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When contemplating whether to take my first superin-tendent job, I considered many factors. After speaking withpeople in the industry, researching the job and assuring my-self that I was up to the task, I thought I'd covered all of mybases.

However, there was one crucial factor I failed to consider- Texas weather.

The rains beginTwin Rivers Golf Club (formerly Bear Ridge Golf Club)

is a Peter Jacobsen and Jim Hardy design located in Waco,Texas. Built in 2001, it's the home course of the Baylor men'sand women's golf teams. The property was acquired by BrownBark One LLP in early 2007. The new ownership recognizedthe potential of the property and decided to fund major im-provements, including resurfacing all greens and rebuildingthe greenside bunkers.

When I started at the course in late May 2007, it seemedapparent that a typical hot, dry summer waited just aroundthe corner. Our lake-fill pump, which rests in the MiddleBosque River, was inoperable, leaving a critically low irriga-

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tion lake for a course that was already showing obvious signsof drought stress. After spending a large amount of time andmoney, we repaired the pump, filled the lake and began wa-tering the course.

Little did we know that the central Texas monsoon seasonwas about to begin. The week after we repaired the pump, the

. rains started. The river flowed out of its banks and overflowedinto our irrigation lake, thus eliminating the necessity of hav-ing a pump at all. As the waters receded we frantically beganthe cleanup process in preparation for hosting the StarburstJunior Golf Tournament, the second-largest junior tourna-ment in the country, which is played at several courses aroundtown.

If we thought this first flood was bad, we were wrong. Thegood Lord must like junior golf, because the tournament,played in early June, would be our last dry weather we wouldsee for six weeks.

Round twoWe had planned to resurface all our greens in mid-June,

immediately following the tournament. The process got off toa great start but was soon plagued with rain delays that neverseemed to end. About three days into the work, Burnside Ser-vices was forced to halt construction and wait for dry weather.Unfortunately, this was not the typical summer.

Left: Luckily for Moore, his canoe fit through thedoors of the pump station. The canoe served notonly as transportation, but also as a work bench, andeventually as transportation for the variable frequencydrive computer, stashed away safely in the front of thecanoe.

. Below: Travis Moore's father, Jim Moore, director ofconstruction education for the USGA,lends a hand inless-than-favorable working conditions.

Bottom: A panorama of holes 4, 5 and 8, as well asthe pump station. Taken July 5, 2007.

Right: Moore took literally hundreds of step-by-step digital photos to ensure everything could be putback in the right place.

ued to rise farther up the trim on the doors, threatening morevaluable equipment.

Not having a thorough knowledge of pump station re-pair, we relied extensively on a digital camera. My father, JimMoore of the USGA, and I took literally hundreds of step-by-step photos while disassembling the station in order to en-sure that we would be able to put everything back in the rightplace. Everything in a pump station is expensive, and fuses areno exception. I made the mistake of leaving several fuses inthe box until they were partially submerged. Unfortunately, itcost hundreds of dollars to replace them.

The component we worried most about was the VFD, orvariable frequency drive computer. With the water about afoot away from its base, we decided it was time to move itto higher ground. You know it's a strange year when you arestanding in more than 3 feet of water attempting to transfer a150-pound, $7,000 computer into a canoe for transportationto dry land. The canoe proved to be a great tool as it doubledas transportation and a floating work bench. Needless to say,the whole process proved to be a nerve-racking method for

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.....:LIt;!Above: Based on a call to the Corps of Engineers, who indicated the water would rise at least anothersix inches even without additional rain, Moore (pictured) made the decision to remove additionalcomponents from the pump station.

Pump station repair 101Every day we closely monitored the water's progression. We

marked the trim on the doors to the 'pump station and watchedas the water rose. We measured how high off the ground vari-ous components in the station were (motors, circuit boards,breaker boxes, etc.) and related those numbers to our markson the door. The water fluctuated over a three-week span andvaried from a few inches a day to as much as a foot.

Eventually it was apparent that we would need to removeas many electrical components as possible from the pump sta-tion. This became a three-stage process as the water contin-

The rains in June and July would cause the level of LakeWaco, as well as the rivers flowing into it, to exceed their nor-mal elevation in excess of 20 feet. Average rainfall in Wacofrom March 1 to July 31 is just under 10 inches. In that time-frame in 2007, we received more than 25 inches of rain.

