Thanks for the replies. There were a few questions -
1. Are homes located around the golf courses?
Yes, but it they are 27 year old courses and new homes are not being built. Part of the issue can be the run off from homes laying higher than the course, so we get extra water from those sources.
2. Green over playability - Where did he say this and to whom?
It was in a meeting with members of the greens committee when they brought up how soft and wet the course always is. We have an older membership and as we get shorter, and he makes the course play even longer, people get upset.
3. Contacting ClubCorp in Dallas -
Not yet but coming soon. And he has been here for about 6 or 7 years. And he is responsible for 2 other ClubCorp courses in addition to our two so the people in Dallas must like him. We seem to get a lot of outside play from other ClubCorp members so we are a money maker for them so that does not seem to be an avenue that will work for us.
I am not exactly campaigning for the "brown is beautiful, "Pinehurst" look, although I am not against it. I am just wondering how the other courses in the area, like Aiken Golf Club, and Palmetto, can play firm and fast and we are stuck in the mud. Literally. I am just curious if there are long term repercussions to years of drowning a course. I had dealt with the USGA folks years ago when a course was being built up north and they preached getting the roots way down for long term success in growing grass. I feel like we are going the other way and it will come back to bite us at some point. We also had a pretty bad infestation of mole crickets this year. I know they are subterranean and wonder if the softness of the soil makes us a more likely target to them to colonize.
The superintendent also claims that the watering is automated from another area, and manual overrides can't be done. So we get rain, and no one turns off the sprinklers so we double up. I know that seems hard to believe but that is the way we are set up.