Black Horse Golf Club Built to be Model

Jan. 2002

The new Black Horse Golf Club, a Peter Jacobsen-Jim Hardy design in the northwest Houston suburb of Cypress, Tex., just opened its second 18 holes before Christmas. The first 18 have been played since July.

For Black Horse superintendent Roger Goettsch, the course is the eighth that he has "grown in."

"I've been around the turf business since high school," he says of a career that has seen him take up residence in such places as Dallas, Abilene, El Paso, San Antonio, and Houston while he supervised the "grow-in" of new golf courses in Texas. He's also worked overseas growing-in new courses in Thailand and Indonesia.

"I guess I could have stayed overseas," he says, "but I just didn't want to do that." So, after four years there, he returned stateside in 1995 to work on a new course at San Antonio. When that project was completed, he moved to Houston and the Black Horse project in the fall of 1998.

Wanted Houston venue -- "Black Horse," Goettsch says, "had been in the planning stages for some time. Peter and Jim wanted a venue in Houston that they could show to their clients. Peter and Jim have their golf course architecture office in Houston and really wanted to have a home-based course."

With Black Horse as a model of their work, little was spared in making it a top-end facility. "It's pretty much a show course," Goettsch says. "It's been nominated as one of the best new course in the country. I hope to have it Audubon-certified by the end of the year. The course has over 38 acres of wetlands that were built to enhance wildlife and the environment. It is a very aesthetically pleasing golf course."

Goettsch's maintenance staff ranges from 35 to 40 in the summer and from 25 to 30 in winter. "We do a pretty good tourist business in December, January and February... depending on the weather, of course. This year, it has been a little cold."

At the heart of the maintenance effort, Goettsch says, is a Dakota Turf Tender 440. "We got it just over a year ago while we were still in construction. We use it as our material handling tool. We haul all the bunker sand material with it. We use it to remove old sand and add new sand; use it to top-dress the fairways; to haul all the greens mix; to top-dress the tee boxes, and we use it to move materials from one location to another whenever needed."

Why the Dakota 440? -- "I'm pretty mechanically inclined and I look equipment over pretty good," he says. "I had the opportunity to review the 440 at the International Turf Conference. And I was able to talk to some other people there and to some other superintendents, and, of course, to the salespeople.

"The fact that it is operated totally from the tractor seat is what really sold me. You don't have to unhook the auger for anything. It is a self-contained unit, and it just looks well built. We've had a couple minor problems with it, but the company took care of them. They warranteed it without a problem. We've worked the unit hard and it has performed well."

Taking his endorsement a step further, Goettsch adds, "I'll tell you one thing, I will never do another golf course without one of these. Whether it's maintenance or new construction, it just saves so much time when you are handling materials. It is so very efficient and, with those big tires, there isn't problem with compaction. Sure, it's a fairly large capital investment, but with the efficiency it provides in material handling, you can save that much in a year's time.

"The newer TifEagle Bermuda grass requires more frequent top-dressing and, with the 440 and the program we have set-up, we can top-dress 36 holes in only three to four hours. We get some real efficiency because of that machine."