No Summer of Discontent

The weather of 2002 — specifically the dry weather — will not be soon forgotten by superintendents. “Without a doubt, it was one of the toughest seasons I’ve ever experienced,” Don Abraham, certified superintendent of Steubenville (Ohio) CC, told Golfdom late last year.

The drought and heat of 2002 went down in history. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it was the warmest summer in the continental United States in about 70 years. The average temperature was 73.9 degrees F — the third hottest on record. The drought affected about half the country, according to the NOAA. Nearly 30 states experienced below-average rainfall.

But superintendents don’t expect the summer of 2003 to be as parched, according to a recent Golfdom online survey. We recently asked superintendents, “Do you think the drought that ravaged golf courses the past year will continue this summer?”

Fifty-two percent of respondents said “no” and only 16 percent said “yes.”

One of the choices we gave superintendents to answer was, “What do I look like, a weatherman?” Thirty-two percent selected that answer. We assume they’re hoping that this summer is far less dry than the last.

"Do you think the drought that ravaged golf courses last year will continue this summer?"

Source: Golfdom.com Online Poll, April 24 to May 24, 2003