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<\/p>\nLEONARD, N.D. \u2014 Roughed up tee boxes, yellow fairways and dry greens.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
Water runs for nearly 14 hours a day, even tapping into a reserve well.<\/p>\n
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Leonard Country Club uses irrigation to keep greens and fairways healthy during hot, dry conditions on Friday, July 31.<\/p>\n
Ryan McNamara \/ WDAY<\/p>\n
Pulczinski said he expects usage and costs to be 40% higher for the course’s irrigation system in 2026.<\/p>\n
And it’s still not enough to satisfy a thirsty course.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
Pulczinski is the everything man for a 9-hole, par 36 course he runs with his wife and two children in Leonard.<\/p>\n
The superintendent role is the toughest part of the job right now, he said.<\/p>\n
“We’re in the sand hills, so things that don’t get water, it shows in a heartbeat,” Pulczinski said.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
On top of the weather conditions damaging the course, Pulczinski said the heat is lowering attendance, as well.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“So we’re praying the good Lord gets us some rain here soon,” Pulczinski said.<\/p>\n
What does it take to keep the course going? Pulczinski said he hasn’t taken a day off since March.<\/p>\n
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