Is Microclimate Macrocrap?

[John Kavanaugh]

Has there been any scientific documentation to prove the new microclimate excuse rushing through the golf industry?  Just how much hotter is it in the cities than the suburbs?  How far from a city center does a course need to be built to avoid the city effect?  What is the population or density number a suburb needs to avoid to keep from killing greens?  Should housing courses be built to different specifications than non-housing because of commuters, bbq's and cigar smokers?

What are the factors that change at a golf course location that may create a new microclimate over time?

[JohnV]

Read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microclimate

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_heat_island

One interesting piece of data from these articles:
"Partly as a result of the urban heat island effect, monthly rainfall is about 28% greater between 20-40 miles downwind of cities, compared with upwind."

What are the factors that change at a golf course location that may create a new microclimate over time?

According to one study, a 10% increase in green space can mitigate the Urban Heat Island by as much as 7 degrees Fahrenheit.

[wsmorrison]

John,

As an expert on roadways, you should be able to tell us something about how much more heat buildings and these surfaces in cities absorb compared to suburban or rural areas.  What is the temperature of a road surface compared to nearby air temperature?  

Whenever the local news announces temperatures, Philadelphia is almost always several degrees warmer than the suburbs.  However, as regarding golf courses, another factor is the soil.  Sandy and  soils with rocks near the surface probably get hotter than other soils.  I would think water, trees and other factors effect local conditions as well.  

Courses near the ocean are affected by currents and such.  I've always heard that the Gulfstream creates a microclimate in Bermuda.  There supposedly is a microclimate around Dornoch, which allows for far better weather than other areas in the north of Scotland.

[michael_j_fay]

Country Club of Farmington, CT has two distinct climates on one golf course.

There are seven holes on a hill east of Waterville Road, the other eleven are on the floodplain of the Farmington River on the other side of the road. Temperature differs by as much as seven degrees and the soil composition is totally different (The Farmington River floods the western part at least once every spring).

The Superintendent haas to treat the two different areas quite differently.

[Doug Sobieski]

I honestly believe that I once saw a small patch of bermudagrass growing at Camargo on #15 or 16.

[John Kavanaugh]

John,

As an expert on roadways, you should be able to tell us something about how much more heat buildings and these surfaces in cities absorb compared to suburban or rural areas.  What is the temperature of a road surface compared to nearby air temperature?  

I find it interesting that because I build roads you would think that I am an expert on their effect on the enviornment.  I will say that Asphalt is quieter which is a subject very dear to my heart.  I would prefer that cart paths and subdivision roads be built from asphalt if for no other reason than this.  Asphalt does a much better job of absorbing heat while concrete reflects it...This makes asphalt safer in the winter but I don't know if this makes a city hotter or cooler.  All I know for sure is that wider roads are safer for our children...More roads is more good.

[Jon Wiggett]

Micheal,

there are literally hundreds if not thousands of golf courses that have 2, 3 or however many varying climate and soil profiles.
At one time golfers were intelligent and open minded enough to know that a tree lined, clay soil based green was going to be different than a open, sand based links green. These days it seems that the better the service the golfer is getting the less tolerant. Nowadays it depends an awful lot on the Supers attitude to such problems. I know of many Supers who work hard and preform wonders on very difficult sites but there are also many that use such problems as excuses for not doing their work diligently enough.

The problem is not new and hasn't changed much in the last few decades but it is certainly the in problem at the moment.

[Doug Sobieski]

When I lived in Orlando, we coined a term we called the "Parking Lot Effect". As we monitored the weather, the summer pop-up storms always seemed to start over Disney property before they moved north and impacted our play. We attributed it to the extra heat generated by all of the concrete and asphalt at Disney World.

[Dave Swift]

Microclimates exist.  Absolutely.  The Straits Course at Whistling Straits is typically 5-15 degrees cooler than the Irish Course.  The only separation is a hill or two littered with bunkers.

We actually treat some greens different than others according to disease pressure.

Might want to bring your coat.

[John Kavanaugh]

When I lived in Orlando, we coined a term we called the "Parking Lot Effect". As we monitored the weather, the summer pop-up storms always seemed to start over Disney property before they moved north and impacted our play. We attributed it to the extra heat generated by all of the concrete and asphalt at Disney World.

You might also want to notice how many weather patterns are separated by interstates.  I have also attributed this to the radio and cell frequencies that travel along those corridors.  Has anyone noticed better or worse golfing weather at courses near airports?

[RJ_Daley]

JK, you must love the show, "myth busters".   Why does this micro-climate issue have you in myth buster mode?  

Are you referring to an excuse given for the greens problem at Eastlake last week?   Don't you believe superintendents when they speak of such matters?  Is there really any doubt that the notion of micro-climates is reality, based on a consensus of turf professionals?  

[RJ_Daley]

PS:  I see JK that you do pose it all as a question.  But, still, what are you driving at?

