Greens Chair Update to the BOG and Greens Committee

Below is a correspondence from Clark Standish, Greens Chair, to the Board of Governors and Greens Committee


To all-
I am writing to provide some timely update on the status of the golf course, given the flooding from this week's rains...

I spoke with Bob McCurdy this morning and we are about as well off as we could have hoped for, given the events. The fairways are mostly free of standing water and the remaining puddles are being hit with squeegees by the crew. This is exhausting work and I am certain there are a lot of aching bodies out there at present.

There is still a lot of water in the area spanning from the woods on the left side of #11 fairway and all the way over into #7 fairway. The drains are clear and working but there is simply so much water in this area that we can't move it out fast enough. Bob is using pumps to displace as well.

Mother Nature is cooperating (fancy that!) for the meantime with cloudy and cool temperatures. Sun and heat today would be more problematic than current conditions. Forecast for tomorrow is 50% chance of storms- if we can dodge that, we will hopefully be ok.

The more water we can get off the course and out of standing areas, in fairways (priority) and rough, the better- before the high heat and heavy sun anticipated for the end of the weekend. The crew is mowing tees and greens and we will hope to get them out mowing the fairways tomorrow, weather permitting. The rough will be a different story...

The bunkers have held up beautifully. There is a lot of accumulation of silt on the sand surface owing to water washing in from outside the bunkers, but no sign of compromise in the Klingstone. The crew will skim the silt off the surface then restock with fresh sand to desired depth. The sand is essentially dry in many places which is a wonderful deviation from the sand we had prior to the project!

The greens have drained as hoped and there is no sign of turf damage there, or on the tees. Grass can withstand submersion in water for 4-5 days so we are still ok with areas as mentioned above.

Stay tuned...

Starting to Gain Ground

Mother Nature finally spared us some of her torture last night and as a result we are really gaining ground on the standing water. As of this morning, the only major golf course areas with standing water were the 7th and 11th fairways. We have already made serious progress there this morning. By days end we should have all the standing water in the fairways removed. When the fairways and bunkers are complete, we will begin working on pumping out as much of the roughs as possible. With 85 degree temperatures forecast for Monday and Tuesday, it is a race against the clock to get the water off and save the grass from cooking in the afternoon sun.





About 90% of this water has already been removed this morning.


The Range, Short Course and Chipping green will remain closed until further notice. Our first, and only priority, is to remove water from the property and save grass. As soon as we can spare some bodies to address the water issues of the Short Course and Range, we will get them pumped out and re-opened.

Thank you for the continued patience and let's all hope tomorrow's forecast for more thunderstorms is completely wrong.

Photos of Today's Rain Event

Below are some images from today's rain event:


Hole #1




Hole #2




Hole #12




Short Course #'s 1 and 6

A Rain For The Ages!!!

I am sorry to inform all of you the all golf course related operations are now closed until further notice. This does include the Short Course, Range and Chipping/Practice green. The property has just received 2.7 inches of rain in the last 90 minutes. To be honest, this is the worst rain event I have seen in my 12 years at the club. With more HEAVY rains forecasted for this afternoon and again tomorrow, these closures may linger for a few days. I am keenly aware that the holiday weekend is approaching and I will do everything in my power to re-open things ASAP.

Mother Nature Wins One Battle

Sometimes things are just out of your control. Mother Nature simply wouldn't let the warmer temps and drier conditions arrive until just yesterday (May 20th) and the extended forecast looks like a lot more rain could be in store for us. All that being considered, I made the decision to strip and re-sod #'s 2, 3, 7, 10, and 12 approaches that were damaged by snow mold over the winter.

We had begun to see new seed germinating, but I could not be certain these areas would fill-in in time for the opening of the course. With the sod, I know in two weeks you will be barely able to tell that anything was done. We were able to find alpha sod to match the grass that was already in these areas. Sometimes you just have to punt...

New Course...New Image

With a new course in hand, I thought it was time to create a new look for the Greens Department as well. This year we have outfit the staff with new uniforms in order to make the staff match from head to toe. I've attached a couple photos below of the new required attire in our department. This coordinated effort is just one of many new things in store for the golf course. I will continue unveil others as we approach the grand opening...

What a Difference a Year Makes.

Sorry for the absence from the blog. We have been extremely busy trying to play catch-up from Mother Nature's effects. We are finally seeing things take off and grow like crazy in the last week. Fairways are filling in nicely now.

I thought I would share with you two photos this morning that underscore the importance of why this renovation had to be done:



The first photo was taken from the #6 green prior to the renovation.



The second photo was taken yesterday. The root mass in the new greens is clearly better than the first photo. This is the product of a well drained and oxygenated soil that did not previously exist.

Thanks for your continued patience and support. Just a few more short weeks and all will return to normal.