Monday, November 30th, 2009

This week I will be in North Carolina attending the Syngenta Business Institute at Wake Forest University. I am looking forward to the event. It should be very enlightening.
We have a busy week at the course this week. It finally looks like the weather is going to cooperate for a change  but the only drawback is with clear weather in December comes frost in the mornings. From what I can see so far Tuesday on will most likely be our frosty days.

While I am gone Mike will try to get a couple fairways topdressed; it will most likely be on Friday so we can be sure everything is as firm as possible. Mike will also try to get some sand on the greens as well. It is entirely up to his discretion as to when he can get it done. The clean up went well last week and the course was pristine for the long weekend. After speaking with Doug on Thanksgiving it was nice to hear that we had a pretty good crowd for the day given we accumulated over an inch of rain. I really hope we finished the month off strong.

Mike and Steve P will be attending the OGCSA Pesticide Seminar on Wednesday and Thursday. George and Gordon are going to attend the OGCSA Sports Turf Seminar on Tuesday. All of the events will be occurring down town at the Oregon Convention Center. Brian will be attending a break out session on Thursday which is meant to prepare for the Oregon State Pesticide License examination. Zeferino and Steve M will oversee the operations while Mike is off Wednesday and Thursday. I will see if Mike can make it in in the morning before he gets off to the seminar to outline the jobs for the day.

We have ordered more sand which will not be billed until January. We still need to do a flow test on the well in order to complete the water rights. EnviroLogic Resources will be performing the test in a couple weeks and that should rap it up. We are still working within the $5,000 we budget for the year to complete the process.

Steve M finished the driving range markers last week. We just realized that we made 4 inch pipes and the ones on the range are smaller. We are waiting for bigger sleeve pipe to arrive so we can set them in the targets. They are really going to look nice. Steve did a fantastic job.

I will try update my report this week while I am away and will try to load some pictures of Wake Forest. Have a great week.

Oh and don't forget........

GO BEAVS!

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Another wet week! It seemed like winter came awful fast this year. I don't recall too many nice days in October but then again once the rain hits it seems like it's every day! The weather still doesn't stop the course from shining. I am still so impressed on how well the crew is taking the weather and still able to keep the course in top condition. They have really come together as a team and every one of them is doing their fair share. Saturday night left us with a mess to clean up. The crew on Sunday got the greens and tees cleaned up plus the front nine fairways. We should be able to get everything else cleaned up on Monday.
We are now just cutting the greens a few times per week which is allowing us to start in on some projects. Last week Zef and Jorge stripped the sod off of the back of 14A and re graded it so it was a much smoother transition off the back of the green. It seemed to have settled since we built it last year. The result will allow us to have a much more uniform collar. Zef has now started working on the lows behind the clubhouse. He is installing a much larger catch basin which should keep it from turning into a lake after heavy rains. He will also be using new sod grown on our nursery this fall.
We will be updating the driving range posts on the targets this week. Steve is constructing  new ones complete with matching stripes. We will install permanent sleeves in the ground which will keep them perpendicular.

If the weather cooperates we should get the greens sprayed next week. The weather man says we should have some nice weather Tuesday and Wednesday. We will keep our fingers crossed. It is not looking too good for Thanksgiving, probably a good day to stay indoors.

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Fall is such a beautiful time of year especially when the sun shines. This was the case Saturday morning. The 7:30 shotgun didn't actually go off as planned due to the frost but the crew managed to get the course ready and everyone teed off at 9:30. I am sure it was a great day for everyone.
I don't think we will be seeing as much rain this week as we did last week but it looks like we will be seeing quite a bit of wind instead. So far the crew has taken on everything that Mother Nature has thrown at them and has managed to keep the course clean and in phenomenal shape. The leaves are almost done and we will be focusing on getting the leaves out of the tall grass areas.

Greens
Lots of great comments on the condition of the greens. On the days that we are receiving heavy rain we have not been mowing them. The roll that we put on them for the ProAm really seemed to smooth them out for quite some time. We will try to put down a roll more often in lieu of mowing from time to time this winter.  We should be down to one fertilization a month. I just ordered our last Redox shipment for the year.

Tees
Since our sulfur application the fusarium patches are beginning to sprout new shoots. Ryder is pointing at two spots that are filling in nicely. It is nice to see them recover so well this time of the year. I am having Bob continue to put seed in the sand/seed boxes. He keeps the level low so it doesn't germinate before it can get used. The new tee markers weathered the season pretty well this year. A few of them have lost their bark but they still look nice. We will probably bring them in and give them a fresh coat of lacquer. This winter we will cut up some more branches and make plenty of extras so we can sub them in as we need.


Projects

Steve has been swamped in the shop and has been cranking out the reels off the grinder every day. With the new greens mowers it has allowed us to set up one of the old tee mowers as a nursery mower. We are cutting the bent now at .250 and it is filling in nicely. It is nice to have the nursery back. We should set up a croquet tournament next year, it would be perfect for that. The Beaver Creek pumps and motors will need to be serviced this year. It has been some time since we have done so and would be good insurance to get it done. The wet areas behind the clubhouse along the cart path are in our sights and we will be getting to those real soon. Starting to think about the new tournament facility and how we are going to handle the early tournaments this spring before it gets complete. I really don't have any good ideas right now but it wouldn't hurt to put our heads together and come up with some options.