Q&A With Eric Morsey

PondHawk, a solar-powered subsurface aeration system from LINNE Industries, uses the power of the sun to keep ponds clean and healthy. It’s cost-effective, quiet, and requires no electricity. We spoke with Golf Club of Dublin Superintendent Eric Morsey about his experience with PondHawk. The course has 15 PondHawks.

What were your pond maintenance problems before installing PondHawk?

Like most golf courses in residential communities, our stormwater ponds receive runoff from the neighborhood yards and the golf course. The high-nutrient load in the water leads to algae blooms and lower stormwater capacity in the long run.

As a result, some of our ponds had such dense algal matting that at times it looked like you could walk across the ponds! And when the ponds looked and smelled bad, we heard from the community.

What was your prior treatment strategy?

As an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary golf course, Golf Club of Dublin always looks for ways to demonstrate our commitment to the environment. Whenever possible, we avoid chemical applications to our water assets. Before our PondHawks were installed, we manually raked or skimmed algae to the shore. But with 38 surface acres of water under management, we frequently ended up using chemical treatments anyway.

How have your ponds changed since you installed PondHawk?

PondHawk has had a tremendous impact. We have better aesthetics, water quality, and aquatic life, less odors, and a smaller treatment budget. We cut our chemical and labor costs for managing ponds by 50%. This opened up money in the budget to add fish and other aquatic life to our ponds, making them more sustainable. We now have the freedom to be proactive, rather than reactive, with our ponds.

How has PondHawk changed the time and money spent on pond maintenance?

At Golf Club of Dublin, we do pond management in-house. We have 38 surface acres of water, some of it surrounded by homeowners, making the ponds difficult to access.

In the first year that PondHawk was installed, we saw an overall improvement in water clarity and reduced algae that translated into a 25% reduction in chemical applications with no human interaction. We were encouraged.

We have installed five PondHawk systems per year over the last three years, and the ponds get better every year. The ponds require less product applications, which saves us money and labor.

After you installed 10 units, what prompted you to purchase another five?

When we installed the first five systems, we saw almost day by day the pond going from completely covered with surface scum to clearing the center of the body of water within the first year. With these almost-immediate results, we added more PondHawks.

Golf Club of Dublin now has 15 PondHawk systems installed, aerating our lakes. We aren’t done, though; we’re buying more units every year until all the lakes use PondHawk. After what PondHawk has done for us, it’s a no-brainer!

Please tell us about your experience installing PondHawk systems.

PondHawk is a solid product. In addition to the improved water results, PondHawk offers a neat, clean setup. The cabinet and solar panel mounting system are professionally built, and the unit arrives preassembled. You just take it out of the box and hook it up! The installation process is well-documented, and with 15 in the ground our staff can get one up and running in about three hours. That’s time well spent as the results are tremendous.

The team at LINNE Industries is very reliable. They build genuine relationships with their customers. They stand out. From mapping out specific installation locations for each unit, to their easy ordering and shipping process and continuous improvement philosophy, I couldn’t ask for a better experience.

What would you say to other superintendents about the value of subsurface aeration using PondHawk?

Subsurface aeration allows the pond to do its natural nitrification cycles and creates a better environment for aquatic life. Achieving the results with reduced time and material costs—and no power delivery, electric meter, and ongoing electric costs—is a game changer. If saving time and money on pond maintenance is for you, switch to PondHawk.

To learn about the Golf Club of Dublin, visit www.golfclubofdublin.com.

To learn about PondHawk, visit www.pondhawk.com.