August Update

9th Hole

It is hard to believe we are already a week into August, but so is the case. Since my last post we have been focusing the majority of our time on improving our putting surfaces and getting all the kinks out of our irrigation system. It is not too uncommon for us to have a handful of leaks a week, with most of them being attributed to failing glue joints or poor repairs in the past. Andrew and Colin have done a great job of keeping the system operating, especially with the mid 30 degree temps we have seen the past few days.

In the last two weeks we have aerated greens along with laying 1600 sq ft of sod on greens 2,3,4,7, and 9 to repair areas that were too large to repair with plugs. All the problem areas were located on the clean up pass of the greens, so the new sod will have very little impact on playability. We are cutting the new sod at a higher height than our normal greens height, so hopefully by the end of the month we will have the new sod at the same height as normal greens height.

Boys stripping the sod off of 3 green

What the new sod on 9 looks like

The other night while out handwatering the new sod I had a good conversation with one of our members getting in a quick nine before dark. He quizzed me with afew questions I have heard before, even at my own family gatherings. The first one being "What I plan to do for the winter?" and the second " It took you two years of college to learn how to grow grass?". In the past I was annoyed by these questions, but I have learned to realize that our job as turfgrass managers is to educate others about our profession. I truly believe that these questions are not ignorant, but uneducated. I try my best to stop and talk to as many people as I can and explain things like why the Poa makes the putting surfaces bumpy later in the day. Or how having our sprayer down and missing our scheduled Primo application leads to slower greens in the afternoon.

Along with all the other hats we where on a daily basis, I believe educating our staff and golfers could be the most important aspects of our profession to help ease the pressure we are under to provide a great working environment , and consistant playing conditions. I know the pressure we put on ourselves is more than anyone can put on us, but by using education we can make those times when things are going as well as we would like, alot less stressful.

So if you have a question feel free to stop me on the course and ask, that is what I am there for, along with afew other things.

On a final note I would like to say congrats to Bruce Lemessurier on his first hole in one. Bruce is daily morning golfer and helps with our junior program from time to time. I also happened to be in the clubhouse eating lunch when he bought everyone a round of drinks. It was pretty neat to hear him and Ian Jones, his witness, explain how it all went down.



Bruce and his hole in one on 12