As the saying goes...

...One man's trash, is another man's treasure.  This statement was confirmed once again when we found some irrigation repair couplings for sale on Turfnet at a bargain price.  The club selling these is having their irrigation system replaced, and no longer has use for them.

We now have a wide selection of main line repair couplings, ranging in size from 3" to 8".  (If the leak is on a pipe larger than 8", we're turning around and going home...)  Truth be told, nobody will shed a tear if we never have to use these fittings.  However, based on history, it's likely we will be needing them at some point in the future.

Not having to run around and try to find some at a local distributor will be one less thing to worry about when we find ourselves standing at the bottom of a deep, muddy hole!

Laurel Creek Article

In case you missed it, Laurel Creek was featured in this month's issue of Club & Resort Business magazine:

How Laurel Creek CC Keeps Running Strong

What do you do in the winter?

Without fail, we are asked this question every year.  There is actually a long list of projects we tackle when the grass isn't growing.  Often this includes pruning the wetlands crossings, bridge maintenance, drainage installation, sodding, irrigation repair, and myriad other tasks.

This "off-season" we have a number of maintenance items we will be working on involving the tennis courts.  Over the years, clay from the courts builds up around the perimeter, impeding proper drainage.  Recently, the guys worked on the river stone beds between courts #1 and 2.  The river stone was raked up, hauled away, and washed.  Excess material was then removed to lower the grade, and allow the water to run freely off the courts.  Lastly, the stone was replaced.

No doubt this is hard work, but it will keep you warm on a cold winter day.

Drum roll, please...

We finally had a chance to tally the precipitation for 2018, and the total was 70.55".  Yes, that's a whole lot of water, but how does it compare to an average year?  The chart below shows what we typically receive per month, which adds up to 48.3" for the year.  So we were a whopping 46% over the long-term average for an entire year!

If you are still unimpressed by a number like 70.55", let's take a quick look at how many gallons of water came through the golf course last year.  While the course property itself is 237 acres, most of the surrounding development drains onto the course, for a total of around 490 acres.

So here's the math:
70.55" (precipitation) x 27,154 (gallons of water per acre inch) x 490 (acres) = 938,700,203 gallons

Sorry if you're disappointed that we didn't quite hit one billion gallons of water flowing through the property, but we sure came close.

 To look at this amount of water in a final way, consider that on average, for each and every one of the 365 days in 2018, over 2.5 million gallons of water came onto and through the golf course.  Well, at least that explains why the range picker got stuck so often...