You will often hear me speak about "high performance surfaces". These are putting surfaces that provide consistent Championship conditions on a regular basis. Championship conditioning produces smooth, true, firm and fast surfaces, pushing the limits on chemical, biological and mechanical technology. Sometimes pushing the limits too far!

During the persistent warm and wet, and now warm and dry conditions covering much of the country, often the high performance surfaces can fail. Catastrophic failure is an indication that the limits of our biological organisms (grass plants) are exceeded. Walking along the edge between high performance and catastrophic failure places many superintendents in a delicate position.

Are your members or golfing facility pushing you to maintain stature, remain economically viable, or simply to ramp up for an event/outing/tournament? Of course at this time when many have either sleepless nights or dreams of painting white I find myself both admiring superintendents or hoping they have a good resume.

If turf is lost I do not believe we have failed. I believe we have found the limits. Now what you do with that information is what winnows the ranks of superintendents down to the elite. Knowing the limits helps us maximize performance.

Knowing that high performance in this snotty weather has to do with preparations last Fall, pre-conditioning this Spring, and the subtle adjustments we make in the stress period. The line between performance and failure is narrowing, be sure you are communicating your approach to your golfing community. KNOW YOUR LIMITS.