Wednesday, June 16, 2010
My goodness, is the wind ever going to stop blowing? It seems like every year the windy season starts earlier and ends later. When I first started here 5 1/2 years ago, it was pretty windy in March and April. Now it's starting in February and still going strong in mid June. We are in a constant battle with the wind to get even a half way decent nights irrigation coverage. Sometime it amazes me that we can get the golf course to transition at all.
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2 comments:
Dear Tom:
We voted across the street on 6/8/10 and were amazed at the condition of the fairways at the Lakes as compared to ours here at Desert Falls.
What are they doing that we are not to keep them in such nice condition?
Respectfully,
Mary Lynn and Jim Carter
Hi,
There are several reasons for the differences. But to answer your question as simply as possible, it's the wind and irrigation system. I can't speak much on The Lakes irrigation system, but our irrigation system is a 26 year old block system, meaning several sprinklers run together at the same time rather than each head running individually, as in a more modern system. Another factor is that our brass impact irrigation heads in our system have been out of circulation for so long that they quit making replacement/repair parts for them two years ago. (This is why we started replacing all the green sprinklers this year). Our irrigation head spacing is an issue as well. During the winter months when it's not hot or windy, and not much water is required, it's sufficient. But this time of year (especially during transition) if a head quits turning or does not get proper coverage because of the wind, the winter Rye dies rapidly (over night) and it takes a week or two to get the Bermuda to start filling in. This takes even longer under windy conditions because you cannot get enough water where you need it. This process also appears to take even longer because as one area recovers, another area checks out. We have a tendency to see the transition (brown) areas and don't really realize that it's not always the same spot. Now even though The Lakes property is in close proximity, it is outside of the wind tunnel that runs through our property. A great example to see just how much more protected the Lakes property is from the wind as compared to ours, is to take a look at the sand build up along the sidewalk at the South East corner of Cook St. and Frank Sinarta Dr. The wind blows so hard through there that the sand is built up a good 8 inches and if you look at the sidewalk along the entrance to the Lakes, you will see very little sand build up caused by the wind. You can also see a difference on our own property by looking at the front (windy) nine and at the more wind protected holes (10, 13, 17) on the back nine.
There are several other contributing factors such as turf type and things like that, but I won't get into all that here. I hope this helps you to understand a little better and please feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions.
Respectfully,
Tom Shephard
Superintendent
Desert Falls Country Club
Ph. (760) 340-4687
Fax. (760) 340-0421
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