Not a postcard day in Palm Springs

In the waning days of summer, Hurricane Hilary — ultimately downgraded to Tropical Storm Hilary — pounded the golf-centric Coachella Valley with rainfall totals surpassed on just four other occasions since record-keeping began in the City of Palm Springs in 1893.

On an annual basis, the city averages 4.61 inches of rain. On Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023? According to , nearly 20 percent of that annual rainfall total dropped on the city in an hour’s time.

All told, Tropical Storm Hilary poured 3.18 inches of rain over Palm Springs in one day. Among the other eight desert cities encompassing the Coachella Valley region, the City of Palm Desert received a reported 3.82 inches, the City of Desert Hot Springs 3.55, and the City of La Quinta 3.24.

In concert with the storm’s subsequent late afternoon and evening wind gusts reaching nearly 60 miles per hour as the rainfall began to quell, Hilary’s damage tally, according to Riverside County and reported further by the , is estimated at more than $126 million, with the majority of damage and ensuing costs occurring in the Coachella Valley.

A mere 11 days following Hilary, a thunderstorm of the monsoonal variety crashed the valley’s east-end rural communities to the tune of 3 more inches of rain, with portions of the region’s more densely populated areas receiving approximately a quarter inch to an inch of soak, coupled with earnest dust storms.

While Riverside County’s estimates categorize road/bridge damage and individual assistance efforts as sizable portions of the costs, the valley’s 121 golf courses were not spared. Dozens of courses suffered a ranging degree of damage, with some losing but a few trees and others the recipient of ails more severe.

Tee up the rally

Though the reported rainfall totals proved aberrant, desert golf course operators, agronomists and superintendents are no strangers to weather extremes.

Nor are they wont to play the victim. Nor are they ill-prepared for the powers of Mother Nature.

Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage presents the layout and topography of having four holes play through the Whitewater Wash, with another hole susceptible to run-off from the highway adjacent.

“You always know something like this could happen, so you’ve got to be prepared for it,” Thunderbird superintendent Ben Vann says. “But you can never quite be prepared for the magnitude. Over this past winter, we had rain events happen four times, but we cleaned those up within a week’s time, no problem. Yet this, with Hilary, it was like taking all four of those winter storms and dumping it into one storm.”

In recent years, Thunderbird — which opened in 1951 as the first 18-hole course in the Coachella Valley — enjoyed a full renovation project with architect Tripp Davis. The work, according to Vann, included the benefits of myriad contingency conversations with the designer, along with the added asset of having an engineer assessing water flow and damage mitigation. Between forethought and aftermath, Vann found his property well-armed for the inclement.

“I was most concerned about the amount of water, so I drained all of our lakes pre-storm so the water had a place to go, and the lakes wouldn’t overflow and flood anything,” Vann adds. “And even though we ended up with a lot more rain than I expected, we still came out all right.”

Having the right tools on-hand also provided a proactive push.

“Pre-storm, my GM came up to me and asked if we should get a bulldozer in here, order one,” Vann says. “I told him that, from my time working on the East Coast in South Carolina, I’ve seen this a bunch of times, that these storms can veer away and we’re gonna end up wasting our money. But I ended up ordering the bulldozer before the storm, and it turned out to be one of the best things we could do. The storm was on a Sunday, and the equipment showed up the following Tuesday, so we just jumped right into the cleanup.”

From damage derived both discovery and potential benefit.

“The biggest part was the amount of material deposited in the wash, the amount of sand,” Vann says. “But this runoff material is actually beautiful. There are some rocks in it, but it’s some of the nicest material that I’ve seen come down the wash. And that actually helped us, in that we can use it to put some interesting shapes into the wash, to make the bottom channel slightly deeper to accept more water and hopefully hold more mud.”

Between timing and teamwork, valley properties galvanized around the cleanup.

PGA WEST in La Quinta, with its nine-course, public and private spread, is known as “The Western Home of Golf in America.” In concert with serving as host of the PGA Tour’s annual American Express, the properties are involved with a course-by-course improvement and restoration project. This summer, PGA WEST’s improvement work focused on the Mountain and Dunes courses.