[Mike Benham]

Sailplane pilots have know for decades what types of land (forests, deserts, lakes) and man-made items are best for finding thermals.


I know for a fact that the cart paths through the rocky paths at Stone Eagle were 10-15 degrees warmer then being dead in the center of the fairway.


Ever stand under a large tree, like a redwood and almost feel a mist emanating from the overhead limbs, even when it is hot?  There is a reason for that ...

[Dave Swift]

"We actually treat some greens different than others according to disease pressure."

The reason behind this type of program is due to "micro climates".  If we're going to get pythium blight, the odds are that we'll only get it on 4 of 20 greens.  This is based on science, experience and most importantly "microclimate".

[John Kavanaugh]

PS:  I see JK that you do pose it all as a question.  But, still, what are you driving at?

He's saying that microclimates are a slippery slope of excuses for bad course conditioning.  Once you allow a super to claim "bad microclimate", then the next guy says "bad micro-micro climate" and the next guy claims "bad micro-nano climate" and before you know it, every blade of grass that doesn't grow is the result of a super-sub-nano-mini-quark-micro climate of some sort or another.  

C'mon, Dick, get with it...this is one of his easy ones.

There has to be some truth in the above.  I have found myself increasingly unhappy with my golf experiences because of the current clouded nature of excuses vs reality.  It seems that conditioning is now out of the hands of our supers and completely dependent on microforces of nature which we can not control.  

 

[Kalen Braley]

John,

If you want to see Microclimates at darn near its extreme, travel to the bay area in the summer time where it can be a damp, wet, cold as all get out, 50 degrees in San Francisco, yet just a few dozen miles away in San Jose it is in the high 90s and your trying to cool off in your pool sipping a MaiTai.

I wouldn't attribute this to urban/suburb factors but the huge temp differentials are there and right next to each other.

[Wyatt Halliday]

This post automatically makes me think of the poa greens at Oakmont. I remember hearing around open time that the greens could not be created 2 miles down the road. For those in the know, is this a Microclimate/Macrocrap issue??

[Craig Sweet]

Micro climates exist everywhere...the north side of your house is a different climate than the south or west facing sides..

Typically at my course we have frost when no one else around us does...and typically that frost is heavier near the first green, ninth tee and second green, even though those areas are no more than 10-15 vertical feet higher than the surrounding area...

The fact is John, you're pissed off because your course ran into some bad luck, and you're too impatient to wait for better results...not to mention you think you can do a better job than your Super...

Guys like you are one big reason why I'm greatful I work at a muni...

[John Kavanaugh]

I now have reason to believe that the speed of Oakmont's greens are directly related to the ADT of the Penn Turnpike.

[John Kavanaugh]

Micro climates exist everywhere...the north side of your house is a different climate than the south or west facing sides..

Typically at my course we have frost when no one else around us does...and typically that frost is heavier near the first green, ninth tee and second green, even though those areas are no more than 10-15 vertical feet higher than the surrounding area...

The fact is John, you're pissed off because your course ran into some bad luck, and you're too impatient to wait for better results...not to mention you think you can do a better job than your Super...

Guys like you are one big reason why I'm greatful I work at a muni...

Yes...It is all about bad luck.  Funny how the more educated we become the more we fall back on God and nature.

[cary lichtenstein]

When I lived in Highland Park, Il, when I would pull into my street off Sheridan Road, there were 3 distant climates, 1 behind my house on the lake, on in front of my house and one down the street 1.5 blocks away.

Sometimes the dog would not go out the door on the lake side, but always went out the front door.

If the dog knows the difference, that should be total proof.

Even the temparture and humidity was different at all 3 locations.

[John Kavanaugh]

My shower is more humid than the rest of my house.

It's hard to bake a cake in the shower.  

[Kalen Braley]

My shower is more humid than the rest of my house.

It's hard to bake a cake in the shower.  

I'll take the bait on this John..please do tell us the story about how things went when you took your Easy Bake oven into the shower....or are you going to auction that off on Ebay too???    

[John Kavanaugh]

If you put a cake mix in the shower instead of the oven it is not just a matter of luck if you will eat well or not.  Each has a microclimate based on easily predictable circumstances...It's just takes a bit more than luck to know which to choose.

[RJ_Daley]

I have found myself increasingly unhappy with my golf experiences because of the current clouded nature of excuses vs reality.  It seems that conditioning is now out of the hands of our supers and completely dependent on microforces of nature which we can not control.

JK, do tell, what specific mismanagement of conditions has made you golf experiences, unhappy?  And, what micro-climate excuse was offered?  This is too good to pass up without questioning the specifics.  I'd like to know what your conditioning expectations are that would keep you happy, and what maintenance practice was overlooked.  Was it somethin other than a case of a temporary micro-climate condition that may have caused something, like disease (pythium blight) or some other isolated condition to make you unhappy.  What do you suggest be done as an alternative to an offered excuse of a micro-climate misfortune.  As I said above, I think you are driving at something.  But, I can not figure where you are going with this, or why?