Prayers for rain unanswered so far

Mike Litzelfelner would gladly trade a day of golf for a nice rain shower at this point.

"Probably anyone that has anything to do with Bent Creek is watching the weather and doing rain dances and whatever we can do," Litzelfelner said.

Bent Creek in Jackson is one of two public courses in Cape Girardeau County -- Cape Jaycee Municipal Golf Course is the other -- that relies on daily fees for revenues. But the lack of rain has been a problem for golf courses in the area.

"It's never been this dry," Litzelfelner said. "It's been an awkward start to the summer for us. When it's this hot, people aren't going to play much golf, and there's no amount of motivation we can provide on our end to change that."

With a handful of days in the high 90s and just two days of measurable rain since June 12, golf course managers are keeping an eye on their grasses.

"The rough is really turning brown," said Jaycee course superintendent Randy Lueder. "We have to do some extra work to keep a lot of fairways from becoming discolored. We need some rain."

The National Weather Service placed Southeast Missouri in a severe drought on Wednesday. Measurements at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport totaled 3.28 inches of rain for June, just 1.35 in the last 18 days of the month.

Litzelfelner said his maintanence crew has had to concentrate on the greens at Bent Creek, while the zoysia in the fairways "loves this kind of weather," he said.

"Our guys got on it early and have been consistently working on the greens," Litzelfelner said. "You have to approach it like you're not going to get anymore rain. We have had to readjust our priorities, and the priorities have to be the greens first. If you don't take care of the greens, you don't have much of a golf course."

Litzelfelner echoed Lueder's concerns about the rough.

"In the roughs, we have cool-season grass, and it's just not the kind of grass that can tolerate hot weather," Litzelfelner said.

Bent Creek took precautions to help its own water situation following previous rough water conditions.

"Ten to 15 years ago, we had to buy water from the city, and it got real expensive," Litzelfelner said. The course built a 10 1/2-acre lake that has helped this year. "If we didn't, we'd be at a critical point about now," he said.

But the best source of water, he said, is Mother Nature.

"There's nothing like rain," Litzelfelner said. "No matter how much irrigation you can do, the best source of water for a golf course is rain. That little shot we had [Thursday] was helpful to us."

It also cooled temperatures slightly, dropping them out of the 90s.

"As soon as it cooled," Lueder said, "we were busy. I think it will be busy all weekend."