Greens Committee Meeting Highlights

We held our first Greens Committee meeting of the year last night. Everyone was present and most of the meeting evolved around the 2009 budget and ideas for planned projects. Nominees for the new committee member position where reviewed and a choice was made. He will be notified by the committee and upon acceptance his name will passed on to the board for approval. The 2009 meeting dates were decided and I have updated the list on the right.

The bulk of our discussion of the evening revolved around the bunker project for 2009 and also various other projects around the golf course. The golf course is going to start facing some interesting times with the economy in the position that it is in. The greens committee feels that even though we are going to be facing some tighter spending limits we can not stop progressing through updates and renovations to the golf course. It is important at a time like this that we continue to improve the golf club, the course being the committees focus obviously, and make sure we are a club that people want to be a part of. On that note we discussed holes #7, 12, and 13 for the bunker renovations this season. If we can fit it into our current budget, those are the holes that will be under renovation around July of this summer.

The other part of the project discussion had to do with tee boxes, from leveling to renovating complexes. We still have a few that are not very level and in need of some attention. We also have some aging timber walls that need to be replaced in the near future. So the committee has set a goal to discuss these areas and put together a plan of attack for them. The other lingering issues have to do with drainage, curbing, and landscaping. Overall it was a good mid-winter refresher about what the course is going to be facing this season and areas that we need to address.

The committee members are listed to the right of this page. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, etc. please make them known so they can be addressed and resolved if need be. And my ear is always open to any of the above, whether you call or email...

A New Year Begins...

Well, we are back at it in the shop. Maintenance on equipment, supplies, etc. is going along smoothly. Dave & I have seminars and a trade show the rest of this week in Minneapolis at the Convention Center and will be back in the shop on Monday. Brian is working on equipment and Frank McGinn III has been helping out in the shop over his holiday break.

The warmer weekend and rain brought about some ice formation on the greens. We walked all 18 today to get an idea of what we are facing and so far things are not very alarming. A couple of greens have a fairly thick layer on them in spots but most areas are under 1/2" thick and cloudy. Cloudy and full of air bubbles is the ok kind of ice because there is enough air there usually that the plants will not suffocate before the melting occurs. Clear ice is the stuff you do not want to see for very long because there is little to no air trapped there and that is when the plants can suffer. On average poa annua (annual bluegrass) is ok for upwards of 90 days under ice before damage, while bentgrass can go longer under cover. We will monitor the situation from here on out and make the decisions we need to make to make sure we do not have a problem with it... It just showed up for the most part so we have some time to watch what happens to the weather patterns and the ice.