Rain, rain, go away

Large holes littered the Lawrence Yacht and Country Club for much of 2022 and early 2023, the result of a village drainage improvement plan that stretched five years and cost around $9 million. The project slowed play, but it was necessary: Located on the western edge of Long Island, Lawrence was hammered by Hurricanes Irene and Sandy in consecutive years and endured flooding after heavy rain throughout the next decade.

It started at the worst time for superintendent Adam Thomas and his team as they had completed an irrigation installation the year before.

Many of those new pipes were dug up, pulled out and set aside. After 5-foot drainage pipes were installed, Thomas worked with Winterberry Irrigation to plant the system again, and with McDonald Golf to restore the sixth green and seventh fairway to their 1924 original Devereux Emmet design.

“Things throughout 2022 were so hectic for me I barely had any opportunity to think,” Thomas says. “I had to get Winterberry in here to get everything removed, I had to work with general manager (Cory Menking) and certain members. It was tough. It was stressful. It was a lot of hours. We didn’t have any control over it so we just had to make sure members were kept up to speed as much as possible so there were no surprises.

“I’m glad it’s over. It wasn’t terrible, but I wouldn’t wish it on any golf course superintendent.”

Caring for the turf as it grew back in provided another challenge — though a much smaller and more manageable challenge. Tees and greens at Lawrence are predominantly bentgrass, while fairways are “still a hodgepodge of bent, rye and Poa,” Thomas says, adding that he would like most fairways to be at least 50 percent bentgrass by next year and eventually check in around 90 percent. “I’m optimistic that in the next five years, if we keep up with our program, we’ll be spraying all our fairways like they’re bentgrass. It’s been slow, but we’re progressing.”

To help with that progress, Thomas has started to dial back nitrogen applications and apply more SePRO Legacy to regulate plant growth while utilizing SePRO Musketeer to suppress and convert Poa annua.

“We’re spreading more and more bent on the fairways and that’s making things easier and easier,” Thomas says. “Every year in July or early August, we get some Poa thinning out on fairways, so as we push more bent that becomes less of a problem.” Musketeer, he adds, “has really been a big help.” If other Long Island superintendents, don’t already use it, “I would highly recommend it. We started out conservative with it on tees and greens and have gotten a little more progressive with time.”

Thomas is doing all this with a 15-person team, 11 of them full-timers — less than most Long Island private courses. Assistant superintendent Joe Beddel, mechanic Jimmy Arias — who has filled the role since the sudden death of former mechanic John Hutter — and spray technician Jesus Castillo have all played big parts. “We have a really good team,” Thomas says, “and we make the golf course a little bit better every year.”

With the irrigation installed — and re-installed — and the drainage pipes rerouting much of the rain well away from the course and key village roads, play is booming. Lawrence will handle about 30,000 rounds this year — more than any year in the club’s 100-year history, Thomas says, save for perhaps 2021 and 2022.

It’s a special time at a special place.

“I’ve lived here 13 years now,” Thomas says. “And one of the reasons I love my job so much, I live a block from the ocean. I can go home after work and I can walk on the beach for an hour or so, read a book, maybe take a dip in the ocean, and I feel good as new. I love being by the water.” He is surrounded by members both at the club and in his neighborhood and has gotten to know them as more than just golfers.

“It does have kind of a family atmosphere,” he says. “It’s just a very nice quality of life here.”