Well it's about time...Rain is finally back in Northern California and we couldn't be happier. It's been another great season with many successes, challenges and lots of good times. The rain forecast for today and continuing throughout the weekend will no doubt give the turf and the staff some much needed stress relief. The below picture was taken on September 23rd and it gives you a good idea of what things look like following four weeks without irrigation. As you may know, water was shut off on the 1st tee and beginning of the 1st fairway in early September to prepare for the construction of the new golf shop and cart barn. More on that later...
Currently we're prepping the course for our last big event of the season, the RIX Invitational. In the weeks following the RIX we will work to get the course ready for winter. No scheduled greens aeration this fall although we will verticut and give them a fairly heavy sand topdressing. Tees and approaches will be core aerated, seeded and sanded. Fairways will be slit-seeded and (weather dependent) aerated with a solid tine. Pretty minimal impact this fall.
Our seasonal staff of greenkeepers will head home for the winter on November 4th. During the winter months many of our full time staff take vacations and time away. There will be many days this winter that we are short staffed. This will impact what work we can and cannot complete each day. Please take this into consideration when playing the course this winter. Mowing and course set up routines will change to a winter schedule in early November. Bunkers will not be raked daily but on an as-needed basis. Around storms our focus will be the clean up and repair of the course. When caught up with mowing and clean up our focus will turn to the many projects on our to-do list. You will see quite a bit of work in bunkers this winter. We'll also be out mowing and seeding in various natural grass areas as well as taking on a few irrigation and drainage projects. Always something to do!
Thanks and we'll see you on the course.
