The Capital Improvements Authority voted unanimously Monday to recommend approval of a golf course proposal to spend $61,300 on six commercial-grade oscillating fans for its greens.
The proposal follows the hiring of a new course superintendent and the recommendation of United States Golf Association Agronomist John Daniels.
Course Director Tim Jarman presented the request to the board, which will pass it along to city council for consideration on June 20. Capital Improvements is an advisory board that makes recommendations to the council but isn’t empowered to spend money on its own.
Jarman told the board that when Daniels performed a course assessment during his October 2015 visit “he made a huge push for the fan purchase to help with greens maintenance on holes 5, 6, 11, 12, 14 and 15.”
Those greens, buffered by trees, tend to collect water, dry slowly and are susceptible to disease and other issues, new Superintendent Frank Conrick and Public Works Director Chad Birdsong said.
“You want them to dry out,” said Conrick, who previously worked for a golf course in Kansas City. “If they remain wet, that’s when disease sets in.”
Jarman said that Daniels also recommended that trees be thinned out to improve air flow and speed up the drying process. That part of the process would be done “in house,” according to Jarman.
“Our new man (Conrick) is an arborist and he climbs and does that himself,” said Jarman.
If approved, the fans would supplement the drying effect of wind, particularly on still, humid days.
“The ultimate goal is to produce better air flow, to help with the cooling and drying of the grass canopy, which in turn produces a better putting surface and playability for the patrons,” Jarman wrote in his letter to authority members.
SubAir, a Graniteville, South Carolina, company submitted the low bid of $43,300 for six fans. An additional $18,000 was requested for wiring, boxes, breakers, concrete pads and stabilizers, based on an estimate of $3 a foot for installation on the six greens.
Mayor Brad Eales, chairman of the authority, asked how the timing of the approval process would impact the most critical drying months of June, July, August and September.
“If we go for next Monday (city council consideration), we should have them by July,” Finance Director Steve Marriott said.
Conrick will perform much of the installation himself, Jarman said.
“He can begin installation as soon as it gets approval,” he said.
Making improvements to the course’s “problem” greens is part of an improvement plan to make Excelsior Springs Golf Club more attractive to members and visiting players.
Birdsong, the public works director, told authority members that the overhaul of the course’s cart paths is progressing. Sixteen of the path areas have been improved with two left to complete.
To read the rest of this story, see the Friday, June 17 issue of The Standard