Minnesota Golfer - Directory 2023 - 22

PHOTO: INTERLACHEN COUNTRY CLUB
The most commonly utilized tool among
superintendents is the moisture sensor that
is sunk into the turf to determine water content.
Moisture sensor use took a practice tantamount
to using a divining rod and brought
water usage monitoring into the modern age.
" We're using a TVR sensor to get those moisDid
You
Know?
Superintendents don't
overwater-it causes
turf diseases.
Superintendents don't waste
water-it costs money.
Superintendents don't
overuse chemical inputs.
They are expensive.
Golf courses help the environment
by filtering chemicals,
salt and other pollutants
through soil or holding ponds
before it moves off-property
back into the waterway.
In 2016, golf courses
injected $2.3 billion into
the economy. MGCSA
executive director Chris
Aumock estimates that
number has surpassed
$2.5 billion post-Covid 19.
In 2016, the local golf industry
employed 24,933 people.
In 2015, an estimated
500 state golf courses
used 7.8 billion gallons of
water per year-which
was 0.76 percent of all
water consumed in the
state. Aumock says that
number has decreased
since that time.
22
MINNESOTAGOLFER Directory 2023
mngolf.org
ture measurements, " says Brian Boll, director of
golf course and grounds at Interlachen Country
Club. " Before that, the method was done by
hand. You stuck a tee in the ground and used
torsion to see how much resistance you were
encountering. If the soil was wetter there was
little resistance. If it was dryer and firmer there
was more. Most frustrating was trying to get
everybody working the course on the same page
with the amount of water needed.
" Now we have tools that will give us a soil
[saturation] value. I could put someone on
their first day here out with that tool to collect
the data. Then we would pull the hose out to
water and get the consistency throughout the
green that we're looking for. "
Dealing with Drought
Every year is different due to rainfall amounts,
but
these technologies have helped all
the
superintendents achieve significant reductions
in water usage-when Mother Nature cooperInterlachen
Country Club is re-grassing with modern
drought- and disease-resistant turf varieties.
ates. Call it climate change or being stuck in a
cycle, but drought conditions have enveloped
our state the past two summers. Despite the
irrigation challenges drought presents, it was
not a total washout for superintendents.
" My staff got really good at irrigation, meaning
irrigation repair, maintenance, monitoring
and application, " says Schindele. " In a drought
year, you can really see your inefficiencies, and
we got really good at dialing those things in to
make sure that the system was doing what it was
supposed to. "
Aumock, agrees, saying the drought taught
superintendents more about their course.
" The past couple years have been an amazing
learning curve for everyone, " Aumock says.
" Newer superintendents got to learn their properties
even better. We always have hot spots
that we monitor, but the drought showed them
everywhere. So, long term, guys can look at
those areas and see if they need to make turf or
soil renovations. "
At Eagle Valley, Erickson uses holding ponds
to capture stormwater run-off for his irrigation,
and while it assists him in a drought, an even
greater benefit is saving water during regu
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Minnesota Golfer - Directory 2023

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