The following article was included in our Member Newsletter earlier this year. As we move into summer, water will continue to be the discussion and I felt it important to share here as well. Enjoy!
On The Course - Maintaining a Golf Course during Drought
As we all know California is in the midst of a record
drought. While we did get some much needed rains early this season, rain totals
are well below average for the fourth straight year. Temperatures have also
been abnormally high during this period. Since January 1, the average high
temperature has been 70 degrees with just 3.4” of rain falling. Last month,
Governor Jerry Brown mandated a 25% reduction of the use of potable water. While
we are fortunate to have a good supply of Non-
Potable water to irrigate the golf course with, we must be responsible and
show we can and will do the right thing for the course and environment. Over
the years, we have accomplished much in the way of becoming more efficient
users of water and we are prepared to maintain the course nicely throughout the
drought.
One of the
best views across the course, Brown grass and all.
We are constantly looking at ways to be more efficient with
our use of water. We evaluate the
efficiency of our irrigation system on a daily basis. The course is
inspected daily for wet spots or dry spots and irrigation run times are
adjusted accordingly. Irrigation leaks are detected and repaired quickly. My goal has always been – NO WET SPOTS!
This month, we will be going through sprinkler heads in fairways replacing all
nozzles and checking pressure to ensure proper coverage is achieved and water
is applied as efficiently as possible.
We’ve used hand held
and in-the-ground soil sensor technology to monitor soil moisture levels for
years now. The use of these sensors allows us to properly monitor soil moisture
and insure that the correct amount of water is applied to a given area of turf.
Our in-the-ground soil sensor data can be monitored in real time from our desk
top and handheld devices.
With our on-site
weather station, we have the ability to monitor weather data in real time as
well. The weather station communicates with our irrigation computer
calculating daily ET (evapotranspiration) rates. This information is downloaded
to the irrigation computer and used to determine appropriate sprinkler run
times insuring we are replacing just the
amount of water used by the turf and lost to evaporation (ET).
Over the last five years, we have seeded the tees,
approaches and fairways at times of aeration with a drought tolerant Chewings
Fine Fescue seed. This turf requires approximately 10% of the water needed
by many other cool season grasses. Each year, as our stand of Fine Fescue
multiplies, we are able to manage more for the fescue and in turn use less
water. There will be times when the weaker grasses stress due to drought
conditions and this is part of managing toward the desired turf species.
The use of soil
surfactants (wetting agents) is an important part of our agronomic plan. A
soil surfactant is a material that allows us be more efficient with our water
by helping the soil to better hold on to water applied. Surfactants aid in breaking
surface tension of tight soil/turf conditions allowing water to better
penetrate into the root zone helping to move water deeper and more evenly. This
promotes better rooting of turf and a more healthy soil condition. The Club
invested in an injection system last year to deliver these materials onto the
course via the irrigation system.
Organic fertilizers
are an important part of building healthy soils and healthy soils use water
more efficiently. These organic fertilizers make up nearly 70% of all
fertilizers applied to the course.
If you are on the golf course during the summer months, you
have no doubt seen the staff out hand watering various turf areas. There is no more efficient way to deliver
water to the desired location than through hand watering.
We have invested much time, effort and resource into
providing a high level of turf condition while being environmentally
responsible with our use of water. Many
of the above practices were implemented years ago, well before the drought.
While these changes to our program have resulted in an improved playability of
the golf course, they have also put us in position to better weather the
current drought. The majority of increase in the Golf Maintenance budget over the last
few years has been directly related to the practices discussed here and I
commend the Club for supporting the golf course in such a way.
The fascination with a wall to
wall green golf course in California should have changed years ago. As a responsible member of the community and
the golf industry, we should be doing all we can to limit the amount of water
we use, mandate or no mandate. Greens,
tees and fairways can and will be kept in top condition but we need to get used
to rough and areas out of play becoming more natural, un-irrigated and BROWN. As
we move through the summer months, there will be more areas of off color turf
and that is OK. It will come back when it rains…
Josh Clevenger - Golf
Course Superintendent
