Clubhouse flowers

Up close shot of lantanas from last year

By now, many regulars have returned to the club to play golf or eat or enjoy the weather. The temperatures are climbing again and it looks like winter is finally behind us. So, surely everyone has also noticed that there are some gaping holes in the landscape around the club. Don’t worry, the flowers are coming!

Winter may be gone, but cold overnight temperatures are not. Frost is still a very real concern through much of April. Evidence of that has been apparent in the last few weeks; we had a frost delay each morning from 4/13 through 4/17, and 4/24 as well! These spring frosts can be very damaging to young annuals. Therefore, we choose to wait to plant our annuals around the clubhouse until the threat of a destructive frost is very low.

We also choose the plant material that we use for specific reasons. Our biggest priorities for annuals are deer-resistance and low maintenance. There are many options for flowers, but there are significantly fewer options that don’t look like meals to the deer. It would be very devastating to plant a great spread of flowers around the clubhouse, only to have the deer destroy them in a few nights! Secondly, the annuals that we choose need to be low maintenance. With the size of the property, we do not have the resources to be watering flowers every day, pruning dead blooms off every few weeks, or other minor tasks that some flowers require to look their best. Picking species that are drought-tolerant means we can water them regularly while they are establishing their root system, but after that they can survive almost entirely on rain. Also, species that have flowers that all bloom at once and then all die at once can require pruning in order to expose new flowers. This is time consuming and can lead to a period of time between blooming that is not attractive. Instead plants that have multiple blooms at multiple stages provides consistent flowering through the season.

Example of the lanatanas thriving

Wading through all of the choices in annuals we have arrived at a plant that has performed well for us for several years now: Lantanas. There are a variety of colors to choose from and they meet our other requirements.

We will begin planting the week of May 2nd and within a few short weeks, our flowers will be off and running and taking care of themselves.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please remember to remove any bunker sand that may be stuck to your spikes before walking on the greens.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Porta-john cleaning

The porta-john between #8 green and #9 tee is convenient, easy for golfers to access, and strategically placed. However, its location is also a major headache when it comes to servicing the unit.

The Grounds department is only responsible for tidying up the interior of the porta-john and restocking the paper supplies. When it comes to actually servicing the unit, the company from whom we rent is responsible for pumping out the waste. The service company attends to our unit every Wednesday.

Problems arise when it is too wet for the company to get their service truck into the location of the porta-john. If we get any significant amount of rain from Saturday up until Wednesday morning, the company cannot drive their truck to the unit. Their service trucks are not four-wheel drive and are very heavy on the back end. This makes it extremely likely that they will get stuck anytime that the ground is wet. We have graded the road and we have added wood chips to try and make it more stable, which has helped. However, it can cause a big mess and cost Bretton Woods the bill of the towing company to extract the service truck if they should come in and get stuck. We monitor the situation every Wednesday to determine whether or not the truck should enter or not.

During a normal spring it is not unheard of to go weeks in a row of off and on wet weather. Depending on when the storms pass through and how much drying time is allowed between each storm, it is not inconceivable to go 2 or even 3 Wednesdays in a row without the service truck being able to get to the unit. The Grounds department continues to clean the inside as best we can, but we can only do so much. Inevitably, we have to wait for the ground to dry and the company to get into the site for the unit to be cleaned thoroughly.

These pictures are all from a particularly wet time. However, the results are still indicative of what potentially can happen when the service company enters when it is too wet. On this occasion, the driver did not check with us before entering and got stuck. In the end three trucks total got stuck and the tractor had to be called to rescue all of them.

Unfortunately, what this means is that at times the porta-john will be less than perfect. We will continue to have the service company clean our unit as often as we possibly can, but please bear with us when the weather is wet and the pumping truck cannot enter our property.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please remember to remove any bunker sand that may be stuck to your spikes before walking on the greens.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

New trash cans

With our core values in mind, especially our environmental responsibility, we purchased new trash/recycling combination units this year. The next time you are out you will see these stations across the course.

These new trash cans are an upgrade in several different ways. First, and most important, we now give our members the option to recycle. Though simple, this is a major improvement. In the past, there was not an option to recycle while on the golf course, so all trash generated was disposed of as trash and not separated as trash or recyclables. Bretton Woods cannot truly maintain an environmentally responsible footprint if we are not offering the opportunity to recycle wherever possible. We will also be using compostable trash bags in both the trash and recycling compartments of the new trash cans to lower our waste.

Also, these new units are much more clean and attractive than the old trash cans made of wood, and now match other units around the Bretton Woods facility. While the wooden trash cans were functional, they did not have a crisp, clean, tidy look. There will also be far less maintenance and upkeep on these new trash cans compared to the wooden versions. There may be some repairs over the years, but the wooden trash cans were getting old. We had to completely rebuild/replace several units a year along with repainting them each winter also. That labor can now be directed to other tasks.

Lastly, the new trash cans are made of recycled material themselves. There is a stamp on the side of each new trash can noting that it was made from approximately 1230 reclaimed milk jugs. Using recycled material was a key factor in our decision to purchase these specific units.

Nothing states our value of being environmentally responsible better than offering the opportunity for our golfers to recycle. Furthermore, purchasing trash cans constructed of recycled material only adds to this commitment. We hope you enjoy and utilize the new units while you are on the course.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please remember to remove any bunker sand that may be stuck to your spikes before walking on the greens.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Bermuda grass weed spray

This blog post is coming out late because we spent the entire morning making our herbicide application to fairways. We had a small window of opportunity of dry weather and calm or light wind conditions that we seized. Now all the fairways have been sprayed with a chemical to kill the weeds as well as a small amount of fertilizer to help the Bermuda grass get going.

This is one of the hardest tasks we do on the course. The precision and focus required makes it a very difficult application. The chemical we use kills nearly everything except Bermuda grass. It is a very useful and effective tool for killing weeds in the fairways. However, if there is one slip in concentration and the chemical gets in the rough or collars or anything besides Bermuda grass and that spot is dead. In addition, we strive to never close the course for any reason and close 9 holes only for aeration, so this weed killer application must be made ahead of play but be dry before any golfers walk through it. This is also a difficult balancing act that requires a lot of communication between the Grounds department and the Proshop. Finally, once the spray is complete, the last, difficult aspect is cleaning the sprayer thoroughly. Any residue left in the tank could potentially harm the greens or rough next time we spray. This could be catastrophic. So there is a great deal of time spent running a chemical cleaning solution through the tank repeatedly.

Overall, the application went well and we expect to see results very soon. It is also a relief for our department to be done with this particularly big hurdle.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please remember to remove any bunker sand that may be stuck to your spikes before walking on the greens.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org