Monday, February 13th, 2012

A week ago Saturday, we opened the grass on the driving range tee for the Men's Club Super Bowl event. I was excited to try out our new driving range signs and to my dismay I can see that we have some serious work to do. I was disappointed that I didn't see as many long snakes on the tee as I would have expected. I spent the rest of the morning after the shot gun went off seeding and sanding the mess.

I know this is going to take some time for everyone to learn this new technique so I have prepared myself to be patient. The new signs are very self explanatory, so if others are seeing people doing the right thing it is bound to get better. We are so fortunate to have such a great Men's Club at Stone Creek. They have been generous over the years by contributing funds to the turf program at Oregon State, so I will be communicating with them on how they can contribute to our successful range program.

I have received multiple requests from across the country of the divot pattern signs. You can save it to your computer by simply right clicking and use the "Save as" option. The one I have placed here is a 12x18, most sign companies can print this on their stock aluminum sign.

Last week was business as usual at the course. We continued edging cart paths and Zeferino has started raising and leveling heads. I have been busy meeting with vendors, getting quotes on our nitrogen sources, and  getting ready to implement the years fertility program. Steve has taken apart the pump on the sprayer and has determined that it is time to replace it. Luckily we had half of it in stock and the other half should be here today. This will be our first year when everything will be fertilized with the Redox fertilizer, there will not be any granular fertility on the greens, tees or fairways. We have already proven the greens and tees, so I am looking forward to seeing the results on the fairways.

Steve Pearce suggested planting some fir trees along the south edge of the lake on six. It is a great location to expand plantings for there is plenty of room to grow. Doug Fir seedlings have sprung up all over the course so he has taken it upon himself to relocated them to places where they will flourish. He has also divided some Oregon Grape and snow berry and planted them along the edge as well. This will create new shelter and food for the wildlife and will eventually rise high enough to provide shade for the lake.