This summer, you probably have seen us manually watering turf with hoses on the golf course. But didn’t we just get a new irrigation system on the back nine, you might ask? Does this mean the irrigation system isn’t doing it’s job?
The irrigation system on the back nine does an incredible job of covering all turf areas. However, no system will completely eliminate hand watering. Soils vary throughout the golf course and some areas, or dry spots, require more water than others. Hand watering allows us to pin point areas that have gotten dry without soaking down a huge area. Therefore, hand watering will always be an important part of our water management program. All that said, the amount of hand watering that’s required has been drastically reduced compared to the front nine. When we designed the new irrigation system, we took into account the need for hand watering by placing “quick connects” in areas that are notorious for drying out quickly. I often joke that Highlands is one of the few places on earth where you can be standing in a puddle of water with a hose, irrigating wilting turf, 10 feet away.
Hopefully this gives you some insight in how we take care of your golf course.