Course Update 9/29/12

Looking back at 11T North from the fairway at 7:30am on 9/29

MORE RAIN!!! We have received 2.75" as of 7:00am this morning. Currently the entire South Course and the front nine only on the North are passable. We are working hard to get the courses playable for today's play. We will be Cart Path Only all day today, and possibly tomorrow pending additional rainfall. We have also decided to focus our maintenance efforts this morning primarily on making the courses passable and preparing the greens for play. We are also working on bunkers, however many are washed and simply too wet to make much progress on this morning.

I want send a big THANK YOU! out to everyone who came out for the divot filling party last night. We had a great turn out, in spite of the weather, and were able finish a few holes on the North before the rain came in. We will definitely re-schedule this important event. I also would like to thank Jeff for his help, and of course our fearless beer girls Deb and Brianna for braving the rain.  Thank you again for being a member and for supporting our efforts on the course. I will post more pictures later in the week.

Divot filling on 8 Fairway North

In other news, we completed several important tasks in addition to our normal maintenance this past week. I have listed a few of them below:

• Light top dress on both course's greens
• Sprayed both greens with preventive fungicide applications
• Started mowing the tall grass along the arroyos between the North and South courses
• Pencil tined and fertilized the South greens
• Applied organic fertilizer to the roughs on the North prior to Friday's rain
• Repaired and tested out meters on the #5 and #7 Wells
• Repaired two irrigation leaks on the North
• Repaired the broken drain line on #17 South
• Treated broad leaf weeds on roughs on North and South

Nacho and Israel show off the large mass of roots that had clogged the drain line for 17G South

We have a another busy week coming up. We will be hosting tournaments on both courses on Monday, and the Classic Affair, or SWGA Member/Guest will take place Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Our primary goals will be to clean up the mess from the rain and get as much normal maintenance done as possible in order to provide excellent playing conditions for this important event.

Course Update 9/21/12

#18 North taken on Thursday

Today begins the Club Championship! Good luck to everyone that is playing. The courses should play well, and have definitely benefited from last weeks rain. We ended up receiving just under 6" total from Thursday through Sunday. The rain combined with last week's fertilizer applications will definitely benefit all areas on both courses.
We had a very busy week completing normal maintenance, cleaning up from the rains, and preparing for this weekend's tournament. The list below illustrates a few of the things we worked on:


Willie Elte and Juan fixing water line

• Lightly topdressed greens on both courses
• Vertical mowed the North greens
• Lightly aerated several of the South greens
• Repaired several irrigation leaks
• Repaired the broken pipe beneath the main driveway at the club - in conjunction with Nick, Willie, and Gary.
• Sprayed greens on the South on Wednesday and Friday, North on Thursday
• Mowed tees, collars, and fairways three times on each course.
• Mowed all of the rough on the South, and most areas on the North



Left to Right: Gary, Rober Sr., Robert Jr
, and Benny



The new cart parking area at Tennis.

• Gary Tupa and crew finished the cart parking area at Tennis

On a sad note....



Last picture taken of Birdie and Socks. 9.15.12

Birdie and Socks are no longer with us following a tragic accident on Monday morning. The pups truly had a great run, and will be sorely missed. We decided to lay them to rest on the South Course near the same area that they were born. Thank you to everyone for your support and for allowing them to enjoy the golf courses everyday.



Final Resting Place for Birdie and Socks

Course Update 9/14/12

RAIN!!!!! We received right around 3.5" of rain as of 7:00am this morning, and it looks like more is on the way. Both courses will remain closed for at least the next couple of hours due to high water. The South Course is currently closed due to high water beneath the 1604 overpass, near #4 tee, and #9 tee. The North is more accessible than the South, however high water on 7 and 11 make it very difficult to get around. We are currently working around the water to get as much maintenance done as possible on both courses. Our goal is to get greens mowed, cups changed, debris removed, and to make the bunkers as playable as possible.  It is very likely that the bunkers will remain ground under repair until sometime tomorrow.



Hipolito Gonzalez aerating 18 Green North

In addition  to our normal maintenance we were able to accomplish several tasks on both courses this week. Check out the list below to see of few of the things we completed.

