Golf courses in the Chattanooga area have been saturated with so much rain that some dreaded "Cart Path Only" signs need re-painting.
It has been so wet that workers at the Bear Trace at Harrison Bay spent part of Tuesday morning mowing algae -- yes algae, the plant-like organism which covers rocks in rivers and clouds aquariums -- off the top of areas where grass is supposed to be growing.
It has been so wet this year that officials at Moccasin Bend Golf Course on Tuesday let golfers drive off the path for two days in a row for the first time since before Thanksgiving.
"This is the most rain I've ever seen in one year in my entire career," said Bear Trace superintendent Paul Carter, who was recently awarded with the 2015 GCSAA President's Award for environmental stewardship.
"This was the wettest winter I've ever experienced," he said on Monday. "Today is the first day we've mowed the rough all year, and we couldn't do it all because we couldn't get mowers in some places."
The courses are saturated, and more rain is likely today. Carter said he hasn't removed the "Cart Path Only" signs from four holes since weeks before his office calendar flipped from 2014 to 2015.
"Folks come up to me and ask, 'Why cart-path-only on No. 13 because it looks dry?'" he said. "I tell them, 'You'll figure it out when you walk out there and get your shoes wet.'"
The Chattanooga area has been doused with more than 20 inches of rain since the start of the year. The Tennessee Valley Authority reports that 8.21 inches of rain has fallen this month at the Chickamauaga Dam, just a few miles down-river from Bear Trace.
The exact amount of rain varies from course to course, from Calhoun to Soddy-Daisy and South Pittsburg to Copper Basin. The bottom line is that it's been sloppy wet all year.
"April has been been the worst because usually it's a busy month when it warms up and folks get the itch after the Masters," said Creeks Bend superintendent Patrick Shutters, who has also dealt with flooding from the Chickamauga Creek onto his course.
"The past week and a half we haven't been able to play at all," he said. "I don't know what impact it will have in the summer. We should be good once it warms up."
The excessive saturation -- 20-plus inches this year compared to about 12 inches at this time last year -- could impact the grass growth of courses for the next couple of weeks.
"We're in the same boat as everybody else in that we're a little behind coming out of the winter we had, so not everything has fully popped yet," Cleveland Country Club general manager Lamar Mills said. "We're 75 percent there."
Pat Rose, superintendent at Signal Mountain Golf and Country Club, is less than three weeks away from needing the course to be in as perfect condition as possible. The 79th Signal Mountain Invitational, the club's biggest tournament of the year, starts on May 15.
"I'm in good spirits about this year even though it's been cold and wet," Rose said. "There's a lot of green grass growing right now. I think that come August, everybody will have forgotten about the rainy winter. That may even be the case in a couple weeks.
"I think by the end of May or early June golfers won't see anything out of the ordinary."
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6484. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.