Summertime blues… and greens at Lake Omigosh GC

A look at No. 16 approach at Pinehurst No. 2, taken at the U.S. Open.

Since I’ve been on the road a lot this spring and early summer, I haven’t been to the Lake Omigosh Golf Club’s 19th Hole and Whine Bar here in Central Florida in a while. I finally dropped in last week and ran into our superintendent, Duffy McDuffy.

Duffy was instructing the new bartender, Carrie Mibak, on how to properly draw a Guinness from the tap and also pour from the bottle or can. “It’s all in the wrist, Carrie,” he said. “And remember, time is on your side to let the foam head form properly in the mug before serving.”

“Hey Duff,” I said as I slid onto the barstool next to him, “how are you and how’s the course? I haven’t been out there in weeks!”

“Well, mate,” he sighed, “as you know it’s been hotter than the hinges and we’ve been battling stubborn outbreaks of mole crickets and fire ants this season. I’ve got two guys who go out after course set-up and spot-treat the infested areas. You could help by telling your buddies on the Greens Committee to bump up my chemical budget a bit so I can do more preventive treatment instead of crisis management after a member climbs out of the steep, high side of a bunker and steps right in a fire ant nest. You know how those buggers love the high and dry bunker faces.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” I replied. “I did hear a couple of golfers in the pro shop say that the greens are rolling great! Must have been lots of chatter about green speed with the back-to-back U. S. Opens and Rory’s wire-to-wire win at Hoylake.”

“Oh, sure,” said Duffy. “Always happens after the majors are on TV. I usually just move the pin locations a wee bit closer to the edges of the slopes and when they start four-putting, they quickly change their tune. Of course they loved our velvety green roughs instead of the un-irrigated wiregrass native areas at Pinehurst.

“It did remind me of the old links courses back home, though. I give the folks at Pinehurst a big thumbs-up for showing the world, and especially the golfers here, that it is possible to use fewer resources and still play and enjoy championship golf. In fact, the committee has endorsed my suggestion that we convert more out-of-play acres to RCAs.”

“What in the world is a RCA?” I asked.

“It’s a Resource Conservation Area,” Duffy replied. “I like the term better than ‘native area’ because they’re usually not really just native plants, but they are areas that require fewer resource inputs including water, chemicals and labor. They’re not cost free, but with water availability becoming critical for recreational uses, it’s time we started taking steps to reduce our consumption any way we can while still maintaining the integrity of the game.”

As the clouds began gathering for a typical central Florida summer thunderstorm, I asked Duffy about this year’s weather.

“If that thunder-boomer hits us, we’ll have some bunker washouts to repair in the morning,” he said. “That’s another thing we need to address — those steep bunker faces. In our part of the world, with a high annual rainfall, we’re wasting lots of man-hours shoveling the same sand over and over again. There are some new bunker design and construction techniques and products that can reduce that pain in the budget. However, if I ever need to get a little extra water on the course, all I have to do is volunteer to host a superintendent’s meeting. It’s almost guaranteed to rain!

“Got to run mate, glad you’re back. Better come out and play before we start our fall renovation programs!”

Photo: Seth Jones