Diaries of a Greenskeeper...

Chapter 7: Grass Bubble

Several months ago, while at work, I received a phone call from my boss, who was not at work at the time, telling me he had just received a phone call from the Pro Shop telling him that there was a broken pipe on 15. Hole #15 that is. When I receive news like that my adrenaline starts pumping and the race begins. I put the pedal to the metal, speeding past golfers in their back swings, jumping curbs, and taking every risky short-cut available. In a matter of minutes I’m on the scene. When I got there I couldn’t find the traditional geyser or the customary river of water raging down a fair way. All I saw was a grass bubble. My first instinct was to go up and jump on it, just for fun, and watch it pop like a zit. I didn’t do that though. I handled the situation like any professional turfgrass manager. I isolated the broken pipe by turning off the valve that ran to it, but just before I took a picture of it with my phone Russell (the irrigation technician) stabbed it with his valve key, spewing chocolate colored reclaimed water all over the fairway. I was devastated. Any chance I had of a good blog post was lost. Until now, since that incident I have been secretly hoping a pipe would break and create a documentable grass bubble. The other day while strolling around the course I came across this:

I turned off the valve like I had done previously, but before l let my childlike thrills get the best I me I went and got a camera and took a picture, then I popped it with my shovel.