12 March, 2009

Flag Golf


Watering resumes at Flag Golf Course. We in Anguilla have been worrying ourselves sick about what is going to happen with the abandoned golf course at Flag. We are now in the middle of the dry season. The rains stopped in January. The public utility company, Anglec, cut off electricity about that time. The desalinization plant ceased operations. The grass on the golf course has not been watered since then. Needless to say, the grass has been turning brown. The following photographs taken a couple of days ago illustrate the extent of the problem at this present time.




Note the exceptionally low water level in the ponds. Is that grass I see growing in the sand traps? Note also the colour of the grass on the fairway.


I gather from the Chief Minister’s Tuesday morning press conference that he has managed to persuade Anglec to turn back on the electricity to Flag, even though Anglec has not been paid for several months of consumption. He asserts that the water has begun again to flow at the golf course. I assume this to mean that the desalinization plant has been turned back on once again. Does that mean the golf course workers, or some of them, are being paid once again to operate the system?


I only hope the grass is not completely dead.



6 comments:

  1. Grass is very durable and comes back well. But no doubt about it -- a golf course is high-maintenance.

    If weeds are not managed, if greens are not kept in shape, it doesn't take long to lose a golf course to this environment. In other words, you can still lose this course quite easily if all you do is water it.

    The good news is that the grass looks short. Is that true, Don? If so, it has certainly been mowed on some kind of regular basis, suggesting recent maintenance. Hopefully, it's also getting some basic weed and pest control.

    Golfers who come to Anguilla expect a world-class experience. And this is a world-class golf course. But if there are weeds in the fairways and greens are decimated by disease (greens are very weak and hopefully they're not mowing them short during this time), it will take a lot of work and money to bring it back up to world-class standards.

    But the grass you show here does not look like it's completely dead. All in all, it's not as bad as I had feared. I'll have to drop over and take a look, too.

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  2. Don, were you down for lunch at Smokey's? I'm going to try to make MoonSplash in a couple of weeks. Can I grab a caddy for a short round on the slight?;) - Scotty

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  3. Scotty,

    No, actually I did not take the photos. Like most of my photos, they were sent to me by a reader who wanted me to tell a story about them.

    IDM

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  4. Don, unfortunately the information at this weeks press conference by the CM is not entirely accurate.
    The power was switched back on and water was again being pumped onto the course.
    This is no longer happening, the power was cut earlier this week. The golf course maintence team were never re-hired, you have 2 or 3 people still working doing what they can with limited supplies and resources.
    The pictures that were supplied to you also do not tell the real story. Those pictures show a bit of a fairway & some rough. This grass is left considerably longer then the grass on the greens and that is why there is still some colour there. The greens are much worse than that photograph depicts. Bermuda is a hardy strain and it will survive for some time, however another 4-5 weeks without irrigation may be too late.

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  5. Don.

    After reading a couple of your Blogs it is plain to see you experience much the same difficulty's as us here in Jersey regarding our Governments.

    I have put your Blog on as a link on my site. I think it is important for people across the globe to share their experiences with Goverments especially Brittish overseas territorys like us.

    Blogging is helping the world to unite in common causes whatever they may be. I see the links on your Blog are predominantly local but your issues, although local to you and your readers, do stretch across the water and have many comparisons with many territory's.

    If you look on my Blog you will see what I mean. Better still you might consider putting it on as a link on here?

    VFC.

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  6. Speaking of speculation, I ran across this today.

    The parallels with Anguilla's real-estate bubble are eerie: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/04/iceland200904?printable=true&currentPage=all

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