Temporary Facilities Set up

After three weeks of deliveries, staging, set up and electrical work, the temporary Golf Shop facilities are up and running. Dennis Lodes was nice enough to come out with his drone camera to take some overhead pictures and video. The shots turned out so cool that we plan to make this part of our routine throughout the project. Should be a nice way to document the progress. Enjoy!

First Rain in 6 Months

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.

Fall Maintenance

Fall is here and with that we begin work in preparation for winter with a limited staff and limited opportunity for projects. While this includes many unforeseen tasks, one project in particular will dominate our time for the remainder of the season.

BEFORE

AFTER

It's been a few years since we've gone through all of the bunkers and performed what we call "hard edging". As you can see in the before pic there is much less actual bunker. This is a result of the surrounding turf growing into the sand. In this bunker alone we removed 20 cart loads of material from the edge, re-establishing the original bunker shape. 

The above picture of 8 was taken a year ago. Notice the bunker edges. Below shows how 8 looks today following hard edging of the bunkers. 

Over the next six weeks we will focus on getting through as many bunkers as possible. The remaining bunkers will be touched up as time allows over winter.

All in all Buzz and I are very happy with the golf course especially given the time of year and the fact we've now been without rain for five months. The course is looking and playing great with greens rolling above expected speeds as of late due to reduced fertilizer inputs. Our hard work is paying off with healthy soils and resilient turf. All good stuff.

Its going to be a busy winter with the new golf shop and cart barn project and that's OK. We wouldn't have it any other way. Enjoy your time out on the course this fall!

Cool season turf growth

It's now just over three weeks since summer aeration and greens have healed nicely. Green speeds are back in the normal range of expectation and we are looking forward to a great fall season on the course.






The above slide illustrates the growth curve of cool season grasses. As you can see, July is not the
best time for us to be aggressive as growth is limited both above and below the surface during the stress of summer. Due to a busy fall event season this was our last chance to open things up and incorporate some much needed new sand. 60 tons of new sand to be exact! Needless to say we were quite happy to have the weather cooperate with below average temperatures over the last few weeks.

Enjoy your time out there and we hope to see you on the course!

Josh Clevenger, Golf Course Superintendent

I am a Greenkeeper

This video was made by one of our seasonal Greenkeepers and it's so cool I had to share here.
So much time, planning and effort goes into maintaining the golf course that it's really difficult to explain. This is a really neat look at just some of the things we are doing out there. Some great pics and video courtesy of Jose De La Rosa. This video is dedicated to the great staff of Greenkeepers at the Claremont Country Club and all great Greenkeepers around the world.

Thanks Jose for putting this together and thank you for your service to our country!

Josh Clevenger, Golf Course Superintendent

The Sandman Cometh

The sandman was back to apply 600 tons of sand to the fairways on Monday. A total of 1200 tons have been applied this season (40 tons per acre). This total is half of what was applied for many years. The years of heavy sand applications resulted in a sand base on fairways of 6 to 8". The fairways were essentially "sand capped" over the course of 15 years and now we have adjusted the program to maintain that sand base. Resulting conditions have improved year around. I hear stories from many long time members about losing shoes in the fairways back in the day. No longer the case! In season, we are able to provide firm and fast conditions in fairways thanks to the sand base. It doesn't take much to dry things out here and when playing firm the character of the course is accentuated big time.

We've reached the mid point of the season and so far so good. About this time each year, I find myself looking through files of pictures titled "winter" or "rain" more and more often. It's been almost 4 months since we've had any precipitation. Rainbows and water falling from the sky would be a welcome sight but in all reality, we've got a long way to go. Football season is just a few weeks away though...