Turf Talk By: Geoff Sheffield

August 2023 

For those HP loyal players that golf the course regularly you may have seen a change to our reservoir system and have asked yourself ‘what is happening to our ponds?’ This has been a drought year with minimal rainfall since April so this article aims to outline how this dry weather is affecting Highland Pacific Golf.

The ponds on the Highland nine, near #3 and #4, are connected to our infrastructure to be able to supply us with water when required. This year we really need to take as much water as possible from these ponds to keep our reservoir topped up in case one of our wells happens to break down..

We have five wells that supply our water and they are all currently working. We have all the components in stock to do major repairs if required but this could take up to 10 days if needed. This is why we keep a reservoir safety supply. We do not use any municipal water to water the course and are completely self reliant. Recently we were fortunate to have a little rain with 10mm being recorded on July 24th and 25th. Add this to the  25 mm on June 25th and 2 mm in April and that totals 37 mm of rain recorded in the past 4 months. This gives you some perspective to just how little rain we have had.

I believe the course is in the best condition ever at this time of year. We are constantly monitoring the playing conditions and our water supply and only applying what is needed. The use of wetting agents and other plant health products have helped significantly. August and September look to be very dry months with no rain in the forecast, but we should have enough water to get us to the rainy months. We have done this before and feel confident that we can do it again. This is becoming the normal condition. 

This week we thought the greens were getting a little too hard and needed to breathe, this is why we “vented” them. Venting is a form of aeration using knives that penetrate about 6” and will heal very quickly. We also sprayed the greens with some plant health products including the bi-weekly wetting agent.

I would like to extend gratitude to our golfers for participating in the divot filling. We go through about 3 wheel barrows a day of sand in the boxes. 

Good Golfing!