• North Greens aerated, topdressed, sprayed, and fertilized
• South Greens verticut and sprayed
• All bunkers edged
• Completed fertilizer applications to the Tees, Fwys, and Roughs on both courses
• Greens edged on North and South
• Cart path repaired on 16 North.
• Gary Tupa began work on creating the cart parking area at Tennis

Next weekend is the club championship. We will be very busy next week completing our normal maintenance and preparing the courses for the event. Here is a few of the items we have on the agenda for next week:

• Finish removing debris and repairing damage from the rain
• Light vertical mow on North greens
• Solid tine and lightly topdress the South greens (following Monday's high school tournament)
• Completely mow both golf courses.
• Spray greens on both courses (South on Weds and Friday, North on Thursday)
• Continue to work on the tees on 9 and 15 on the South. We are hoping to get these tees open in time for the club championship.
• Repair the fence on #10 South
• Continue to work on the cart parking area at Tennis

Course Update 9/6/12

Good Afternoon,

Several members of the crew showing off two of our new aeration tools. Advances in aeration equipment and tools over the last several years have greatly aided superintendents in making aeration procedures as painless as possible for golfers.

Thank you for visiting the blog! It has been almost 6 weeks since my last post, and  I would like to begin by apologizing for the long lapse in updates. I will be returning to weekly posts effective immediately - so please continue to come back on a regular basis.


Newly installed components in the North Pump Station

The drought continues. In August we received just one significant rain event bringing our rainfall total for the month to 2.75". In addition, we entered Stage 3 restrictions on our EAA wells, resulting in a 35% reduction to our water allocation. However, all things considered, we are in much better shape than last year for the following reasons: 1) We received above average rainfall in July, 2) Major improvements to our North Course pump station, and 3) Updates, repairs, and modifications to our irrigation systems on both courses. As I mentioned in the September newsletter, fall is probably the most crucial time of the year when discussing drought stress and recovery (CLICK HERE FOR SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER) . September and October will be the last two months that we will be able to improve areas that are severely drought stressed. In order to make progress we will need not only rain, but help from golfers. Please continue to pair up, follow cart signs, and make an extra effort to avoid driving in areas that appear to be stressed.

In addition to battling the drought,, we have been very busy maintaining and improving all areas of the club. The list below describes a few of the things that we have been working on:

• Greens - Overall the greens on both courses have remained healthy throughout the summer. The combination of frequent vertical mowing, light topdressing, weekly spraying, and monthly aeration has definitely helped us achieve our goal of providing consistent putting surfaces. We will be core aerating both courses at least one more time this year. These final aerations will consist of small holes spaced closely together. Currently the North is scheduled for 9/10 and the South for 10/8.  
• Tees - On August 16th we resurfaced the main tee boxes on #9, #12, and #15 on the South Course. The sod is taking longer to establish than planned, however we are confident that these improvements will definitely improve playing conditions in the future. Currently we are planning to open #12 this weekend, and #15 and #9 in the next two weeks. The rest of the tees on both courses will be fertilized early next week.

Asst. Supt. Mike McCarty preparing 15 Tee for sod. 

• Fairways - All fairways continue to be mowed at 1/2" and are mowed 3 times per week. We will be fertilizing fairways this coming Monday and Tuesday. Unfortunately, we will be restricting carts to paths only on the South Course on Tuesday, in order to prevent burn from the fertilizer.
• Roughs - All roughs continue to be mowed at 2". In play areas will be fertilized next week along with tees, and fairways. The roughs on the South Course are handling the drought much better than the North due to superior irrigation and less concentrated cart traffic.
• Club Grounds and Tennis - In addition to performing routine maintenance on all club grounds, Gary Tupa and his staff have made tremendous progress over the last few months improving the grounds around the tennis center. Currently, he is working to install a cart parking area, and finish landscaping several areas. Please check back for more information.

Gary cooking chicken for the crew last Friday at the shop. We took the food and the crew to the park for an afternoon of softball, food, and cold drinks.