Make it gleam

Water features add immeasurably to the ambiance of a golf course.

Properly maintained, a pond or stream enhances the entire golfing experience. Features that are neglected, however, will invariably be a source of problems for a superintendent.

Excess vegetation or other organic material is not only visually unappealing, but can also impact a golf course’s irrigation infrastructure and add toxins to its ecosystem.

Every facility is its own unique environment. A superintendent in the Northeast might find himself dealing with algae that coats ponds and other standing bodies of water. Meanwhile, his colleague in Florida might be dealing with the noxious weed hydrilla while trying to nurture other vegetation. And, depending on their location, all superintendents must deal with a menu of items that might include grass clippings, fallen leaves and animal residue, as well as any fertilizer and nutrients they apply to the turf itself.

The key for a superintendent is being proactive and heading them off before they become major headaches.

One of the keys is monitoring the water quality on the property. Carmen Magro is an agronomist as well as the vice president of business development for Stevens Water Monitoring Systems. Headquartered in Portland, Ore., the company has been in business since 1911 and provides a wide variety of monitoring services for golf courses. Water monitoring is part of the package.

The company offers POGO, an app that measures soil temperature, moisture level and salinity, among other things. A superintendent can take a glance and get an idea what is going on in his pond(s), which is often quite a lot. The company also manufactures a device that Magro calls a “water lab” that continually analyzes water quality and stores its data via Cloud technology.

That data includes water quality, temperature, salinity and also the rate at which the water is flowing through the pond or stream, both at the surface and beneath it. The data is accessible and a superintendent can access be alerted to potential problems. “The data goes immediately from the property to the Cloud,” Magro says. “The Cloud instantly analyzes the information for the superintendent.”

There is plenty of data to keep track of. Conditions change constantly and no two ponds are the same. “Water areas are unique,” says Mark Brotherton. “Even water areas on the same golf csourse.

Brotherton is a product manager at SePRO in Carmel, Ind., which manufactures water quality enhancement products. It also produces products for the horticultural industry.

Brotherton himself has a background in the turf industry; he has degrees from Penn State and North Carolina State. His company has products that are suitable for anything from excess nitrogen or phosphorus in the water, to reducing or eliminating algae buildup, to aquatic herbicides designed to combat unwanted aquatic weeds. SePRO will prepare a chemical “prescription” for a facility, based on own its individual circumstances.

But there are solutions that don’t involve chemicals, such as installing concrete around irrigation intakes to prevent them from being clogged by weeds, or establishing a buffer area around ponds and streams so any excess nitrogen or phosphorous will be absorbed by the soil rather than the water. “You’re creating a containment area where vegetation can absorb [the chemicals] and filter them out,” Brotherton says. “You’re creating a wetlands or a buffer area.”

Of course, every superintendent must choose the tools that suit his or her needs best.

Don Brown has been a fixture at White Manor Country Club in Malvern, Pa., for some 35 years. Located outside Philadelphia, the club has hosted the LPGA Tour and what was then the Senior Tour. Architect Bobby Weed redesigned the course in the early 2000s.

Brown is the director of golf course operations. When it comes to water-treatment issues, he is hands on. He notes that he and his team are doing more maintenance on the golf course’s three ponds (two of which provide irrigation water) than would have been the case years ago when the emphasis might have been more on the aesthetics of the property.

“Between an aerator and grass-eating carp we were able to care for any algae that was aesthetically a problem,” he says. “Maybe we didn’t recognize issues with water in the past. Now we’re seeing water quality issues that were affecting the golf course.”

In recent years, Brown and his staff have developed buffer areas around their ponds in response to the accumulation of nutrients in the water. They have also had to contend with blue-green algae that affected the water being applied to the course’s greens.

When it’s time to apply chemicals, Brown handles the task himself. He is licensed by the state to apply chemicals in ponds. That license is separate and distinct from the one he possesses that permits him to apply chemicals on the course.

Brown’s primary defense against algae is an algaecide, which is liquid copper. And while some superintendents add dye to their water features to prevent sunlight from reaching the bottom and accelerating plant growth, Brown hasn’t found it necessary. When the course was redesigned, the ponds were expanded and are roughly 10-12 feet deep. “They’re good, deep ponds,” Brown says. “I haven’t really had any real need or desire to add dye.”

Not every superintendent is comfortable applying chemicals. Matthew Wharton is the superintendent at the Carolina Golf Club in Charlotte, N.C. Designed by Donald Ross, the golf course dates back to 1929.

A graduate of Virginia Tech, where he earned a master’s degree in turfgrass science, Wharton served as an assistant at Augustine Golf Club in Stafford, Va., and later was head superintendent at Swan Point Yacht and Country Club on Maryland’s southern tip before assuming his current position.

At Carolina Golf Club, Wharton tends “three ponds and a couple of streams.” The largest of the ponds provides irrigation water. His primary concern is limiting or eliminating the accumulation of algae in and around his water features.

“I view it this way,” Wharton says. “If the surface is covered algae bloom or algal scum, it’s a sign that the body of water as a whole is not as healthy as it could be. So for us, if we’re trying to ensure it’s aesthetically pleasing, the icing on the cake for me is I get a healthier body of water with which to irrigate the golf course.”

Aesthetics aside, there are practical considerations, as well. “Algae can get caught up in the pumps,” Wharton says. “If we can control the algae on the pond, we have a lot fewer issues with regards to the efficiency of the irrigation system. We don’t have heads getting stuck, we don’t have heads getting clogged. Everything works as it should. Our membership doesn’t want to see the algae. It’s very unsightly, it’s very unattractive and it smells.”

When treating his ponds, Wharton relies on an outside firm, Solitude Lake Management, which does everything from stocking ponds with fish, to inspections, to chemical applications. The firm visits twice a month during the season and monthly from December through February. Wharton welcomes their expertise.

“I don’t view a pond as a pond per se,” he says. “I view it as an aquatic environment. I’m getting 21 visits a year from someone who knows and understands the aquatic environment hopefully at the same level I understand my turfgrass environment.”

Many superintendents embrace Wharton’s view on this topic. Chris Carson is the superintendent at Echo Lake Country Club in Westfield, N.J., less than an hour from midtown Manhattan. He maintains four ponds, one of them a one-acre irrigation pond. At one point in his career, Carson was licensed to do chemical applications himself, but he eventually ceased doing so.

“Having heard a couple of horror stories about people putting chemicals into ponds,” he says, “I realized, because I had limited knowledge in that area, I was uncomfortable actually making applications myself.”

So Carson reached out to the pond maintenance company he still works with today. The firm not only applies the necessary chemicals, but also applies for the necessary permits.

So, superintendents must strike a balance. The nitrogen-based fertilizer that stimulates the turf may also stimulate the spread of weeds if too much of it gets into the stream adjacent to the 14th fairway.

Rick Woelfel is a Philadelphia-based writer and frequent GCI contributor.