US Open Set Up

Another US Open is in the books and as we watched Rory lap the field, talk of course set up became the focus. I thought it would be interesting for many of you to get a taste of what it takes to set up a golf course for the US Open. The link below is a clip of the superintendent at Congressional Mike Giuffre and Mike Davis of the USGA discussing the set up and preparation of the golf course leading up to the tournament.

http://www.gcsaa.tv/view.php?id=422

Hat's off to the staff and 120 volunteers at Congressional for preparing the golf course to look and play as the major championship venue that it is. The golf course looked and played fantastic leading up to the event and then the rains came and softened the course to the point that the best in the world could go low. What's the point here? All the work, all the blood sweat and tears that go in to making our golf courses great can be diminished on many levels by Mother Nature. Weather a US Open or a Men's Invitational it's something that we, as superintendents deal with daily and the weather dictates many of the practices we employ especially around tournament time.

Next year, the US Open comes to San Francisco and the Olympic Club. Myself and a few of the staff from Claremont will make the trip across the bridge for the entire week to volunteer for the tournament. We will be just a few of the 100 or so other superintendents and assistants volunteering to rake bunkers, handwater fairways and help the staff in any way we can as Olympic Club sets up for their big event and I can't wait! The opportunity to be part of such a tournament is one not to pass up and for me, setting up a golf course for a big event is really what it's all about. As a superintendent and a staff, you are tested on all levels. The US Open or the Invitational at Claremont, either way it's time to step up to the plate! Lastly, for those of you still interested, a link below details the week at a US Open for the volunteer.

http://www.gcsaa.tv/view.php?id=426

Thanks and we'll see you on the the course.

Invitational Update

I know it's been quiet on the blog page for a while so I thought I'd share some of the pictures I took while setting the course for the Men's Invitational. The course looked and played great throughout the week for the men and continues to shine for the ladies this week. Thanks to the staff in the turf department for their hard work and attention to detail over the last few weeks. The staff looked like the professionals they are, all dressed in new uniforms. They stepped up to the plate and hit a home run during those three days of tournament time when all the pressure was on. Enjoy the pictures in the slide show above and we'll see you on the golf course.

Ball Mark Repair

After seeing the greens this morning I thought it would be appropriate to re-post the video on ball marks. We found many ball marks that were not repaired this morning with #7 green having a total of 17. Something to keep in mind is with the firm condition of the greens, many times your ball mark is well short of where your ball may come to rest. The 7th green is a good example of this as many balls will hit the green and end up just off the back.

My Dad taught me as a kid to always fix my ball mark and one other with the idea being to leave the golf course in better condition than I found it, thinking about the players that follow me. Little did I know that one day I'd be blogging about this lesson learned from Dad!

Please pass this around, tell a friend and don't forget, there are free ball mark repair tools in the golf shop. Thanks and we hope you enjoy the course!

May Team Member Profile

Richie Pilat 

Maintenance Team Member Since 2003
Position: Greenkeeper
Duties: Equipment Operator
Family: Single, son Elvis
Interests: Biking, snowboarding and IPA

Richie spends most of his time here at Claremont mowing Tees & Approaches.  He is part of the weekend crew and helps with mowing and rolling of the greens and general set up of the golf course.  Richie's easy going attitude and good sense of humor keeps everyone in the turf department smiling.  Keep up the good work Richie!



Golf Course Maintenance Update

As we approach the summer growing season many important practices are being performed by the staff in the turf department.  I want to take a minute to update you all on what has been our focus over the last few weeks and where we're going as we lead up to the men's and women's invitationals.

• If you have played the golf course recently I'm sure that you've noticed the greens being faster than usual.  This is directly related to the new greens mowing equipment that has been put to use over the last month.  These new mowers are fantastic and we are seeing the results already with smoother and faster greens.  Setting them up to achieve what we want will take some trial and error as we are seeing the greens a bit faster than our target speed.  The goal for green speeds are 10 on the stimpmeter for weekday play and 11 on the weekends. 

• We have finished going through all of the bunkers on the course.  Each bunker is inspected for the proper depth of sand and adjusted accordingly.  Dirty or contaminated sand is removed and new sand is added to "freshen" the look of the bunkers.  Finally, the sand is turned over throughout the entire bunker to relieve the compaction that we see as a result of the winter rains.  The bunkers will be a bit inconsistent for a period of time as the newer sand will settle and keep in mind, a bunker is a hazard!

• The bare areas in the fairways have been re-sodded as of last week.  The bare spots are a result of heavy traffic throughout the rainy season.  Many of these areas become to wet in the winter and struggle to survive as we continue to keep the course playable.

• All fescue areas and "native grass" hillsides have been mowed down for the final time this season.  Soon these areas will dry up and brown out to create a nice contrast from green maintained turf to the brown natural look found on hillsides throughout California in the summer.

• Greens, Tees and Approaches were verticut and sanded in the last two weeks.  The process of verticuting helps to remove thatch and "true" the surface and combined with a light sand topdressing, is an important cultural practice for healthy turf management.  This will take place every 3 to 4 weeks throughout the growing season.

Please remember to leave the golf course better than you have found it by doing these few things:

• Fix your ball mark and one other
• Rake out all foot prints and scars once leaving a bunker
• Tap the excess sand off of your shoes before walking onto the green
• Please use sand and seed for all divot repair

 Thank you all and we'll see you on the golf course!

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.