Sports Editor
On golf courses of today, the condition of the greens bring in the green. At Kern Valley's lone nine-hole golf course this also the rule of thumb.
Superintendent, Sean Armes knows that keeping the greens alive is the key to having a good golf course.
  
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Armes a 1995 graduate of Kern Valley High School is in his 10th season and third as the Superintendent at the golf course.
His job duty is the maintenance of the whole golf course. This includes the growing, the mowing, the watering, and the fertilization. As the top man, he has the responsibility of making the course look good.
At the present time the Kern Valley Golf Course has that appealing green look on the fairways and the greens.
Armes attributes the good look of the course to his crew of three and himself. He said, "I have good help, new power to the water system with more pressure for more coverage in water and most of all luck."
Maintaining the course according to Armes is very routine. The routine of watering, the mowing schedule and keeping the greens looking healthy.
Armes said, “Every day is a schedule. It’s routine. The greens get mowed every day, the fairways are mowed every other day and around the greens get mowed on the opposite days.
The only hitch to this schedule is if there is a problem and then the routine schedule is thrown off track.
Keeping the greens looking good is also changing the hole locations. In this way the golfers are using the whole green in a week. Armes changes the hole location three times a week. He has a weekend set, a Monday and Wednesday set.
Water being the most important item of keeping the greens and the course green, Armes has a schedule to keep. He makes up the times to water, what to water, any extra watering to be done and what greens need to be watered.”
He maintains a log that allows the course to be watered between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. and uses some where between 150,000 to 170,000 gallons of water in a night.
The golf course gets all of its water from the Kern River. There is a slue that has been there since the beginning of the course's days that provides the water to the pump house situated along the first fairway. From there it gets pumped to the golf course.
The course pays the City of Bakersfield a flat rate each month for the acre feet of water used. It is between $1,500-$2,000 a month for the use of the water.
The watering is done from April through November. After November the grass goes dormant and doesn't need as much water.
One of the problems in recent times that Armes had to address was the loss of the main power to the pump. They had to dig a trench that was 3,600 feet long so Edison could come in and run new lines to the pump.
The learning curve on the golf course is a big one. Armes had to learn new things as it pertained to grass, soil and fertilization. He went o school to learn about Agronomy.
*Agronomy is the science and technology of using plants for food, fuel, feed, and fiber. Agronomy encompasses work in the areas of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science.[1] Agronomy is the application of a combination of sciences like biology, chemistry, ecology, earth science, and genetics. Agronomists today are involved with many issues including producing food, creating healthier food, managing environmental impact of agriculture, and creating energy from plants.[2] Agronomists often specialize in areas such as crop rotation, irrigation and drainage, plant breeding, soil classification, soil fertility, weed control, insect and pest control.
*From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
By taking those items and putting them into practice it has allowed Armes to try different things out there and making them work.
Learning about how to use fertilizer and what it is for combined with how much water to use and when not to use are other things that Armes has had to learn.
With all these new ideas Armes takes special pride in maintaining the golf course he has literally grown up on. Armes said, "The best part of the job is when I come over that hill coming from Wofford Heights and get a look at it. I see the course looking good and that's my proof that I am alive. I love getting up every morning and coming and doing this. I love making it look good."
Armes is also responsible for maintenance on the practice putting green and the practice pitching surface.
He tries to make them as current as the conditions out on the course each day for golfers to get the feel of the course.
The driving range is another matter. It is currently classified as a habitat. You can hit balls out into the range, but it can never be a real driving range because of the habitat classification.
Also the course pond better known as Jake’s Pond is a habitat all its own with a group of turtles that call it their home.
Some mornings instead of golfers, you may see other wildlife playing around on the nine-hole course.
From the Superintendent to the board members to the members to everyone that plays the local course they want something to be proud of and right now its the condition of the greens and the course as a whole.
In the third and final installment of this three-part article will appear in next week’s issue and will be about the new cook, Amadeus Mitchell.
Mitchell also a local Kern River Valley product has some fresh ideas on how he plans on making the kitchen a focal point and the place for the golfer and others to come and enjoy a pleasant meal.
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