MAY 15, 2016

From the Grounds…….

WOW……….this great spring weather has allowed us to be able to provide unbelievably great conditions for this time of the year and we are set to have another outstanding year on the golf course. The great weather only plays a part in having the golf course in good shape. Bill, Dave, Jim, and the rest of the grounds crew have been doing a tremendous job keeping the course up to par so when you see them around, thank them for all their hard work.

In all our efforts to provide ongoing great conditions we can only do so much and we need you, the golfer, to help us out. Please make sure you’re repairing ball marks, replacing and filling divots, leaving rakes in the waste areas and keeping golf carts well away from the greens while playing our great facility. It may not sound like much but if everyone did this; our course might be in even better shape than it is now.

Once again, if there are any questions or if anyone would like more information on what we do in the grounds department, please call us, I would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

Good Golfing

Jeff Bennett

Golf Course Superintendent

250-838-0878

 March 31 2016

From the Grounds…….

I am happy to report that Mother Nature was kind to us this past winter and the golf course wintered well and is in great early season shape.  We had nowhere near the disease pressure we experienced last winter with only a few damaged spots on some greens.  With this warm early spring, these spots should fill in quickly.  We are also fortunate that this warm early spring has allowed us to aerate and top-dress all our greens before we open.  This will ensure that ball roll will be smooth and consistent throughout the year and it is nice to get this labor intensive procedure out of the way before we open.

To further improve the health of our greens, we have purchased a brewer which will allow us to use compost tea on our greens.  This is the most environmentally friendly way to manage greens and they should benefit immensely from this tea, helping reduce even further the little amounts of fertilizer and fungicides we must use to make good playable surfaces.

A different procedure last fall putting our fairways to bed for the winter has proven successful and our fairways look the best they have in years after the snowfall and we will be continuing this from now on.

In all our efforts to provide ongoing great conditions we have purchased two mowers to help our cause.  We will be getting a newer greens mower and a newer rough mower which definitely will help improve the aesthetic look of the course, as well as making our mowing procedures more efficient.

Some work done to the golf course over the off season by our hard working crew includes:

·       Tree and stump removal around greens 2, 3, 5, 7 & 8 to allow more sunlight to these greens making them much easier to manage.

·       Drainage work on #4.

·       New wider aprons around some greens.

·       Irrigation work around #1 green automating some irrigation heads.

·       The cleaning up of our junkyard.

If there are any questions or if anyone would like more information on what we do in the grounds department, please call us, I would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

Good Golfing!

Jeff Bennett
Golf Course Superintendent
250-838-0878