LEONARD, N.D. — Roughed up tee boxes, yellow fairways and dry greens.
July had over a dozen days with 90-degree highs in the Fargo area. Combine that with little rain, and golf courses were one of the businesses hit the hardest during a harsh month of July.
“Whatever doesn’t get water is kind of played almost like an Arizona course right now,” said Mike Pulczinski, co-owner of Leonard Country Club.
Water runs for nearly 14 hours a day, even tapping into a reserve well.
Leonard Country Club uses irrigation to keep greens and fairways healthy during hot, dry conditions on Friday, July 31.
Ryan McNamara / WDAY
Pulczinski said he expects usage and costs to be 40% higher for the course’s irrigation system in 2026.
And it’s still not enough to satisfy a thirsty course.
“We’ve got single-row irrigation, so it’s basically the middle of the fairways, the greens, tee boxes, anything else is just going dormant right now,” Pulczinski said.
Pulczinski is the everything man for a 9-hole, par 36 course he runs with his wife and two children in Leonard.
The superintendent role is the toughest part of the job right now, he said.
“We’re in the sand hills, so things that don’t get water, it shows in a heartbeat,” Pulczinski said.
“We’re using some chemical programs, some wetting agents and some things. We get fungus with this humidity, so we’re putting sprays down to prevent the fungus,” he said.
On top of the weather conditions damaging the course, Pulczinski said the heat is lowering attendance, as well.
He said company events and tournaments are able to help the business succeed in the meantime, but he’s hoping for greener grass on the other side of the heat wave.
“So we’re praying the good Lord gets us some rain here soon,” Pulczinski said.
What does it take to keep the course going? Pulczinski said he hasn’t taken a day off since March.
Ryan McNamara joined WDAY as a reporter in late 2024. He is a native of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota and graduated from St. Cloud State University in 2024.
His time as a Husky included copious amounts of time spent at “The Herb” reporting on Husky hockey, or at Halenbeck Hall calling Husky basketball. He also spent two summers with the Northwoods League’s St. Cloud Rox. Along with his duties in news and sports, Ryan dons a headset for occasional play-by-play broadcasts for North Dakota and Minnesota high school sports.
When he’s away from the station, he’s most likely lifting, finding time to golf, or taking in as much college basketball as possible, in order to complete the elusive perfect March Madness bracket.