By SAM McDOWELL
smcdowell@islandpacket.com
843-706-8123
Jonathan Wright fully expected a challenge when he took over as the course superintendent at Harbour Town Golf Links in December.
Monday, the first day during the week of the Verizon Heritage, was filled with rain. The downpour made Tuesday a bit more eventful for Wright and his staff of about 40 workers, who were out on the course at 5:30 in the morning working to clean up things.
"We have a lot of drainage out there, which took some of the heat off of us by the time we got here," Wright said. "We were able to cut the greens, so we mainly had the guys working on the bunkers."
The grounds crew sticks to that routine each time it rains.
Every area on the golf course -- the bunkers, fairways, greens, etc. -- presents a different issue when it receives precipitation. The traps are often the most difficult tests, Wright said. The large bunker on the par-4 16th hole can be especially laborious.
"That's always an issue," said Wright, who has been working at Harbour Town for 12 years.
Wright said his crew spent the majority of its time Tuesday morning using pumps to dry up the bunkers and utilizing squeegees on the fairways to displace the water. The fairway on the sixth hole, however, is often one of the few to remain damp.
Areas around the course showed standing water. But the playing areas remained relatively dry, a surprise to the players as they filtered in for their practice rounds Tuesday.
"It was perfect. It was as good as a golf course has been all year," said Brett Quigley, who arrived on the course at 7 a.m. "... We saw the grounds crew out there this morning, and the greens were bone dry and the golf course, for the most part, was pretty dry, which is a testament to the crew that they know what they're doing."
Drying up the course wasn't the only task for Wright and his crew Tuesday morning. Because pine trees line most of the narrow fairways at Harbour Town, shifting around the leftover mess made by the pine straw -- along with mulch and sand -- can be tedious.
"There's always a lot of areas on this course where you have to just take that stuff and put it back in place so it looked like nothing ever happened," Wright said.
And that gives the players the familiar feel of Harbour Town.
"I was surprised after that torrential pour we got (Monday) that it wasn't wetter," golfer Steve Flesch said. "It's in perfect shape. If we don't get much rain and it's a nice day (today), I would say by Saturday or Sunday, we'll have those nice firm, fast conditions like we always have here."
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