Every season brings different weather challenges and 2014 has been no different. The winter of 13/14 was a hard one and since we have transitioned into summer of 2014, the golf course has seen very little rain. Over the week of Men's Member Guest in early June, the course received about 5.5" of rain. Since then, the course has seen very little. Thursday brought some reprieve with a nice slow .3" of rain. This really perked the golf course up but signs of drought are still very evident.
What does this mean?
1. Water conservation and management are as important as ever and consumes most of our time and energy.
2. Our team has been busy hand watering every turf surface on the course in order to put water where we need it and conserve what we don't.
3. We have limited our water to greens, tees, fairways, and drought stressed turf. We are always very judicious with water but we have stopped watering non-essential turf such as the driving range fairway and rough.
4. There are a few details that we are missing right now because our main focus is on managing water. We will remedy that this week.
5. We will provide firm, fast conditions while we can. The turf will be managed based on turf health and not aesthetics. This will not be a lush, green golf course until we get substantial rain. This might be a good thing.
6. We will not be able to lay sod or spray herbicides during the drought stress. This means scheduled sod will have to be delayed until August when we next have closed time. Sod requires a ton of water and we cannot afford to waste water on new sod at this time. Any rogue weeds that are popping up will be managed by hand pulling them. We cannot afford to stress the turf any more at this time with herbicide applications. Our team is always hard at work managing undesirable plants on the golf course.
7. It allows us to manage the water on the greens which is fantastic. This is a lot of hose work but the greens have performed beautifully this year. All of the aggressive aeration programs in place have really showed dividends this year and the greens are draining well and very healthy.
Rain will come and for all intents and purposes the water in the Quarry is still at a manageable level. For now, our team is focused on turf health and golf course preparation. Small projects are ongoing such as installing cobblestone around cartpath edges and edging bunkers with shovels where necessary. The drought really helps us identify and remedy irrigation needs and allows us to provide firm, dry playing surfaces for cart access and play.
I look forward to seeing you on the golf course,
Jordan Booth
jbooth@willowoakscc.org
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Water Management
