SUMMER 2022 – COURSE CONDITIONS UPDATE
July 14, 2022 —
Half of our golf days are soon to be gone.
And when golf days are numbered, we don’t get so melancholy about temperatures climbing into the 100s. In fact, it’s yet another day of golf to be thankful for.
Many 10-day forecasts for the past month have shown us temps in the 90s and 100s. Heat and high winds leads to a dry property.
Nothing we haven’t been used to the past 9-12 months.
It’s been dry for a while.
Perfect timing for a pump station to go down! (More on that in a bit).
Let’s take a look at the current conditions and what we’re doing on the golf courses.
It’s been a great summer, conditions-wise.
Our agronomy team has a high measure for themselves. From our eyes, the property is never in a place they’d like to see it.
In the words of Brandon Arens: “We’re hard to please, that’s why we do what we do.”
But considering a winter that ravaged dozens of courses across the state, our property is so blessed.
We’ve heard horror stories of winter kill, dead greens, and struggling turf conditions. Our care throughout the winter helped us come into a season that’s really, quite strong.
Overall, comments from membership and their guests has been extremely positive.
Photo in June 2022 of 6 Pines.
Perhaps what makes us most proud of the conditions has been our staffing situation this spring.
Getting help from our team members in Mexico proves to be difficult every year. This year, due to issues with customs meant that our H2B help weren’t permitted to work on property until Saturday of the Boot & Buckle.
Upon arrival, they wanted to work the next day!
They work hard, are experienced, and love this property so much.
We’re still not fully-staffed on property. After seeing eleven (11) of our H2B workers arrive, our team is up close to 24 members. Not full, but better than sometimes, when there is sometimes less than 10 of us taking care of the grounds!
When our H2B help shows up, it allows us to focus on some of the detailed work we love getting to (top-dressing, trimming around heads, weed eating, and more). Later in the summer, we might do some cart path work and keep up with sod projects.
Great help is a great blessing!
Team meeting June 2022 — Break Room
In a section we would normally call “weather,” this one is called “heat.”
That’s what it’s been.
Usually, we see the true heat settle in around the middle of August. This year, it came in July. It’s not really just the heat that causes bother. Combining heat with wind and overnight warmth leads to really dry conditions.
Thankfully, overnight temps have dipped into the 60s, providing the turf some relief.
We’ve been watering frequently and strategically.
The courses are playing firm, fast, and the edges get a bit crispy in places.
We’ll see what Mother Nature has to say the remainder of the summer!
Typically, our projects are pro-active.
We’re trying to find areas to improve, elements to enhance the guest experience.
Sometimes, it’s the middle of June and you lose your pump station at the maintenance center and you go into complete recovery mode.
That’s what happened a week before Boot & Buckle, where we found a bad sensor in the pump station which caused the system to fault. We couldn’t get any water to the property without faulting.
So for five days, we manually watched the pressure while we ran water.
We couldn’t water at night without the system faulting, so we had to do everything in our power to keep the pump station running at night and ensure the courses survived the heat.
Through it all, we had trouble getting water to all of our desired areas on property.
We finally got it fixed after about a week and it felt great to see the water flow freely again!
The joys of golf agronomy work — every day presents a new challenge.
“The water is back and running!” — June 2022
To finish out, we’re really happy with the conditions.
Hopefully you’ve been able to experience it firsthand.
The Guesthouse has been a huge addition. We were finally able to frame in fescue around the building, then building up a grass embankment that leads down to the Horse Course.
It looks like the building has been there for years.
All three courses look great — greens, especially – and we hope you’re able to take a minute to enjoy it during the last 80 days and change of summer.
We love this work.
Read our Spring 2022 — Course Conditions Update (June 2022).