I would like to welcome everyone to the 2009 golf season. At least we were able to open early this year and I was able to see many of you out the first day. Mother Nature always seems to win, the snow over the weekend really put a damper on spring.
I do have a full crew in and we are doing many projects out on the golf course already. There are a few items that I would like to fill you in on that we are currently looking at and also working on. As you play the golf course you will notice some white stakes and white wire flags on many of the holes. The white stakes represent the location of a new tree. The exact location has not been determined but I would expect that it would be very close to the stake. The white wire flags are marking a possible change to the rough line. The Green Committee is looking at the possibility of removing some rough area and replacing it with fescue. what we are trying to accomplish is work off the existing grassing lines and enhance the golf hole from the tees. This conversion would also be a very green environmental decision. I have looked at the location and determined that if all areas were converted to fescue we would remove 10 irrigation heads and this would save at least 60,000 gallons of water over the course of the year, also less time mowing rough, labor, fuel and wear and tear on the equipment. Right now we are just looking at the planned areas and have not made any decision to move forward with this idea.
We are also working on edging the bunkers 14,13,12 have already been completed. We are taking this time to make sure the depth of the sand is correct and if needed removing some sand from the bunkers.
Starting this week I have purchased some new very angular sand, which is the same sand as the chipping bunker. I plan on removing sand from the faces(steep grades) on some of the bunkers that always bury golf balls. As it stands I have purchased 50 tons of the sand and plan on adding the sand to 14 green, 13 green, 16 green, 5 green, and 10 green bunkers. I am very hopeful that this will work very well.
The Green Committee and the Play Committee is also looking at the placement of the out of bounds staking. I have not put out the OB Stakes yet and I am waiting on a decision from these committees.
I have mowed a few areas on the golf course this year. I am confident that you will notice a difference in the quality of cut, I am very impressed with the new equipment and the advances in the technology the machine bring.
Lastly, I am sure you will notice that we purchased a new flag design for this year. the flag is a combination of our old Hawk and the current checkered flag. I think they really look great. We also purchased some more of the new style bunker rakes this will complete the conversion to this style and all the rakes on the course will be the larger rake head and longer handle.
Thank you and I look forward to seeing you on the course very soon
Neil