As we enter into summer 2011, the city of Los Angeles is entering into its 4th straight year of mandatory water restrictions. Despite the preceding wet winter and the announcement from our Governor, Jerry Brown in spring 2011, “the drought is over”, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has not lifted water restrictions. At Angeles National Golf Club, we are dependent upon LADWP water to irrigate our course and therefore are still under the severe water restriction placed upon us.
Angeles National Golf Club has been ordered to reduce its water use by 20%. We are responsible users of this precious natural resource and we will continue to abide by the restrictions while striving to provide our members and guest the best possible playing conditions.
Thank you for your continued support and we hope you enjoy you experience at Angeles National Golf Club.
Hi. I just played in the Golf Channel AmTour event yesterday. Before I started my round, I spoke to your P.A. who happened to be watching over the 1st tee. I asked him about the course conditions, specifically the green conditions and he told me that he thought it was playing around stimp 9 or so. As I played, I have to say, it may have even been playing around 8? It was so slow, like I had never seen it this slow at your golf course. I know you punched them just over a month ago, but you can still see that the greens had not grown in, but that is the weird thing - with your water rationing, I would've thought the whole course to play hard and crusty, but yet the whole course felt soft, and in some parts, very soggy. Couldn't you go back to the way we used to play it, where the greens were dry, firm, fast, true, not bumpy (we can see the punched bits quite obviously), running around stimp of 11? I would never play the event again unless I know the greens are in better shape. Even my downhill putts were hitting the brakes because they were so sticky and bumpy! I'm very disappointed in what's happened to your course.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. We certainly appreciate and look forward to feedback from all players. In respect to current green speeds, our average green speeds tend to run a touch slower in the summer than during the spring and fall as the greens are growing much faster this time of year. We strive to achieve green speeds between 10’ and 10.5 but the summer heat can create challenges towards these goals and place the greens in a high stress situation, a bad place to be as we head towards the end of summer. We lean towards plant health, which equates to more water and a higher height of cut, thus somewhat slower greens during the summer months.
ReplyDeleteThis morning, a stimp reading of 9’ was taken at 2 green, however the speed will slow as the blades continue to grow, especially towards the end of the day.
The aeration holes you noticed, become more visible when the greens are running low on nitrogen. We try to keep the nitrogen low to reduce the blades from growing too fast and slowing down ball roll. This is a difficult balance. Seeing aeration holes which have grown in, but have color differences, are signs of happy and health root systems getting plenty of oxygen, though this may add to some bumpiness towards the end of the day.
Unfortunately, as we manage our water application, we have some wet spots and it drives us crazy! We try to use our water as efficiently as possible, but sometimes areas tend to receive more than is required, mostly where water runs off and into basins and collection areas.
We hope this helps to explain our current conditions and welcome any thoughts you may have. Thank you again.
- Angeles National Golf Club