A WORK IN PROGRESS An article by Anne Morris PHOTOS COURTESY OF
ERIC JOHNSON. Superintendent experiments with a young golf
course. Eric Johnson believes that getting the soil into good
shape can make a huge difference in how well golf course turf
grows and how much, or how little, water it requires. Located in
an area where drought is common, saving water is a mark of
success. Johnson is superintendent at the Jerry S. Rawls Golf
Course, a 270-acre public course run by Texas Tech University in
Lubbock, Texas (www.texastechgolf.ttu.edu). “We’ve only been
open for four years,” Johnson said, “and we’re probably one of
the worst areas to grow turf, because we’re in a transition zone
where we always have windy days. We have real bad water quality
issues.” He says that the well water they use is high in sodium,
high in sulfurs and high in chlorides. “If you were to graph it,
we’d be on the very extreme side, with water quality in the
worst condition,” Johnson said. Still, he says that the course
has been a success,