Below is a communication from club President, Steve Schafer, and Greens Chair, Clark Standish, regarding recent course closures.
August 9, 2011
Dear Fellow Members,
The Summer of 2011 will be remembered for some of the most extreme weather in recorded history. These records, dating to 1896, will show the July heat to be the highest recorded, while also being the third highest in rain precipitation. Obviously, this extreme weather has served as a threat to our newly-renovated golf course.
At Spring meetings to consider the course reopening, the Greens Committee/GCROC, in conjunction with Course Superintendent Bob McCurdy and the Board of Governors, set forth to address potential weather threats with but one mandate: to protect the golf course at all costs. The new turf in our greens and tees, along with the fairways and rough surrounds, is very immature and susceptible to a number of potentials for stress failure. We gave Bob a strong level of authority to act and protect the golf course in this opening season in hopes of maximizing the performance potentials for the turfgrass in the years to come.
Today, after a 1" rain which began in the middle of the night and let up around 8am, we were forced to close the golf course again. The drainage system which was installed in 2001 and 2002 is designed to clear roughly 1" of rain in 4-6 hours. Had last evening's rain occurred earlier we would have been able to get the course readied for play this morning. The drainage system is functioning effectively and maximally; the timing and severity of the downpours have done a lot of the dictating; our grounds crew has worked tirelessly in every instance to get the course cleared of standing water and readied for play.
We will continue to act in a conservative manner in protecting the new turf on our golf course through the current golf season. As the turf matures, the potential exists to allow play after such torrential rains as we have seen this summer.
Thank you for your patience and it is our hope to keep as much play out on the course as Mother Nature will allow!
Sincerely,
Stephen G. Schafer,
President, Board of Governors
J. Clark Standish
GCROC Chairperson
