Snowfall is extremely important to golf course management in Denver. Most irrigation water is derived from snowfall. For Pinehurst, we live on snow melt and stream flows from Bear Creek. When snow falls at Pinehurst its a win-win (in the irrigation and course stress departments, not for golfers).
2019 was a special year. The golf rounds were down but the snow totals were up, way up!
With 4 inches on December 28th, we eclipsed the 100 inch mark of snowfall on the year. For those of you who recently moved to Denver, this may sound like a normal winter, but I assure you it is not.
Historically, Pinehurst relies on stream flows for 65% of our irrigation water. The remaining amount comes from storage water in off site reservoirs. This year, streams were so plentiful, only 3% of our irrigation water came from storage. One benefit here is that we easily topped off that water this fall and have all of our storage water available to us in 2020.
We average about 325 Acre Feet of irrigation water annually. This year we came in at 320 AF. That number is higher than what most might expect on a high snow year, but there are a few reasons. It was still hot and dry in July, August & September, we had a significant grow-in with the driving range and practice greens that required more water than normal and since we had the water available to us we found areas such as roughs and native areas that normally struggle, which benefited with more water in 2019.
For more information on Pinehurst water supply for irrigation, please visit these past blogs.
Water Update, Part 1: Snowpack and Direct Flows; Water Update, Part 2: Water Storage; Water Update Part 3: The Summer Ahead and Your Lawn; Water Update Part 4: Ditches and Water Delivery
The official records for Denver are taken miles away from Pinehurst there are some differences. The records I found are taken from July through June. The 100" we recorded in this area of town all fell within 2019. Find the historical snow totals for Denver here.
We had 29 measurable snowfall events as late May 10th and then it picked back up again on October 10th.
2019 was a special year. The golf rounds were down but the snow totals were up, way up!
With 4 inches on December 28th, we eclipsed the 100 inch mark of snowfall on the year. For those of you who recently moved to Denver, this may sound like a normal winter, but I assure you it is not.Historically, Pinehurst relies on stream flows for 65% of our irrigation water. The remaining amount comes from storage water in off site reservoirs. This year, streams were so plentiful, only 3% of our irrigation water came from storage. One benefit here is that we easily topped off that water this fall and have all of our storage water available to us in 2020.
We average about 325 Acre Feet of irrigation water annually. This year we came in at 320 AF. That number is higher than what most might expect on a high snow year, but there are a few reasons. It was still hot and dry in July, August & September, we had a significant grow-in with the driving range and practice greens that required more water than normal and since we had the water available to us we found areas such as roughs and native areas that normally struggle, which benefited with more water in 2019.
For more information on Pinehurst water supply for irrigation, please visit these past blogs.
Water Update, Part 1: Snowpack and Direct Flows; Water Update, Part 2: Water Storage; Water Update Part 3: The Summer Ahead and Your Lawn; Water Update Part 4: Ditches and Water Delivery
We had 29 measurable snowfall events as late May 10th and then it picked back up again on October 10th.
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