U.S. Water News Online
STAMFORD, Conn. -- The region's ongoing drought emergency could shape up to be a water hazard for many area golf courses.
But the lack of rain clouds has a silver lining for course supervisors, many of whom have taken advantage of the unseasonably warm, dry weather to get their links in shape for an early opening this year.
``We're a month ahead. It's awesome,'' said Tracey Holliday, superintendent of Sterling Farms Golf Course in Stamford.
The weather has allowed Holliday and her grounds crew to complete work that would not usually be finished until well into April, such as aerating the greens.
As she supervised crew members operating the aerating machines -- which bore small holes into the ground to reduce compacting of the soil -- Holliday explained that the dry conditions have other benefits.
While parched conditions can be fatal for a golf course in the summer, dry winters help the turf, she said.
``When it's dry like this, the roots will start to seek down for the water, so it actually helps the grass get stronger,'' Holliday said. ``You'll get more damage from too much water.''
The warm weather and busy maintenance schedule also will allow the Newfield Avenue course to open by the second week in March, which is good news for manager Paul Grillo.
``As far as my end, the revenue end, is concerned, it's great. It's fantastic,'' Grillo said.
Other area courses are eyeing similar early openings. But behind the enthusiasm about the weather lies the nagging fear that a dry spring and summer -- which long-term forecasts are predicting -- could be disastrous.
``To start a season in the predicament we're in is pretty scary,'' said Rick Schock, property manager for Wee Burn Country Club in Darien.
Wee Burn has two irrigation ponds that have a combined capacity of 10 million gallons. Though full now, they are recharged by wells, Schock said.
Once irrigation begins in May, the ponds will draw down quickly, Schock said. If the drought begins to affect the wells, the course's lush greens and fairways could easily give way to a more barren landscape.
Schock is hopeful that won't come to pass. ``We're definitely on the cautious side right now, as far as cautiously optimistic that things are going to even out with Mother Nature,'' he said.
Courses such as Wee Burn that have their own wells are better positioned to handle drought conditions than those on city water systems, Schock said.
Sterling gets about half its water from the city, but Stamford's other municipal course, E. Gaynor Brennan, is dependent on municipal water for irrigation, said Michael Sullivan, superintendent of grounds.
After warnings from BHC Co., which supplies water to 95 percent of the city's residents, Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy declared a water emergency earlier this month.
Under city ordinances, residents caught washing cars or watering their yards can be fined $100, though town officials say they will not start handing out tickets yet.
Golf courses are businesses that need water to sustain their operations, and are therefore exempt from the ordinance, said Dr. Anthony Iton, Stamford's director of health and social services.
``The goal here is to conserve, it's not to drive people out of business,'' Iton said.
Golf courses can take several conservation measures to reduce water consumption without interfering with the golf experience, Sullivan said.
Computerized irrigation systems already allow course managers to water only where needed, Sullivan said. As a last resort, workers can water only the most parched areas of grass by hand, he said.
Several projects around the course will require areas of resodding, but those will likely be postponed until conditions improve, Sullivan said.
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