fe ature ◗ Jim Riopelle
An aerial view of Oak Island Golf Resort.
The following is an excerpt from a more detailed golf course document provided for the owners after each season. It summarizes our 2011 Turf Care records and is a precursor to the next season’s budget document. It just so happens that in 2011, Manitoba experienced a 300-year flood, so only 12 holes were open for play the entire season. After the daunting clean up and inter-seeding, all 18 holes opened for play on April 23, 2012. It is now 2013 and the course has fully recovered from the 2011 flood.
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Oak Island Golf Resort
Recovery from a Ruinous 2011 Flood ◗ Initial observations after spring
melting were very promising, although we did have some snow mold and ski-doo damage present on the course. Although water levels were rising, it wasn’t until sometime around April 23 when the dyke between Oak and Plum Lakes breached and the flooding began. We were able to control the flooding on hole 3, but succumbed to the water levels on holes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 13. Water levels and water table were so high that it even came up the 15th fairway and flooded the rough. All waste areas were lakes for the entire summer, with only two drying enough to allow for restoration. The back nine access culvert was pumped daily until late July through the use of a permanent sump pump. During and after temporary dyke construction, staff pumped water for approximately 121 days and we utilized 2400 man-hours keeping the water at bay. This amounted to an additional $12,000 in fuel costs for 2011. In a normal year, approximately 90 man-hours are utilized pumping water. The flooding temporarily delayed the course opening until May 13 with 12 holes in play all year. We closed the course on October 7 for the season (146
days). In contrast, the course opened for play in 2010 from April 23 to October 17 (176 days). It wasn’t until June 16 when we started seeing death of the grass plant under the water. Seeding commenced on July 12 and was completed by August 30. Small areas remain to complete in the spring. All areas were seeded with either a Fults alkali grass mixture or an elite Bluegrass mixture. Growing conditions were excellent after seeding. Our first mowing of the earliest seeded areas took place on August 31 and we continued mowing regularly up to midOctober. We used a total of 2150 pounds of Fults alkali seed and 2250 pounds of our Bluegrass blend. I am very pleased with our turf cover heading into winter dormancy. Rainfall for the golf season amounted to 447 mm (17.88 inches) with significant rainfall events (+25 mm) on 5 occasions. In contrast, 614 mm (24.56 inches) of precipitation fell in 2010 with significant rainfall events (+25mm) on nine occasions. The course was closed on only one occasion (June 2) due to 100 mm of rainfall over two days. Temperatures over the course of the golf season averaged 21.52 degrees C and we