| (cybergolf.com) If you live in Texas, where it has been famously reported that there are two seasons - hot and not, you're accustomed to extremely warm and dry weather every time the calendar turns from April to May. But the summer of 2011 will go down in history as the hottest and driest season ever. Rainfall has been virtually nonexistent since November 2010; temperatures soared to triple-digits in the spring and have stayed there for a record number of days. The lack of rain has taken its toll on just about everything in the Lone Star State as reservoirs have virtually disappeared, crops have withered or were never put in the ground, and animals and fish continue to die from the effects of the heat. With water at a premium, golf courses - which rely on precipitation to augment wells and effluent, or reclaimed, water to keep their greens, tees and fairways alive - have restricted their irrigation schedules in accordance with mandated water-rationing orders. Some golf courses have closed, victims of a battle for water to quench the thirst of municipalities, while most have soldiered on, adhering to water-conservation practices while finding inventive methods to stay alive and keep their players on the course and members satisfied, if not happy. "It quit raining last September and really hasn't rained a significant amount since," said Travis Miller, a drought specialist with the Texas Agrilife Extension Service and a specialist with the Governor's Drought Preparedness Council. "More than 90 percent of the state is in an exceptional drought or in an extreme drought. The remarkable thing is the extent and the severity of the drought combined." READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE>>> |
Texas courses try to survive
With water at a premium, some courses do without, even close.
