Visit To WIldcat Creek

Today in my Hort 517 class (Golf/Sports Operations) we visited Wildcat Creek Golf & Fitness. Kevin Fately the superintendent there gave us a golf cart guided tour of the course. Me being me, I had played this course before and was already familiar with it. A 9 hole mostly Par 3 course, it also has a few short Par 4’s. I enjoy all the Par 3’s but a Par 4 is always a good stress reliever. The tour consisted of checking out some problem spots around the fairways and greens, some diseases of the fairway were mostly brown patch and some areas that Poa was invading. In the case of the greens there, the main problem that most courses struggle with was Dollar Spot, pathogen name; Schelerotinia homoeocarpa. Fately has problems with this on greens because the budget is not substantial enough at Wildcat, so they are only to spray maybe 2 – 3 times a year. This is common for a small course because when times are tough weighing your pros and cons can be beneficial. Something I particularly enjoyed his (Fately) take on was when he explained how Dollar Spot has evolved over the years. 10 years ago he said Dollar Spot actually looked like a quarter dollar coin, and now it appears as multiple spots creating a ½-1 foot size brown spot. He believes the strain of pathogen has evolved with ever fighting resistance towards fungicides.

Times in the industry seem to becoming tougher and tougher, with more and more water restrictions popping up all over the U.S. superintendents have become more knowledgeable with how they water the turf. In the case of Wildcat creek, Fately has built his own pumping system from a nearby stream. All house made the pump includes a giant I-bar beam that extends across the stream, hanging from the bar is piping and steel cable. At the bottom he has installed a turbine engine device that cycle through water at about 200 gallons a minute. The most intriguing part was that the steel cable can raise and lower the turbine, so when a 500 year flood arrives he can lift the device out of the stream to protect his very creative invention. Along with all the innovation he still follows the state code of installing 2 backflow devices and a meter so that the water is potable and safe for humans to be around along with keeping records of his water use. I like creative ideas like this because Fately said his water bill in the summer months could be as high as $23,000.

Our trip to Wildcat Creek was definitely an educational experience, but the best part was at the end when I introduced myself to Kevin. I told him I was interning at Colbert Hills with Matt Gourlay my boss, he went on to tell me he was good buddies with Matt and that Matt has been playing too much Foot Golf out at Wildcat, oh yeah they have an 18 hole Soccer Foot Golf course in between the real golf holes. Odd in my opinion but I hear the sport is taking off! At the end of our conversation I said to him that I was about to go play a round of 9 holes on his course, a great guy, he told me he would comp my round and enjoy myself since it was a late Friday afternoon. Wildcat Creek is a great course and I highly recommend checking it out if you’re looking to boost your game a little.