Lean staff is also trying to catch up on tasks

By Sam Richards

Staff writer

 

 

Monday, July 29 (9:00 a.m.): There’s nothing unusual about Rossmoor having to turn the East Bay Municipal Utility District water spigot at midyear to keep the two golf courses green and healthy. Summers in these parts are hot and dry, and Tice Creek runoff from winter rains diminishes as the usual heat kicks in.

“Our water costs have skyrocketed compared to (2023), since we postponed the planned irrigation turf reduction and the EBMUD water being turned on earlier,” Rossmoor golf course Superintendent Blake Swint said in July 12 report to the Golf Advisory Committee. “It has also been extremely dry and hot, leading to more water being used.”

Between EMBUD water price increases – an 8.5 percent jump went into effect on July 1 – and the need to use more to combat drier-than-usual summer, Rossmoor could end up spending approximately $500,000 on water from EBMUD this year, Mark Heptig, Rossmoor’s director of golf, told the Golf Advisory Committee.

While he said it’s fairly standard for Rossmoor’s golf courses to need more water in the summer, Heptig said the situation this year is more serious than usual, comparable to the worst of the early 2010s drought. “It’s been pretty prolonged,” he said.

In addition to driving the need for more water, the hot temperatures during first two weeks of July are also assumed to have caused a significant drop-off in the number of golfers, and thus the income from golf play on Rossmoor’s two courses. The number of rounds dropped between half and two-thirds from the usual early July number, Heptig said. Whereas in June there were many days of 300-plus players on Rossmoor’s courses, Heptig said the first half of July saw 120 to 140 playing in the sweltering heat each day.

The conditions that force the purchase of more water, he noted, also keep players off the courses.

“We have a lot of expenses and less income,” Heptig told the committee on July 12.

This comes after what Heptig reported was a strong June. Rounds played were up nearly 13% last month from those recorded in June 2023, he said, with fees collected up 11% from June 2023 to June 2024. Golf shop sales last month were “pretty close” to what a typical June reflects, he added.

That end-of-year water bill, Heptig said, will be decided almost entirely by the weather between now and the end of October. “It will depend on how hot it is, how continuous the heat is, and if we get any rain,” he said.

In their reports to the advisory committee, both Heptig and Swint said course workers have been behind on some basic course-related maintenance tasks, even though all 13 golf maintenance positions are now filled and/or back from absences (one of them is assigned to the lawn bowling greens). Some basic fertilizer and herbicide applications have gone undone, Swint’s report said, and Heptig said other tasks have only been partially carried out.

Though 13 workers is considered “full staffing” for Rossmoor’s 27 holes, Heptig said the average staffing level for an 18-hole golf course in this region is 15.

“We’re completely outmanned for what we want to do,” said Heptig, adding that a key piece of Rossmoor maintenance equipment, it’s largest lawn mower, is sidelined awaiting repair parts.

In a subsequent interview, Heptig said he will ask for funding for four more maintenance staffers during the upcoming budget cycle. He said it’s getting increasingly difficult to maintain the courses to the standards players expect.

“We’re doing the best we can with what we have,” Heptig said. “I feel my staff can’t do any more at this level without more help.”