As the water continued to rise we watched several tees, fair-ways, and even three greens complexes become completely sub-merged. During this time we witnessed several unusual sights.Four feet of water covering the fourth green transformed thefumigation cover into a giant balloon as the air trapped be-neath it tried to escape. Then, some curious boaters decidedto drive their pontoon boat across the course and drop anchorover the submerged eighth fairway. In addition, several of themembers traded their golf clubs for fishing poles and had luck

, catching catfish over the top of the No. 15 green.Meanwhile, we had two major concerns facing the course:

The flooding was delaying the replanting of the greens, push-ing our opening date further and further away, and contin-ued rising water threatened the pump station and the valuableequipment inside.

68 GeM April 2008

The cleanup of Twin Rivers took many hours of labor.The flood waters left a lot oftrash on the course, including a deer carcass and dead fish.

learning the system's ins and outs.

The waters recedeToward mid-July the course had dried out enough to finish

construction on 19 of the greens (three remained under water).We monitored the water recession and desperately waited toreinstall the pump station components and begin planting 19of our 22 greens. Once water reached the base of the pad inthe station we began the re-installation process.

The first step was to remove all debris from the building.We did our best to get everything clean and dryas the entirestation was littered with trash, moss and irrigation fittings.My bos~, George Coleman, an 18-year GCSAA member andthe Class A superintendent at Lost Lake GC in Jupiter, Fla.,helped my dad and me as we began the process of putting ev-erything back together.

All of the pictures taken during disassembly were down-loaded onto a laptop and served as our installation instructionmanual. Not having power to the building, we relied on agenerator to run the lights, fan and laptop. Before turning thepower back on, we decided to have a professional come in andcheck our work. Robert Paschall, the Flowtronex expert withMPS Ine. of Dallas, inspected the station and replaced a fewdamaged components (including all the fuses I let get wet).After he gave the OK to turn the power back on, we success-fully pressured up the system.

We now had to frantically repair the irrigation system. Twosatellite boxes had been completely under water and requiredmuch attention. As I lifted the cover for the display on one ofthe boxes, I was surprised to find a small black bass that hadbecome trapped during the flood. All of the components wereremoved and thoroughly cleaned. I was amazed at how wellthey performed despite being suomerged for so long. Many ofthe heads needed work and tended to stick on because of allthe debris in the still-flooded irrigation lake.

On July 19 and 20, Mike Brown with Champion TurfFarms arrived to begin the planting process. Everything wentaccording to plan, and we were able to begin our grow-in on18 of our 21 greens. Three weeks later the final three greenssurfaced. We removed the silt and debris from the complexesin preparation for Burnside Services to return. After fumiga-tion and final grading, Champion Turf Farms was able to fin-ish the planting process.

From feast to famineAugust was drier than usual, which caused us another

problem. Because of heavy watering during grow-in anddrought-like conditions on the course, we had started lower-ing the water level in the irrigation lake again. The floodinghad disabled the lake-fill pump for the second time, and wewere now monitoring the water from a completely differentpoint of view.

We lowered a long measuring tape into the wet well and weclosely watched the level drop as we tried our best to conserve

70 GeM April 2008

water. The only areas of the course to get water were our newlyplanted greens. To repair the pump we hired a barge to travelup the river from Lake Waco. Unfortunately, the lake was stillflooded, and it took a couple of weeks before they could get tothe pump. Fortunately, the pump was repaired before we rancompletely out of water.

Not long afterward we received word from the city ofWaco that we were rio longer allowed to pump out of the riverbecause of complications with our water rights contract. Theconflict was resolved after about 10 days of hoping for rain,and we were able to start watering again.

Never a dull momentThat summer was certainly an entertaining challenge. We

dealt with floods, tournament preparation, equipment change-over, the hiring and training of an essentially new crew, andmajor renovations to the greens and bunkers. I learned thatthere is never a dull moment in the life of a superintendent,and that every day provides a new challenge.

I've also discovered that this industry provides a supportnetwork unlike any other. I appreciate the hard work and pa-tience of the crew, Mike Caldwell, our assistant superinten-dent as well as all of the superintendents, contractors, vendorsand industry professionals who went out of their way to pro-vide insight and support .. .,Travis Moore is superintendent at Twin Rivers Golf Club in Waco, Texas, and athree-year member of GCSAA. A shorter version of this story originally appearedin Lone Star Links, the official publication of the Lone Star GCSA.

Leo Feser Award candidateThis article is eligible for the 2008 Leo Feser Award, present.ed .an-

nually since 1977 to the author of the best superintendentiwrilten.ar,ticlepublished in GeM during the previous year. Superintendents receive a$300 stipend for articles ..Feser Award winners receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the Golfilndustry Show, where they are recognized. They alsohav.etheir<names engraved on a plaque permanently displayed at GCSAA

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