Localised Dry Patch is a common problem on greens in summer and it can take a while to conquer it. Could some of our traditional management practices be making it worse?

Localised Dry Patch is a common problem on greens in summer and it can take a while to conquer it. Could some of our traditional management practices be making it worse?
In this article we take the soil samples you removed in Fix your bowling green Step1 and look more closely at them to discover what's going on under your green. This is one of the most valuable practices that any greenkeeper can undertake as it can reveal a wealth of information about the condition of your green that you could previously only guess at.
The plant available water in bowling greens is determined by the physical characteristics of the soil. Most importantly the soil texture dictates the relative percentages of Macro, Meso and Micro pore space in the soil. This soil porosity also dictates the rate at which the green will drain. The balance between drainage and plant available water is one of the most critical components of a performance bowling green maintenance program. Here then is the very crux of all those arguments about top-dressing!
Performance turf requires heat and moisture and it is inevitable that you will have to turn to your irrigation system at this time to keep your green’s progress moving forward. Failure to keep up now could result in a disastrous season later on when the green dries out unevenly, succumbs to Localised Dry patch or simply doesn’t perform due to a lack of moisture early in the season.
Today, we will look at two mechanisms of turfgrass physiology that are active in our grass plants and soil and that follow this tendency towards equilibrium, without which our turf wouldn't be able to grow and thrive.