better Billy Bunker construction process, I encourage you to revisit my May 2021 blog entry:

2021 Renovation Update #2 – Bunker Renovation