Monday, March 26th, 2012

I know I'm sounding like a broken record but the weather tops the news once again this week . By my calculations, Thursday's snowfall was our fifth accumulating snow event since the last week of February. I don't think I can remember ever seeing 4" of snow at the end of March. I won't say we're out of the woods yet because with the spring weather we have been getting lately, you never know what the next system will bring. This latest event didn't seem to have the damage that last week's snow brought. There were only a few branches down which gave the crew much needed time to mow the greens and put the bunkers back in place.
Just for fun I took a photo Thursday in the snow and again on Friday from the same place. It's amazing to see the change in 24 hours. (Yes, this is my favorite tree on the course)

Thursday, March 22nd

Friday, March 23rd

Once again the crew stepped up and and made sure the weekend golfers received the best possible playing conditions. The guys all appreciated the kind words toward their efforts. It means so much to them to hear given the miserable conditions they have all had to endure lately.

It was great to see the golf course so busy on Friday and Saturday. I know this time of year players are getting a little stir crazy and need to get out on the course. The course is in great shape but please don't expect the greens to be running over 10. With 2.5" of rain and 4" of snow it is difficult to maintain summer conditions. When conditions are favorable, meaning firm, we will roll the greens to increase ball roll. If we have a day where we can either mow or roll we will mow first to make sure they have a clean cut. If we can roll the next day than by all means we will.

We recently had Stone Creek mapped by CourseVision. I learned about this program at the Golfdom Summit at Pinehurst last November. The power of this tool is immense. Unlike a CAD program, CourseVision is one simple file in PDF format that delivers accurate measurement data on the entire property. All for one ridiculously low price. This is a tool that will enable us to communicate more effectively and keep track of everything we have done on the property. I was able to submit our irrigation file which was then overlaid on to the entire map with amazing accuracy.

Although Stone Creek is an Audubon certified sanctuary, CourseVision comes complete with an entire property inventory which is part of the certification process. Every part of the property is digitized with proprietary software and then summarized in a spreadsheet.  I can also see this being used in many other ways throughout the golf course.

I will be providing the proshop with a copy of this software for their use as well. I am sure we will find good use for it in setting up tournaments and employee orientation. CourseVision told me that we are the first course in our area to use this technology. They said we have some of the finest aerial photos available in the country which make for a high quality map.