Greens on a golf course require a lot of "input". If you are a farmer you know what input costs are. As members you realize that a lot of work goes into preparing the greens for the winter and then getting them ready for opening day. You also see us out there verticutting, topdressing, rolling, etc. What you don't notice is what's happening below the surface after constant play, rolling and other abuses. Jamie and I do notice however. That is why the greens were sprayed with an innovative wetting agent and then mini tine aerated immediately following. Simply stated: water was not moving down to the roots and it was powder dry underneath the turf in many areas. A biological change was in motion and I took steps to stop it. Did it cause everyone grief? Yes. Was there little lead time to notify the membership? Yes. Were the greens ready for the Club Championship? Yes. Are we the only course that disrupts the golf season on occasion in order to solve a problem? Of course not. It just seems that way because you aren't playing those other courses all the time. I may be coming off a little abrasive here but I am only concerned with giving you the best conditions that time, budget, weather and my knowledge can deliver. A golf course green is not like an iMac. You don't just open the box, plug it in and run it 24/7 with no problems (sorry pc users).
About 6 years ago I thought we had seen the storm of the century when the parking lot flooded and the hillside ended up on the 9th green. Well Monday night came close to matching that storm. Fortunately we had taken steps to mitigate damage from future storms. The drain line behind the curbing worked (to a point) until it was overwhelmed. I know because all the runoff ended up on the 18th green. The waterfall area hung in there with some damage behind the 1st tee (my staff had it repaired in 2 hours). The wood chips washed out on the clubhouse slope. Again my staff had the area cleaned up by noon. The amount of water on the course was shocking but it has almost drained away except for the usual areas. The bunkers were wiped out but they should be pumped out and adjusted shortly. I'm betting many of you have no idea how severe the storm was and were suprised we were closed for awile on Tuesday. My staff pulled off a minor miracle in cleaning up the mess especially the disgusting "runoff" from the sewer blowouts on #9 and #4. Compared to the wind storm this was almost a relief! My thanks to my staff. We are now off to our own staff tourney at Pioneer Meadows today. Maybe they were motivated to work like dogs yesterday as I had told them we would likely delay the staff bash for a week in order to make sure the course was ready for Friday. I felt awful but they understood. A little bird told me they had their own private discussion afterwards and took matters up a notch. They made Jamie and I very happy. See you later.
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