“We just rebuilt the greens over there (this past summer), but, short of one of the putting greens, they came out with no damage from the storm,” PGA WEST director of agronomy Brian Sullivan said in late September. “We did intend to reopen them earlier, but now what we’re doing is repairing any damage to bunkers and cart paths. Instead of reopening and then closing (for overseed) in a few weeks’ time, we decided to go to overseed earlier and then actually open it earlier. We’re trying to make it a better situation for ourselves.”

In hindsight, Sullivan reflects upon the sagacious decision to not “blowing bubbles” on his storm prep.

“Fortunately, there’s some specialty drainage equipment,” he says. “Over at the Mountain and Dunes, there’s a 30-foot pump we call Big Red, and there are three of 'em. We looked at those a few months ago and said, ‘Boy, I bet somebody needed those.’ In advance of Hilary, we decided on the spot — ‘Let’s get those ready.’ And that was a fortuitous choice. We’ve been using them ever since the storm.”

Along with championing a community rally and cleanup teamwork from both the City of La Quinta and a neighboring club, Sullivan says the most revealing, if not impactful, result of a palpable weather event may be in learning which of your horses are true thoroughbreds.

“One of the positives is that when somebody has to save the barn, you find out who the firefighters are,” the agronomist analogizes. “Internally, we found out who some of the people are that you really wanna go to battle with. That was one of the most valuable lessons of all. These people are proud of what they’ve done, and when we reopen on November 1, we’ll have a staff who knows they did their very best in spite of some odds against us. And, to me, that’s the fun part.”

At nearby SilverRock Resort in La Quinta, storm damage included ample mud on carts path (and some path damage), along with standing water on fairways and paths. Additionally, most of the bunkers were either washed out or water-filled, while Hilary downed 30 trees. The property’s lauded Santa Rosa Mountain setting proves both beauty and beast.

“Our biggest challenge at SilverRock is the watershed we get off the mountains, which borders much of the property,” SilverRock general manager Randy Duncan says. “We’ve got large native areas designed to hold a lot of that water — which they did. But water coming off the mountain in such huge amounts, it just can’t accommodate that much.”

Akin to PGA WEST, an approach at SilverRock proved paramount to recovery.

“Our crew worked really, really hard,” Duncan says. “It was all hands on deck, with guys from outside services helping the maintenance crew. We literally had everybody out there to get the course back to playability — which we did. We all have a sense of pride in this place. We all want what’s best for SilverRock. And if that means getting outside of your normal job, that’s what it means. And that commitment doesn’t surprise me, but I still have so much gratitude for that.”

With teamwork came the further tenet of malleability. SilverRock advanced its overseeding date by two weeks, and Duncan believes the nimble timing may derive actual benefits.

“We’re about eight or nine days removed, we’ve had ideal weather and great germination” Duncan said at the close of September. “And we’re excited about the fall and upcoming peak season. I think the course is going to play better than ever. So far, knock on wood, this is one of the best overseeds I can remember and I’m hoping that’s the silver lining in all of this.”

Of course, whatever the forecast, whatever the rally, whatever the season, whatever the belief system, to borrow the Yiddish adage: “Man plans, and God laughs.”

It’s important that superintendents can as well.

“I’m a golf course superintendent; we worry 24 hours a day,” Sullivan says. “That’s why they pay us.”

Judd Spicer is a Palm Desert, California-based writer and senior Golf Course Industry contributor.

Tartan Talks 88

Greens are the most scrutinized and intricate course features in the industry. Renovating them requires tremendous coordination, communication and execution.

Drew Rogers and Mike Gogel are comfortable with the extensive process required to renovate greens, and they shared some of the methodology and philosophy behind greens-focused projects on the podcast.

Rogers, who works primarily in the Midwest and South Florida, says agronomic conditions and expectations are often the impetus for a greens renovation. Once he engages with a club, green speeds are a frequent topic during renovation conversations.

