Power outages

As I write this, we are just getting reorganized after dealing with a power outage early this morning. There are a couple of extra concerns that the Grounds department has to be aware of whenever we have a power outage at the course.

Power outages can happen from the strongest wind storms or from the slightest breeze. A dead branch that is caught in the wind just right can fall across the power lines and knock our power out in an instant. In this case, last night, we had a decent thunderstorm roll through in the evening. Strong winds were the culprit this time. First thing when we arrived this morning we knew the power was out because our outside motion lights were off. However, a quick check of the property told us that power was only out to the maintenance facility and tennis, not to the clubhouse or pool. Since our power enters the property from several locations to feed our different buildings, when only one section is out, it means that power can more easily and quickly be restored.

Our first concern is whether the irrigation system had a chance to run before power was lost. Depending on when the cycle was scheduled to start and when the power went out, we try and reconstruct the chain of events. If we happened to have a dry storm, or we were only just hit by the edge of the storm, this becomes even more critical. Last night, the power went out before our irrigation ran, but luckily we did get a small amount of rain. If we had not received rain, we would have been scrambling to get all of our watering done as soon as the power returned. This can be very difficult because our full cycle of irrigation usually runs anywhere from 3-6 hours. The later in the day the power comes back on makes fitting this in, amongst golfers and the heat, increasingly difficult.

Another concern that we have is ensuring that our backup generators for the club’s well and wastewater treatment plant are operating. We have regular maintenance performed on these machines and both are setup to automatically engage when power is lost. These two generators are also fed from different power sources, so knowing what sections of power are out across the property is again important.

Lastly, if power is lost to the tennis bubble, we check to make sure the bubble backup generator is operating as well. If the bubble loses air pressure and begins to deflate, damage can be done quickly. The interior lights can be damaged when they hit the ground. Also, the bubble material itself can be punctured from falling down on the net posts.

Many of you probably remember storms much worse than last night. We were lucky to only have power out for a few hours, enough rain fell to not warrant a full irrigation cycle, and all of our generators operated as expected. Big storm or little storm, it keeps us on our toes though.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please do not climb up the steep face of the bunkers.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org