New Divot Repair Policy

As you may have noticed we are keeping the golf course firm and fast this spring, a practice that will continue throughout the summer.  One result of the drier conditions is the inability for divots in the fairways to re-establish as seen in the picture below. 

The new policy we'd like you all to follow is simply to use the sand and seed mixture to repair all divots.  Please do not replace the grass divot as it will not have a chance to survive.  There are sand and seed bottles provided on all golf carts.  For those of you who walk the course, please take with you a bottle from the box at the first tee.

There are re-fill stations at the tee on holes 2, 6, 10, 13 & 16.  When you run out of sand and seed in your carry bottle, we ask that you place the empty container in one of these stations and take a full one with you.  This will help us greatly in keeping a sufficient amount of full bottles at each station.  Please remember to fill the divots level with the surrounding turf and step on it to tamp it down.  Thank you and we'll see you on the golf course.

It Feels Like Summer Out There!

Things are heating up and the staff in the turf department has been very busy for the last few months prepping for the upcoming growing season.  With temperatures in the low 80's for the last few days it seems as though spring is gone and summer has officially arrived.  Our main focus for the next six months will be the proper irrigation of the golf course.

The climate here in California, with the extended dry season makes proper water management essential to providing outstanding turf.  There are many things to consider with regard to irrigation, it's much more than just turning on the sprinklers.  The varied soil types, many different grass types and the amount of elevation change here at Claremont present a challenge to say the least.  We have a good irrigation system over-all but no system is perfect and to provide the turf conditions that you expect throughout the summer we will need to hand water portions of the golf course.  At times you will see the staff pulling hose and hand watering areas on the golf course that do not receive the proper amount of water via the irrigation system. 

This winter, we've built a few "micro sprinkler" sets that the staff can easily carry around course to set up in rough and out-of-play areas to help the efficiency of our program. 



Micro Sprinkler Set on #5

One thing to remember, when you are out in the morning you may see sprinklers up and running throughout the golf course.  This is the only time of the day that we can efficiently test and inspect the sprinklers and this process is critical to maintaining the system.  These sprinklers will only run for a few minutes and we will do our best to monitor for any golfers around this work.

April Team Member Profile

Jesus Frutos-Victor "Chewy"

Maintenance Team Member Since 2006

Position: Greenkeeper

Duties: Equipment Operator, General Labor and Detail work

Family: Single, 1 child

Interests: Long distance running, work

Chewy started here at Claremont as a seasonal staff member in 2006 and was promoted to the full time staff in 2009.  Over the last year Chewy has taken on many new job assignments with great enthusiasm helping the entire operation become more efficient and cohesive.  While being a quiet person, he always comes to work with a great attitude and leads by example with a tremendous work ethic.  Thanks to Chewy for a job well done!

The Taming of the Fescue

One of the things that makes Claremont so special is the bunkering.  The classic style, the way the bunkers just fit where they are and look as if they'd been there forever really gives us the sense of working on a 100 acre art piece.  One that is continually evolving, growing and being beaten up by golf carts, animals, tractors and the like.  This place just has it.

A major feature of the bunkering here at Claremont is the Fine Fescue "eye brows."  Fine Fescue is a grass found growing native in California and other parts of the world and is truly a poverty grass, meaning it does best with little to no water and fertilizer and infrequent mowing.  Coming out of winter, the fescue is long, lush and hard on the golfer.

 So, today we tamed the fescue around all the bunkers on the golf course.  Ten team members armed with weed eaters, rakes and blowers.  The guys bounce their weed eaters against the fescue to beat it up and give it that natural, rustic look that I think is so cool.  The end result is what I like to call Weed eater Art.  Plus, now you may find your ball!

Last fall, our consulting agronomist and friend Dave Wilber made a visit just as we had finished the new bunkers on 1 & 18.  Below is a link to his blog that is posted on Turfnet.com where he discusses that visit.  Dave is brilliant, a great writer and has some very nice things to say about Claremont.  Enjoy, and we'll see you on the course.

http://www.turfnet.com/wilber/index.php/2010/10/15/fescue-be-not-jungle-man/

Greens Aeration Step 4

Step 4 is the dragging and brushing of the sand.  Once the sand has dried on the surface of the greens, we pull a mechanical drag brush behind a small turf vehicle.  Typically, we'll make two passes over each green with this unit attempting to work the sand into the hole.  This can be quite stressful to the turf so after a few passes, we stop with the drag brush and go to our hand brooms to do the finish work.  Getting the sand right is the most time consuming process of the aerification and is critical to the over-all success of the project.  Over the next few days, we will go back on some of the greens to add sand to some greens to completely fill the holes.

Greens Aeration Step 3

Step 3 is a deep, solid tine aeration using our tractor mounted vertidrain.  With this piece of equipment, we are able to punch a 3/8" hole to a depth of 9 inches.  Really, we are aerating the greens twice this spring, all in one process. 

As you all know, the greens here at Claremont are native soil (clay) greens that have been modified with sand topdressing over many years.  The sand layer is anywhere from 2" from the surface up to 6" from the surface and varies on every green.  With the deep aeration along with the traditional core aeration we will, over time even out the current inconsistency in the root zone resulting in better playing conditions year around.  Please enjoy the following aeration footage!