A Little of This and That

Governor's golf open is done.  First member tourny of the season is past, the second one is right around the corner.  The heat is here and with the bit of rain we had the grass is growing and the mowers are busy.  Greens mowing height was brought down a notch to 0.135" a couple of weeks ago, we plan to be at summer height of 0.120" by Memorial Day.  During the season at times we do raise the height up a bit to lessen the impact of stressful conditions.  Bunkers have all been edged and sand is being added to a few as I write this.  Sunflower seeds have not been as problematic as they were, it appears the notice over Foretees was noticed.  So here we go... Not that we have not been going for 2 months already or anything.  But with the heat and night time temps up things have really taken shape.

The Greens Committee has approved the concept plans for the front entry make-over.  The design is currently being detailed and bids will be taken for the various parts of the project. The committee is hoping to have a detailed presentation to the IVGC Board of Directors at the June meeting, if not the July meeting at the latest.  Construction/Renovation will most likely occur in September and October.  When things are approved I will post the drawings and plans on the blog.

I was also hoping to show everyone some before and after pictures of the well re-development that was done over the winter.  I currently have the video footage of the before, but am having problems with the footage taken after completion.  I'll get them up as soon as I can, the screen looks brand new at the bottom of the well after the blasting and jetting that was done.  If I can finagle some pictures of the process I will get those up too, I was not allowed to photograph the blasting portion for safety concerns.

September Informer

I want to start off with a huge thanks to my staff for setting up a great golf course for Club Championship. A little rain on Sunday was more annoying then anything else, but other then that the weather was terrific and the course played great. From the comments I heard it sounded as though everyone had a great weekend, even though some golf games were not that “fun”. So with the Championship behind us we are now prepping for aerification. The greens will be aerified on the 6^th and 7^th, the Tuesday and Wednesday right after Labor Day. Tees and fairways will follow, and like in the past, that should not disrupt play much at all. With such a slow start to the season it feels like the last 2 months just flew by and it’s hard to think about fall and getting the course ready for winter. I am sure we still have 2 good months of golf ahead, and perhaps even a decent part of November if the weather holds.

Unlike last October when we were renovating 4,7, & 18, there will be no major projects going on this fall. We have some drainage work and some curb projects to tackle, and we will definitely be continuing the tree trimming. As I mentioned last month, we will be doing some major tree work on #16 in order to create a much better environment for the green and hole in general. It will start with the removal of the Oak tree closest to the green on the front right corner. The large Oak behind the green will be drastically trimmed up this fall, as well as some major trimming along the left side with some potential tree removal there also.

With the season winding down the Greens Committee will be looking for a new member very soon, so if you are interested please let them know. There are five members on the committee with 2-3 board members also sitting in. The commitment is 5 years, we meet once a month for most of the year, and tackle issues regarding all aspects of the golf course.

Enjoy the rest of the summer,

Kurt

Greens Committee Notes

It has been a quiet week at the shop, not a whole lot other then equipment work and the beginning to a couple weeks of painting. On Monday night the Green Committee held its first meeting of the year and got the ball rolling for 2008. Brad Solheim was elected Chairperson for the 2008 season and the committee decided on a member to present to the board for approval onto the committee. The board will decide on that at the next meeting and I will keep you all posted on that outcome. As for the rest of the meeting, bunkers, bunkers, bunkers.

It was brought up that playing a golf course that is under a long term renovation can be a bit disconcerting when during that round of golf you go from finished holes to unfinished holes and back to finished holes. It was that idea that brought about a unanimous consent to finish the front nine and continue on to the back nine. So for the 2008 season the plan is to complete #6, #7, #8, & #10. We are considering the front nine completed at that point since #2 & #5 are the most recent bunker renovations completed before this course wide plan started in 2007. We have $80,000 to work with and the estimates for this work from a 2007 analysis was just a bit above that. With the help of my staff and a few alterations to the plans we should be able to bring the 2008 phase in on budget. I will follow up in the next couple of days with a description of the work planned on these holes and what the thoughts are behind them. The one thing to keep in mind is that the basic plans and ideas are in place for each bunker/hole and then once the dirt is being shoveled the final decisions are made on-site.