Overcoming adversity

We encountered more adversity over-seeding process this year than we ever have. Hat's off to my staff for not only overcoming it, but for keeping on schedule as well. It all started when our Turf Vacuum -- used for picking up the scalped clippings -- blew its engine a week before we closed for overseeding. We ended up having to borrow a disabled Sweeper from another nearby club and between the two, got one working. Next, our fairway mower broke its frame in four different places. Then our spring rake broke down three separate times. That was followed by our top-dresser blowing one of its four rear tires. Of course, it was an inside tire and it was fully loaded with sand at the time. Add into the mix that we had nine separate 2-inch lateral waterline breaks and four 6-inch mainline breaks during the process, and you can understand the challenges.

Compounding the problem, the day we finished seeding the front nine fairways and roughs, we discovered that we had a communication wire broken between our irrigation computer and the field controllers that operate the front nine watering. We had to call in a specialist who took two days to track the underground wires and find the break, which was between No. 2 green and No. 3 tee.

After everything was finally seeded and we just needed to keep the new seed wet until it germinated, we encountered a major problem. On Sunday afternoon around 1 p.m., our irrigation computer crashed -- ever experience that wonderful feeling? That left us with no way to water our new seed. We contacted Rain Bird Irrigation Support and were told that the only thing that could be done was for them to build us another computer on Monday and ship it to us from Tucson, Ariz. They said we should have it sometime on Tuesday. However, we had already been watering the seed for three and a half days and it was starting to swell up, indicating that it was about ready to germinate. At this critical time we could not afford to go two or three days without water. Once the seed starts to swell, it must be kept wet or it will dry out and die.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I rushed home and got my laptop computer. Then I spent the next seven hours loading up the software and drivers to operate the system and figuring out how I could connect the laptop to the irrigation communication wires running to the controllers. This was after contacting Rain Bird again and getting permission to install and use their software on a non-Rain Bird computer. There is a key code needed to load the software.

It was a good thing we got the laptop going, because the FedEx plane had a mechanical problem and we didn’t get our replacement computer until Wednesday afternoon.

Well, everything was going great for the next three days, until one of our 100-hp irrigation pumps went down. Fortunately, we were able to adjust the irrigation computer software to operate with fewer gallons per minute and we were able to get by temporarily with one pump less. I really have to hand it to my staff because they really put forth an extraordinary effort to overcome this unique sequence of adversities. GCI

Tom Shephard, superintendent, Desert Falls Country Club, Palm Desert, Calif., http://tomsturftalk.blogspot.com/

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