Officials at the Wichita Falls Country Club, where the golf team practices, have no qualms about the stage 4 water restrictions, and officials at other courses don’t seem worried either.

Golf coach Jeff Ray said the Wichita Falls Country Club has drilled water wells to help with the watering problem.

The golf team will not have to relocate from the country club to another golf course to practice.

Brenna Moore, junior in nursing, said, “the team and I are very blessed and privileged to get to play out there. The country club is using well water right now and the greens are still in great shape. In the future, if we don’t get rain, it will be a big problem.”

If it comes down to it and the golf team does have to go to another course, they would be allowed to use Wind Creek Golf Course for as long as necessary.

Wind Creek Golf Course Manager Michael Bessette said, “The MSU golf team would be allowed to practice on the golf course. We would even gladly take them and let them use Wind Creek Golf Course as their home course.”

One golfer doesn’t seem too fond of the idea.

Moore said, “Personally, I wouldn’t like practicing at Sheppard. It’s a nice course and not bad to play, but it doesn’t compare to the country club.”

Ray said since the golf team only has one tournament in the city, stage 4 restrictions on the golf courses don’t have any effect on tournament play.

The golf team is safe during the colder months because of its indoor golf room on campus.

“We are able to hit, chip and putt, as well as work on our swings with a simulator,” Moore said.

One of the stage 4 restrictions is a total ban of water use for nonessential purposes in addition to a limit on outdoor irrigation. The local golf courses in Wichita Falls are not  able to water anything during the drought disaster. However, Wind Creek Golf Course on Sheppard Air Force Base might have more lenient rules.

Bessette said the water source Wind Creek uses is from a water recycling plant just north of the base.

Since Wind Creek doesn’t use the same water source as other local courses, people in the community are wondering what this will mean in terms of maintaining the greens.

“As long as water is sent to us from the plant, we will have water to use, however, the amount of water that we get will determine the priorities of where we use the water on the course,” Bessette said.

Membership won’t be a huge concern as stage 4 begins for Wind Creek.

“We will most likely see an increase at the beginning due to the fact we still have water while the other courses will be extremely limited, so the golf course will be able to stay in better shape longer, ” Bessette said.

Wind Creek has a couple of obstacles to overcome aside from the lack of water.

“Water restrictions are more enforced on base than they are to the city because the base cannot compete with the private sector,” Bessette said.

Bessette also said the base is part of the city, so officials on the base follow the city’s regulations in addition to base regulations.

Wind Creek Golf Course may not be the only golf course in Wichita Falls that doesn’t see the immediate effects stage 4 restrictions have started.

Chris Bruner, superintendent of Weeks Park Golf Course, said the course gets raw water from Lake Kickapoo to keep the greens and trees watered.

Even though stage 4 restrictions prohibit golf courses from watering often, membership is not expected to decrease.

Bruner also said as long as the greens stay alive, membership would remain steady.

Weeks Park officials have a backup water supply already in place to help keep the greens alive for a while after stage 4 restricts the course from using water from the lake.

“We have an irrigation pond to stockpile water,” Bruner said.

If the irrigation pond gets low, trucking in water and pumping it into the pond is another option Weeks Park officials have considered.

Bruner said the only source of water golf course employees can use will be the irrigation pond once stage 4 takes effect.

Another strategy Weeks Park employees are trying applying is a “wetting agent” to the greens. Using this device, the soil on the golf course absorbs water better and longer ensuring a more efficient way to water the course.

Due to the recent rain in the city, employees of Weeks Park haven’t had to worry about watering the greens and some of the rainwater has made its way into the irrigation pond, increasing the water amount.

A management company called Permagreen employs Weeks Park employees. Since these employees work for Permagreen and not for the city, it is more likely that if the course loses members, employees will still be able to keep their jobs.

The golf courses in Wichita Falls are prepared to efficiently save water while still staying open for the public during the stage 4 drought.

“It’s hard to tell, as long as people are playing golf, we will be fine,” Bruner said.