Agronomy Update — June 26, 2026

Course Operations

This week, we applied a wetting agent to the greens, tees, and fairways. Wetting agents improve water infiltration and promote more uniform moisture distribution throughout the soil profile. In addition, we aerified the tees using solid tines to enhance surface permeability.

As part of this effort, we also applied 2.5 tons of gypsum across the greens, tees, and fairways. These practices are specifically aimed at mitigating the negative effects of our well water. During dry periods, we rely more heavily on well water for irrigation, which contains elevated levels of sodium bicarbonate. Over time, this can cause the soil to seal, restricting both water movement and air exchange. The combination of wetting agents, aerification, and gypsum helps counteract these effects and improve overall soil health.

Laz aerifing tees on Tuesday. 

Our irrigation team has also been actively addressing system maintenance, including repairing leaks in pipes and sprinkler heads, as well as resolving electrical issues. The course has over 1,400 sprinkler heads, many of which are more than 22 years old. As with any aging infrastructure, components are beginning to wear out.

Dan & Santiago working a broken pipe on hole 7.

Over the past three years, the most common issues have been failures in the valve-in-head assemblies—which control water pressure and head operation—and malfunctioning electric solenoids, which activate the sprinkler heads. We are currently replacing an average of five valve-in-head assemblies per week. This process requires shutting off water to the affected area and draining the system to access and replace the component located at the base of each head. Solenoid replacements are somewhat less complex but still require excavation around the sprinkler head. Replacement costs are approximately $105 for valve-in-head assemblies and $75 for solenoids.

As a final note, the rainfall between Monday and Tuesday totaled 1.25 inches, making it the largest precipitation event—rain or snow—since the winter storm at the end of January.