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Water hazard
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Nobody ever said Mother Nature was fair. But when it comes to the nation’s wildly divergent rainfall pattern this golfing season, she’s clearly unbalanced.
Spring/summer 2007 weather patterns have pitched the Southeast, Ohio Valley and portions of both coasts into drought while flooding a portion of the Midwest stretching from central Texas to the Dakotas. Whether the damage is parched and dying turf and dried-up lakes and ponds, or washed out bunkers and cart paths and mounds of muck, it all adds up to extra stress for superintendents.
Located in Anchorage, Ky., Owl Creek Country Club sits squarely in the drought’s bullseye. DeWayne Diehl, CGCS, a 12-year GCSAA member, has kept the course looking “basically normal,” but not without using “probably a million gallons more than I normally would,” he admits.
Rafael Martinez, the Class A superintendent at Via Verde Country Club in San Dimas, Calif., estimates his rainfall is currently 13 inches below average. The greens and fairways “look good,” thanks to plenty of irrigation and, well, something else Martinez relies on.
“Apparently my prayers are working,” says the 18-year GCSAA member.
But, with temperatures soaring to record highs in recent weeks, Martinez is keeping a watchful eye on the hillsides for wildfires and his mandatory water restriction plan close at hand.
“We haven’t been given the red light,” he commented to GCM on July 9, “but when we are, we have areas we can cut off without affecting play … and save 15 to 20 percent of our water usage.”
Drought is putting Ohio golf courses to the test, according to news reports. In mid-June, Beaver Creek Golf Club’s Class A superintendent Mike Gafkjen told the Associated Press he was putting 300,000 gallons of well water on the course every night. “And that’s not even close to being enough,” the six-year GCSAA member added.
But a superintendent should be careful what he wishes for.
Spring flooding left behind some nasty cleanup chores in the Red River Valley areas of Grand Forks and Fargo, N.D. Mark Lindberg, the Class A superintendent at Fargo’s Edgewood Municipal Golf Course, told his local sports reporter in July that his crew had been working 10-12 hours a day to get the course back into playing shape after this spring’s flood completely eroded the fairways on four holes and destroyed the green on one of them.
In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Jay Stine, CGCS at Brookhaven Country Club, reported on July 11 that he was finally “catching a break” from the rain, but that flooding on three holes had closed down the course about 10 times in the previous six weeks. The 16-year GCSAA member explained that the area’s characteristic red heavy-clay soil drains poorly, clogs drains and keeps mowers off the fairways.
“We’re just trying to keep up,” he says. “We have guys down here who haven’t been able to mow their fairways for a couple of weeks.”
Two more certification programs of the Irrigation Association have earned the WaterSense label, which notes recognition from the Environmental Protection Agency for water efficiency. The association’s Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor and Certified Golf Irrigation Auditor programs received the label. Individuals earning either certification also can apply to become WaterSense partners, allowing them the use of a WaterSense partner logo along with the IA certification logo. Weathermatic, developer of irrigation technology and the SmartLine series of water-based controllers, has acquired Salco, a manufacturer of low volume products for irrigation installations. The transaction allows Weathermatic to offer its distributors and customers a broader range of “smart irrigation” products, Weathermatic’s president, Mike Mason, says, adding that the company plans to expand both Weathermatic and Salco product lines and develop new technologies for water conservation. |
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