By Dan Hixman, Reno Gazette-Journal

Should anyone at the Chamber of Commerce or the RSCVA want to get some nice, color photos of Truckee Meadows golf courses to distribute to travel magazines, this would be a good time to wait.

Reno’s golf courses look like Kansas’ wheat fields, post harvest.

Golfers are no doubt frustrated by the condition of area courses, especially as temperatures finally reach short-sleeves territory, and this might not be all that comforting, but there is nothing that could have been done to stop it.

In match play terms, it’s Mother Nature 10 and 9.

Some golf pros call it “winter kill”; others, “winter desiccation.” It’s the rare combination of little or no precipitation and either really low temperatures or really high winds (or all three). Northern Nevada had one of the driest winters on record this year, and golf courses are feeling the after-effects.

“This is very unique,” said Tom Janning, who has been the superintendent at Rosewood Lakes since the city of Reno-owned course opened in 1991. “Some years we haven’t watered all winter and we came through fine.”

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