Water hazard

Rains put a damper on the golf courses

By Chris Forsberg, Globe Correspondent  |  July 2, 2006

On a sun-splashed Tuesday afternoon, the one-liners zip across the practice green at Red Tail Golf Club in Devens faster than the putts. ``We better get this round in before the rain comes back," quips one golfer.  ``Maybe we should play 36 holes because you know we're not getting out again this weekend," jabs another.

At least these guys can laugh about the seemingly interminable rains that have crippled area courses and their profits during the first three months of the 2006 golf season.

If it weren't for the unseasonably warm weather the region enjoyed during late March and early April, courses would be in real economic trouble, given the downpours of May and June. But that's of little solace to local hackers who hadn't dusted off their Pings before the deluge.

``We've been hearing a lot of people complain" about simply getting out on the course, said Michael Herrick, a PGA pro at Shaker Hills Golf Club in Harvard. ``The thing is, the rain always seems to come on the weekends, and that's where the bulk of our rounds are played. So then the sun comes back out and we do something like 150 golfers on a Tuesday, which is unheard of."

Also unheard of is the amount of precipitation that local courses endured during a soggy spring. According to statistics logged by The Weather Channel's weather.com, the Country Club of Billerica received measurable rainfall on 17 of the 31 days in May and 15 of the first 27 days in June.

If you focus on just Saturdays and Sundays, five of eight potential weekend days featured rain in May, while six of the eight weekend days in June received precipitation.

While on some days that rain measured a mere one-100th of an inch, a nine-day stretch from May 9 to 17 featured 6.69 inches of rain, 4.29 of which fell on the two-day period starting Saturday, May 13. It seems Mother's Day belonged to Mother Nature.

The Country Club of Billerica stomached 9.10 inches overall in May and 9.45 inches more in June, when each month typically averages less than 4 inches.

The folks at the Billerica club are starting to think golfers might have to wait another year to see all the improvements they made to their course.

``We have invested quite a bit into our business this season, on the golf course and clubhouse," said Ed O'Connell, a PGA pro at Billerica. ``We have made many improvements and, unfortunately, the weather has kept people from being able to enjoy them. Hopefully, the weather will turn for the better. I also believe that the improvements we made will drive more golfers to our club."

Local courses are trying anything to drum up business. While most tinker with rates or set up leagues, Billerica is hoping a revamped course will lure golfers back.

According to Steve Miller, the other pro at Billerica, more than 2,000 trees were removed from the course -- an improvement that undoubtedly helped the course dry out faster thanks to increased sunshine in previously shady areas .

``Obviously, we had a rough time of it with approximately 24 inches of rain," Miller said. ``The course held up very, very well. We only had a couple of problems with flooding, but our greens are the best they've been in years."

Now, if they could only get sustained sunshine to coax golfers out of an extended hibernation. As golf rounds overall have declined at New England courses over the past couple of years, local pros said, rain was the last thing they needed.

``Our course is bisected by the Souhegan River and, needless to say, we experienced and recovered from serious flooding and standing water after the Mother's Day storms in May," said Dan Diskin, PGA pro at Amherst Country Club in New Hampshire. ``We are in great shape and fully operational, and suffered only from a few days where certain holes were unplayable due to overflow from the river.

``We opened on March 11 and got a great start on the new year above projected number of rounds. The rains and flooding were a definite setback; however, we hope to make up rounds as the year progresses."

Courses remain soft under foot. Shaker Hills hosted a national junior event last week, and Herrick said a few holes still had standing water in the rough, and that's at a course that drains better than most.

Many smaller courses in the region have had to deal with water logged bunkers and washed-out cart paths for two months. As cleanup from one storm finishes, another storm arrives. Maybe a summer scorcher wouldn't be the worst thing for the clubs.

But it's not just the weekend warriors who are dealing with the inclement weather. The Champions Tour's Bank of America Championship scheduled for June 9 through 11 at Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord was canceled after rain caused the abutting Sudbury and Concord rivers to flood the course.

It was the first time a Champions Tour event had been postponed because of weather since Hurricane Hugo erased the PaineWebber Invitational in Charlotte, N.C., in September 1989. According to weather.com, Nashawtuc received 3.87 inches of rain from June 7 to 10, with 2.19 inches falling that first day.

The summer should bring better weather (``It can't get much worse" was the catch-phrase of choice for golf pros), but will it be enough to bring golfers back to the links?

Herrick attributed the decline in business over the past couple of years to a combination of a larger number of courses in the area, rising gasoline prices, slow pace of play, and the fall of the so-called Tiger Woods phenomenon. The frustrating part is that local courses cannot control most of those factors.

``Where can you go and play a round in less than five hours anymore?" Herrick asked.

``Last year, with rounds on the decline, I put groups out 10 minutes apart instead of eight, and they were not on top of each other as much. That alleviates the pace-of-play issue, but that's about the only issue we can control here."