The current state of the pump house at Red Run Golf Club in Royal Oak, Mich., following an explosion on July 4. Photo courtesy of Rob Steger, CGCS
These weren’t the kinds of fireworks anyone wanted to see at Red Run Golf Club in Royal Oak, Mich.
The pump house was severely damaged in an explosion on July 4 at the club. Rob Steger, CGCS, and his staff are recovering from the aftermath. He and his crew had started work at 5:30 a.m. that day. About 15 minutes later, Steger was hand watering on the first green when he heard an explosion.
“I felt the pressure drop on my hose. I knew we had a problem,” Steger, a 25-year GCSAA member and past president of the Michigan GCSA in 2020, says.
Steger had a full crew that day — 18 employees — but Steger notes nobody was hurt. “All hands on deck,” he says. They were joined by the fire department. Ultimately, Steger was told the cause of the explosion was inconclusive. Regardless, the incident astounded him. “It blows my mind that it could happen,” he says.
Red Run’s pump house is located behind the fifth green, adjacent to a pond. The pump house was knocked off its foundation, and a wall was blown out in the explosion. Electrical components, including a computer, were destroyed, as was the reverse osmosis system. The tanks are pressure-rated, but Steger is leery of their condition. “They probably can’t be trusted. Likely a total loss,” he says.
DTE Energy informed the club that the turn-on date for its new pump house is Aug. 19. In the meantime, hand watering is in order. Only one person is handling the night/overnight/early morning duty.
“You’re talking to the guy,” Steger says. “I really didn’t want to put it on my staff. I want them to be fresh. And my wife is understanding about my job. Like most superintendents, you’ve got a problem, you’ve got to handle it.”
During the day, assistant superintendent Allen Saville has been instrumental in the watering task. His watering is being done with a 300-gallon spray rig fitted with a hose the club borrowed from GCSAA Class A superintendent Eric Davey — a 26-year association member — at Prestwick Village Golf Club in Highland, Mich.
Fortunately, rain has been in abundance at Red Run GC, so Steger doesn’t have to be on-site all day or for extended hours. On evenings and overnights that he does water, he first goes home at 3:30 p.m. and see his wife, Adrienne, and their children, then usually returns to the club around 9:30 p.m. and waters intermittently until 7 a.m. “I’ve got a couch in my office,” Steger says, “and I set my alarm for every hour or hour and a half. I’ve been lucky, really, as far as the rain goes.”
The upcoming forecast, however, is ominous. Steger said the area is expecting dry days. The club has kept in contact with DTE Energy to see if there’s a chance the Aug. 19 date can be moved up. If not … “That could be rough,” he says.
Currently, Steger and his team are trying to get two of the four pumps from the old system up and running. This involves building a shed inside the footprint of the old building and replacing all the electrical service. They also had a contractor who had a less sophisticated computer to run those pumps that they are installing.
“We will still most likely will be replacing everything including the building, but this will give me the ability to water remotely until a new station can be built,” Steger says. Lead time on a pump station is seven to nine months from what he has been told.
Steger is unsure how old the lost pump is, perhaps 10 or 12 years old, he estimates. He wonders if the replacement will be anything like what he is losing.
“The sad part is, it was the nicest pump station of any place I have worked. It was heated, air-conditioned. It was the Taj Mahal of pump houses,” Steger says. “Will the new one be better? Maybe. We’ll see.”