“The expectations of members and players have constantly been climbing so green speeds are forcing our hand in a lot of scenarios, whether it’s the grasses on the greens or the slopes that comprise the greens,” he says. “That gets folded into how we treat where we are going to go in the future.”

The Arizona-based Gogel also works in warm- and cool-season environments. He compares constructing a green to building a house, with conditioning demands often determining how much of the surface can be used.

“If I go out and build a 5,000-square-foot house and have marble tile, flat-screen TVs and amazing sound systems ,and I have to live in the garage, what’s the point?” Gogel says. “I pay to build it, I pay to maintain it, but I don’t use it. Same thing as a green.”

Download the podcast on the Superintendent Radio Network page of popular distribution platforms for more greens renovation insight from Rogers and Gogel.

Course news

South Seas on Captiva Island along Florida’s Gulf Coast is preparing to debut The Clutch, a 12-hole short course designed by Beau Welling that will open for play later this year. The new golf offering is part of the continued rebuilding process at South Seas following Hurricane Ian. The Clutch is named after a turtle’s nest and seeks to foster a love of the game in all ages and skill levels. Work was overseen by Welling and senior design associate Chase Webb. Clarke Construction Group served as the course builder. … Architect Bill Bergin and Duininck Golf are nearing completion of an extensive restoration at Valdosta (Georgia) Country Club. Bergin and his team replaced greens, fairways, bunkers, cart paths and the irrigation system on the 18-hole championship course. They were also responsible for creating a six-hole short course, practice facility and short-game area. … Areté Collective unveiled a partnership with David McLay-Kidd to build the architect’s first course in the southern United States. The course will be part of Loraloma, a private Hill Country community within the 2,200-acre Thomas Ranch master plan debuting outside of Austin, Texas. The course is scheduled to be completed in late 2024 for select play, with a full opening by spring 2025. … Pawleys Plantation Golf & Country Club in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, reopened after a greens and bunkers restoration project. Troy Vincent of Nicklaus Design Group led the project for Founders Group International, the course's parent company. Work included restoring green complexes to their original specifications and installing TifEagle Bermudagrass on the surfaces, installing Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass on collars, and modifying multiple fairway bunkers. … The Estates Course at the Arizona Biltmore Golf Club is in the final stages of grow-in and is scheduled to open for daily-fee and member play this month. Designed by the Lehman Design Group and Scottsdale resident Tom Lehman, the new Estates Course features recontoured fairways, enhanced tee boxes and green complexes, and new sand and grass bunkers. … Audubon International welcomed Black Desert Resort, a new golf course development in Ivins, Utah, as a registered member of the Audubon International Signature Sanctuary Program. Black Desert will work closely with Audubon International’s team of environmental specialists to formulate a plan to earn property-wide designation as a Platinum Certified Signature Sanctuary, starting with its 19-hole championship golf course. … The Country Club, in Brookline, Massachusetts, was selected as the host site of four upcoming USGA championships, including the 2038 U.S. Open and 2045 U.S. Women’s Open. … The Tom Doak-designed North Course at Te Arai Links has opened, bringing the highly regarded New Zealand resort to 36 holes.

Industry buzz

Western Kentucky University student Elliott Pope is the repeat winner of the Mendenhall Award of $6,000 in the 2023 Scholars Competition offered through the GCSAA. Pope has worked on the crew at Columbia Country Club in Columbia, South Carolina, and The Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and completed internships at The Tree Farm in Aiken, South Carolina, and Maidstone Club in East Hampton, New York. … FMC is preparing to launch Durentis, a proprietary insecticide focused on season-long protection from above- and below-ground chewing pests, including all 13 species of grubs and fall armyworms. … Envu named John Price as head of U.S. Turf & Ornamentals. Price joined Envu from SBM Life Science, where he served as the North American head of marketing and innovation. … The ASGCA announced executive director Chad Ritterbusch plans to retire from the position he has held since 2004. Ritterbusch will stay in his current role until a successor begins in summer or fall 2024.