Monday, July 25th

We finally turned on the well! Once again our summer has been late to arrive and we have been able to use water from Beaver Creek up until now. We actually got the word from the Watermaster over a week ago that we reached our limit on the creek. But since then, we have had enough rain to keep us from having to irrigate so we just left the well off. Sunday morning the lake level was down about 4" from the previous nights irrigation, so the well is now on. Compared to some of the previous years we are still quite green, including the range which is normally dormant by this time of year.

On Monday we aerified the lower driving range tee box and seed and sanded the entire surface. I will continue to remind everyone to be aware of your divot pattern while practicing. I am working on developing a sign which will demonstrate the proper use and will hopefully help avoid divot patterns like this. The range is a huge source of revenue for us and the better we can manage it the better the conditions will be for our customers. I am beginning to see our new divot patterns appearing hear and there and I would like to thank all who are doing their part.

The course continues to be in the best shape I have seen it for this time of year. Our greens are healthy and strong and so far have avoided much of the disease that has been going around due to our inclement weather. Our plant health care program, which includes our fertility, as well as disease management, has seemed to be very effective this year. We have managed to dodge the anthacnose and many of the usual summer ailments thus far. We normally spray a preventative application on a monthly basis but due to the disease pressure that has been reported in our region, we will be making our second application of the month this week.

Bill Inman, Bill Rommel, Frank Phipps

On a personal side, I would like to share an experience I had with my father last week. My dad is now in his eighties and has developed macular degeneration which has taken much of his eye sight. His vision is now at 80-20 which legally puts him in the blind category. It hasn't been easy for him especially since golf, the game he has loved for so many years, has become a serious challenge for him. All last winter he had been telling me that his golfing days are over and perhaps he will be able to get out one last time, perhaps for just nine holes. The good news is he made that nine holes and then some. So far this summer he has played three times and has his fourth tee time booked for Tuesday! Last Tuesday my schedule opened up so I joined him and his buddies for eighteen holes. By the fourth hole my dad had holed out twice from off the green! Keep it up dad, you are an inspiration to us all!