Range Update

When life presents you with a basket of lemons, you have no choice but to try and make lemonade. Earlier this week Mother Nature forced the closure of the driving range due to the extreme moisture in the landing zone. I am happy to report conditions have moderately improved and we will re-open part of the range this Saturday. There are still parts of the landing area that are too wet for the range picking equipment so we have installed a temporary section of fence to define the maximum distance you may hit balls this weekend(see photo below). We will place the hitting stations as far back on the tee as possible in order to maximum the number of clubs you will be able to use. Our quick measurement indicates you should be able to hit shots up to 165 yards. Please refrain from hitting clubs that will allow your ball to travel further than this distance.



We kindly ask that everyone please keep your shots inside this fence. If everyone cooperates, we should be able to make this work. Should issues arise, we will be forced to close the range once again.

Thanks for your understanding and have great weekend!

RANGE CLOSED!!!

I am sorry to report that we must close the Driving Range for a couple of days. The relentless rains are making it impossible for the Golf Services staff to pick the balls off the range. We have gotten both mowers and the range picking cart stuck on more than one occasion in the last 48 hours. We apologize for the minor inconvenience and appreciate your patience. With a little luck, we should be able to re-open the range by Saturday.

Sorry!!!

Cultural Practices Have Begun

This week we crossed another milestone marker in the preparation of the new greens. For the first time, we were able to aggressively brush the greens and remove some of the unnecessary tissue. This process involved driving a cart on the greens for the first time...you can imagine my fear...that's why I did it myself. Below are some photos that outline the process.



The first step of the process was to brush the greens with the pull behind unit pictured above. This brush stood up lots of unnecessary tissue that could then be mowed off.



On the right side of this photo, you can clearly see how much tissue is being removed.



Here is a wider view of the mowing process. Just look at how much grass is being removed!



The final step of the process was to mechanically roll the greens to remove any slight impressions that may have been left behind by the cart tires.

This process of brushing is just one off many maintenance items we group under the title of cultural practices. Others include aerification (hollow tine, solid tine and deep tine) and topdressing. These are the critical practices that will ensure the longevity of the new greens. They are the basic maintenance items that help prevent the excess accumulation of organic matter (thatch) in greens and maybe more importantly to you, they are the practices that promote smooth, fast putting greens.

Let the Preparation Begin

We're Back! Well we actually never went away, just took a little break from the blog site during the winter months. We are very excited to get the golf course re-opened and get you back to playing your favorite track. As of today, we see no reason that won't happen by the July 1st date you were promised. If we can open earlier we will, but we must protect these new greens like a newborn.

All of the greens and tees have come through the winter beautifully. There is ZERO dead turf anywhere in these locations. I could not be more pleased with where we are today. The turf density has increased over the winter and we are well on our way to establishing the outstanding set of greens this membership has come to expect. We have already mowed the greens for the first time this spring and the results are outstanding. We will continue to roll and mow on a regular basis to firm and tighten up the putting surfaces. In the coming weeks we will be maintaining these greens as if we were open - mowing daily and topdressing weekly.



As I write this update this morning, the crew is finishing up the last of the debris removal from the golf course. We have hand raked the entire property and all the debris will be gone today. It's nice to see everything look so fresh and clean. With the clean-up behind us, we will move immediately to repairing the golf course from last summers project. There are a number of small projects that must be completed over the next couple months - most notably the repairing of the haul roads used by the contractor last summer. We will take a hole by hole approach to repairing anything and everything. Our Goal = 18 holes in 36 days. By Mid-May we want to havy every bit of sod or seed on the ground and starting to establish in order to get everything to fill in by our opening.

What's new for 2011? There are some exciting new things on tap for 2011, but I'll keep most of them under wraps for now. Call it a tease! One thing I do want to share is what you should expect of the blog this year. In 2011, we will transition the blog from a project update site to an everyday information tool for the membership. This site will be the place to go for the most up to date information regarding the golf course - Is the course open today? Are there carts available? What projects are happening this week? etc. etc. One thing that I will try to do this year via the blog is answer your questions regarding the golf course maintenance operation. Questions can be submitted to me via email at bmccurdy@ccdetroit.org

An exciting year is ahead of us all. Your patience through this project has been outstanding. We are over the hump and the waiting is almost over. Thanks again for all your support!!!