Cart Path Only

This Saturday, the agronomy team made the decision to go cart path only. This was a tough decision and one we didn't take lightly. Our goal is to always provide an enjoyable playing experience. It is also my responsibility and my team's responsibility to do what is right for the golf course. At this time it is 100% the right decision to go to cart path only. Going cart path only will help the agronomy team conserve the precious water resource we have left. We need to think solely about the long term success of the golf course.

Cart traffic compounds the drought stress that the fairways are already under and adds to the amount of water we need to use. Just 24 hours after going cart path only a change in the turf could be noted. If carts were allowed on fairways this past weekend we would have needed to syringe fairways to prevent damage from occurring. Syringing fairways takes on average 45,000 to 50,000 gallons of water a day. We were able to save 90,000 to 100,000 gallons of water just this weekend! This is basically a nightly irrigation cycle in the water conservation mode we are in. Even with syringing, the fairways are so dry that cart tracking would have occurred both afternoons. Areas that are tracked are unsightly and take twice as long to recover from drought stress. As soon as we receive some adequate rainfall we will be allowing carts back on fairways.

Greens, tees, and approaches are being hand watered daily. These areas are all in great shape. Tee and fairway divot recovery has been slow. It is very difficult to germinate seed (especially bentgrass) in these dry conditions.

The drought is not easy on me or my watering crew. For example, we finished up hand watering yesterday at 6:00 PM. Our day started at 5:00 am or 5:30 am depending on employee. We were all right back at it at 5:30 am this morning. This has been our 7 day a week routine for over a month now.

Conditions can change quickly and hopefully some much needed rain will fall on the drought stricken North Shore soon.