The Hard Stuff Is Definitely Coming Down

[phillyk]

Western Washington has been getting hammered with rain and wind the last several days. The rivers are likely to hit record levels tomorrow. Lots of roadways are under water including the entrance to my course, Lake Padden GC. 

 

Regarding conditions on the course. The maintenance crew said we’ve gotten 7in of rain in the last 48hrs. 

That is bubbling of the green. I’ve seen it happen in the fairway and rough, but never a green. They had to use pitchforks to pop them. Also with gusts of 35mph and higher, there will be lots to clean up. Our pond in the middle of the course is over-flowing for the first time.  Definitely a crazy rain storm. No getting worse than this. Normally, I’d golf in anything, but you’d have to attach your golf bag to a stand up board to play. 

[boogielicious]

That’s a lot of rain. We’ve had a bunch, but the courses I play have weathered ok.

[Darkfrog]

That looks a lot like what my home course looked like during the atmospheric river that hit the Bay Area about 3 weeks ago. The course,  built on top of clay soil, is still sloppy.
 

I didn’t see any water blisters on the greens, only in the fairways. I lanced one for kicks and regretted it immediately because it was like dumping 20 gallons of water on my already soaked feet. I played 18 in the heaviest part of the storm, and it was pretty miserable.

[iacas]

38 minutes ago, phillyk said:

That is bubbling of the green. I’ve seen it happen in the fairway and rough, but never a green. They had to use pitchforks to pop them.

That's enough to change the shape of the dirt beneath and thus change the shape/contours of the greens.

[dennyjones]

Earlier in the year we received about 8" over 2 days.   The practice green on a course near me had a huge bubble.    The damage was so severe that it wasn't repaired before the course shut down for the winter.   

That's just a crazy amount of water.   Did someone say body surfing?@@%R!@!!!

 

[billchao]

I played the weekend after Ida hit our area. I was surprised to see how well the courses held up, though it may have been a situation where so much water came down in such a short amount of time that the ground couldn’t absorb it all.

[iacas]

We've gotten snow and hail the last few days. It accumulated (a dusting) overnight, and then melted.

[steelied]

3 hours ago, Darkfrog said:

That looks a lot like what my home course looked like during the atmospheric river that hit the Bay Area about 3 weeks ago. The course,  built on top of clay soil, is still sloppy.
 

I didn’t see any water blisters on the greens, only in the fairways. I lanced one for kicks and regretted it immediately because it was like dumping 20 gallons of water on my already soaked feet. I played 18 in the heaviest part of the storm, and it was pretty miserable.

I’m in Sacramento. That storm was nuts. 

[Zippo]

I've never seen a green do that. I'm north of @phillykabout 20 miles or so. My weather station has logged 5.61 inches of rain in the last 24 hours. The pond in our back yard is normally about 30 yards by 80. It's now closer to 2 acres. Just an amazing amount of rain. It's been blowing pretty hard, too with our highest wind gust over 40 mph. And it's only November.  😬

[ChetlovesMer]

Way back in 2008 I was a member at Coldwater Golf Links in Ames, Iowa. The course flooded... I mean flooded, like literally under water. When the water finally receded it left a new problem. There was this disgusting layer of sticky muck left behind. The muck was surprisingly hard to get rid of. The muck clung tightly to and killed the grass. We eventually got some play in that year, but it was a course constantly under repair. 

[DeadMan]

Wow, that is crazy. Hope your course recovers okay. I've never seen bubbling like that before, but I don't think our ground in Colorado absorbs water in the same way.

[phillyk]

Apparently the course was able to open today. BUT, I have no reasonable way to get there. Highway is closed, side highways are closed. Residential roads may be open but there’s likely no info on them and they could be packed with traffic. Water covering roads and/or mudslides. In my hometown, we are reduced from 3 main routes in and out of town to 1. Best to just wait until tomorrow when water recedes enough and workers clean up a bit. I wonder what course conditions look like. 

[Club Rat]

20 hours ago, phillyk said:

That is bubbling

WOW, I've seen areas where a sprinker line was leaking causing the turf to elevate, but never seen an area as large as the pics you have...

Thats a ton of ground water to saturate the soil to have that effect...

[KMP]

55 minutes ago, Club Rat said:

Thats a ton of ground water to saturate the soil to have that effect...

Looks like OP's course is in an area with water table near surface. You can also see this occur when there is a permeability barrier at a fairly shallow depth that does not allow water to infiltrate to an aquifer. This "bubbling" or "boggy" turf is seen every wet season at The Home Course in Dupont, WA. The course is located on the site of a reclaimed dynamite plant and has a clay seal on top of the affected sand and gravel below. Either way it challenges the greenkeepers for sure!

Edited November 16, 2021 by KMP
clarification on course "ownership"

[Club Rat]

39 minutes ago, KMP said:

has a clay seal

Exactly, which is common through the midwest also.
Our course has this situation during extreme wetness in the spring at areas where the precepitaion has no where to drain or run off. Once it accumulates under the turf, it will pressurize and lift the grass and roots.

Typically it takes several days or a week of continuous rain for this to occur and luckily for us this effect doesn't happen very often. When it does it typically occurs in areas with poor drainage or low lining areas. 

I've taken my club and puncture the area with the toe. Then the water has a place to dissipate.

[dennyjones]

Stay safe!

Flooding in Washington State

[phillyk]

2 hours ago, dennyjones said:

Stay safe!

Flooding in Washington State

Yeah fun couple days. Many other accidents happened near flood sites on the highway because people wanted to stop and look while going 60mph. In one case a semi literally drove up on top of a small car. Closed highway in both directions  for several hours which reduced access going over the Skagit river to 1 road. Normally there are 4 nearby, but the other 2 were closed earlier on because of the height of the river. I think I-5 had a total of 4 separate mudslides, but it opened up yesterday evening. Now I can go in and see what the course looks like, maybe try and birdie hole 12, of which I haven’t yet all year…

[Zippo]

Here's a friend's house in Sumas, Washington: