(mysanantonio.com)
After four decades in various capacities in the golf business, a majority of it in the San Antonio area, John Clay knows one thing to be certain about the weather.
There's nothing certain about it.
“Either it rains 65 inches in a year, or it's drought,” Clay said Tuesday. “It makes it tough to operate a golf course.”
Mother Nature isn't making it any easier these days.
A bone-dry, often-frigid winter has given way to continued drought and hot conditions in the spring. For area course superintendents, greenskeepers and managers, it's forced some quick changes in game plans.
“The key is to stay ahead of it,” Craig Felton, superintendent at Oak Hills Country Club, said. “Everything is ahead of schedule right now.”
That can present unique challenges.
The lack of rainfall, combined with unseasonably scorching conditions such as Tuesday's temperatures in the mid-90s, has forced operators to water more aggressively than usual. That has usually meant tapping quickly into sodium-heavy effluent water supplies that must be managed for the health of tender turfs on layouts.
Additionally, no inclement weather means aggressive play on courses. That's superb for the bottom line, but tough on heavily trafficked areas.
“We're already experiencing midsummer accumulation of salts when we used the recycled water,” said Brad Fryrear, director of agronomy for the Alamo City Golf Trail facilities. “It forces us to use amendments to leach those salts deeper into the soil.”
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