Challenges

The last month or so has been a bit of a whirlwind. Spring aeration is behind us completed in and around significant late season rains. Playing catch up with mowing and course detail (YES we are cutting the natural grasses and hillsides).  Ticking the last of our seasonal projects off the list. Bringing on new seasonal staff and prepping for the first of many Member events. There is always so much to do this time of year that we simply cannot get to it all at once.

While we've had a productive start to 2018, not all things go as planed. The course came out of aeration shining thanks to some heavy rains and the staff pushing hard for the Challenge Cup with Bel-Air Country Club last week. All things were looking great coming off the weekend as we start prep for the MacKenzie in two weeks and then... Murphy's law rears its ugly head.

While topdressing greens this Monday our sand spreader blew a hydraulic hose leaking oil on the 12th green. The good: The oil spilled was not hot and did not burn the turf. The Bad: Grass does not like oil as it can smother the leaf blade resulting in death of turf. The area affected will be evaluated over the coming days with hopes that the grass will grow out. If needed we will re-sod next week. Unfortunately, these things happen.

We are always challenged when trees are close to areas of turf. This is especially true when close to greens. Roots from trees spread throughout the soil competing with turf for water and nutrients. When just a few feet off a green the challenge can be significant resulting in turf loss. As part of our spring/fall maintenance we send out the root pruner to address these areas but with a working depth of 6 to 8" sometimes that's just not enough. This week we used our trencher to root prune two of our most problematic areas. Left of 1 green (pictured here) and left of 15 green.

These pictures tell the story well. Lots of trees roots large and small severed with hopes of giving
the turf a fighting chance. Side note: pretty cool to see the column of sand from the Drill & Fill just to the right of the radio. Three years later and the channels are still there doing their thing!

We are challenged with maintaining turf and managing wear and tear on a small property. The average urban golf course is 120 acres. Claremont, at just 84 golf course acres is small and compact. Golf carts were not in the picture when the course was laid out in the early 1900's. The new cart fleet was outfitted with a GPS system for the safety of members, guests and the golf course.

This picture above is a screenshot of just one day worth of cart traffic (in yellow). The areas in red are zoned off as carts are not allowed on greens or surrounds, on tees, in natural grass areas or in the creek. Yes, we've had to pull carts out of the creek. Combine this much cart traffic with course maintenance traffic and we can and will see significant wear and tear in our highly travelled areas. When using carts this summer, please keep this in mind by avoiding dry areas and areas of worn or stressed turf. Do your best to keep carts in the fairways. Drive on green grass. I encourage members to take a caddie and enjoy a fine walk around an amazing property. We are lucky to have a caddie program and should do all we can to support it.