2015 Invitational Recap

With our biggest event of the year now in the rear view mirror, I wanted to share some pictures and discuss the hows and whys of setting the course up for tournament play.

It was a long two weeks of prep work and set up. Over 250 hours of overtime went in to produce the conditions we had for our Men's Invitational last week. The staff really turned it up a notch and I thank them for their hard work and long hours. The focus leading up to the event was catching up with all the detail work we fell behind on this spring. With the dry weather this winter and into spring combined with a short staff, we had fallen behind with some of the little things around the course as we made mowing and setting up for play the priority. The focus during tournament week was drying the course out and fine tuning the playing surfaces for our major event of the year. This means lots of extra mowing and rolling of greens and daily mowing and hand watering of tees, fairways and approaches. The result of this focus and detail was a course that set up and played as good as I have seen it.

While it's fun to tune the course up for these big events, it is unrealistic to expect these conditions daily. Many factors go into preparing the golf course in this fashion with the most important being the health of the turf leading up to the event. Greens and fairways have been in the best shape that I've seen and Mother Nature was kind enough to help out with some mild temps.  Therefore we were able to push things pretty well to the limit without any adverse affects. All of the aeration, sand topdressings, soil and water testing, inter-seeding, fertility and water treatments and general care and planning over the last few years is paying off nicely with the results being a healthy turf that can stand the kind of stress we put it through. Our goal now is to maintain the health and playability of the course through the summer. We will monitor the health of the turf closely and when we can push, we will. When we need to back off, we will. Please enjoy the course each day you play knowing we are doing all we can to provide the most pleasant experience for members and guests possible.

Thanks and we'll see you on the course!