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Millions of Gallons of Water Keep Pomme Creek Golf Course Green

Arnold's public golf course used city water for the first time in five years keep their grass healthy and green. The course is operated by the city parks department.

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Tim Schwierjohn, the superintendent at Arnold’s Pomme Creek Golf Course, showed Patch around the greens. Pomme Creek is a public course operated by the Arnold Parks Department, with a staff of two full time workers (including Schwierjohn) and six part time workers.

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Tim Schwierjohn, the superintendent at Arnold’s Pomme Creek Golf Course, showed Patch around the greens. Pomme Creek is a public course operated by the Arnold Parks Department, with a staff of two full time workers (including Schwierjohn) and six part time workers.

Credit Denise Bertacchi

The Pomme Creek Golf Course has already used 5.8 million gallons of water from its retention ponds this year, plus 2.5 million more gallons from the city water system. Schwierjohn said any other year the course would only need seven to eight million gallons of water from March to December. In December the irrigation system is shut down for the winter.

Credit Denise Bertacchi

Schwierjohn said golf courses typically use Bentgrass on their greens. The grass is very durable yet expensive. He said its not used on residential lawns because it looks terrible when allowed to grown several inches. The greens are kept at a height of 1/8 of an inch.

Credit Denise Bertacchi

Hole #15 at Pomme Creek is the "signature hole" for the course. This is the only area where they have used more expensive Zoysia grass in the fairways and Fescue in the rough. Schweirjohn said this grass requires more maintenance work, but is more enjoyable to for golfers to play on. The fairway was bulldozed and renovated in 2009, adding an additional 200 yards to the fairway and increasing the hole from par 3 to par 4.

Credit Denise Bertacchi

The tees and greens are kept green with a sprinkler system. Schwierjohn said his crews move the tee area frequently so golfers do not wear out the grass.

Credit Denise Bertacchi

A close up of the greens. Pomme Creek uses Bentgrass grown on a 12-inch deep bed of 85% sand and 15% peat moss for drainage. Schwierjohn said his crews check the greens each morning and give them additional water by hand when needed. "The only thing worse than dry grass is wet grass," he said.

Credit Denise Bertacchi

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Related Topics: Drought, Golf & Recreation Center, Grass, and Pomme Creek Golf Course

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