Turf

Summer 2014 19 ing out about that at the beginning, because I'd been at courses that had miles and miles of drain lines everywhere." Any worry on his part soon dissipated. "We got a couple holes installed with irrigation and just ran heads for a couple days straight and never saw a puddle," Field said. "I kind of thought it would be all right. We've been open more than five years now and still don't have drainage issues." A gravity-fed irrigation system is another unique attribute for the course. Water from a large reservoir across the street is pumped up to a 1.5-million gallon storage tank on a hill at the course, Field said. "We made sure the elevation was high enough to get enough pressure when running full throttle in summer," Field said. Both the pump house and water tanks are the city's responsibility. Sand Hollow must maintain its filtration system and pay its monthly water bill. Water descends down one 22-inch pipe and branches out from the filter station, Field said. One pipe feeds the 18-hole course, while another feeds the nine-hole course and 11-acre driving range. Wetting agents help the course withstand the wind and high temperatures. "If we go too long in between irrigation cycles, it will get pretty toasty," Field said. "We use the wetting agent so the sand will want to receive the water. Localized dry spots don't want to take the water in. We try to put a little of the wetting agent out there. "On the greens, we spray higher quality wetting agents," Field said. "We have a few spots we have to hand water dur- ing the hot days of summer. For the most part, if we stay on top of the wetting agent program and make sure the irriga- tion is working right—we don't have too many issues." Maintenance issues "We're actually located in a city called Hurricane," Field said. "There's a reason for that. One day is perfectly calm and then The native red sand perfectly blends with the indigenous beauty at Sand Hollow. Photo by Steve Smede the next day it's blowing sideways. We get some hellacious winds out here—so bad that it blows sand out of the bunkers— tumbleweeds all over the course." When the red sand escapes the bunkers, sometimes at dis- tances of up to 20 yards, Field's crew moves it back when the winds die down. "Sometimes we have three to four days straight where it's just blowing and then we don't get good irrigation coverage," he said. "We spend a couple weeks trying to nurse it back to health." The course features Kentucky bluegrass on everything but the greens. A 50/50 blend of A1 bentgrass and A4 bentgrass serves greens. The bentgrass takes the heat pretty well as long as it gets the water it needs, Field said. High temperatures aver- age around 100 to 105 from June through August. Winter temps average around 40 to 50 and drop to the mid-20s at night. "We don't have many soil moisture sensors," Field said. "All my assistants have a soil probe in their cart, and we're constant- ly checking it. Our daily task is to assess how much water we have to put down, and how far we can stretch it out." That's a requirement for a cool season grass on a sand base in the middle of a desert. The steady breeze does reduce disease pressure. "We spray a couple times in the summer just to make sure we don't have an outbreak on the green," Field said. "We spray for cutworms and insects just once a year on the bluegrass. For pest management, this region has it pretty easy." WT SAND HOLLOW GOLF COURSE Hurricane, Utah • 7,315 yards (back tees) • 5,306 yards (front tees) • Par 72 • 3,248 feet (elevation of Hurricane) • 14,362 (population of Hurricane) www.sandhollowresorts.com

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