Lower driving range tee complete

We have finally finished all aspects of the new lower driving range tee. While it will take a little time to mature, it is now open and ready for lessons.

Our last step was to put the new hitting mat on, and we accomplished that last week. You can follow our previous progress in posts here and here. The mat was like a big puzzle, but we used a couple of frost mornings to lay it all out and fit it together. 2 or 3 tries later and we had it just right. A quick stamp of approval from the Professional staff and we locked it in place.

The turf will still need to heal more before it is a perfect hitting surface. However, it is rooted in enough now to be used gently. Likewise, the new trees we planted as a screen are still young. But over time they will mature and provide a good block for errant shots as well as a hedge to block the view of the maintenance shop.

Hopefully, golf continues to be a new escape for so many people and the new tee gets all the use it deserves.

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please keep carts on cart paths for the entirety of par 3 holes.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Divot on green

We recently discovered that someone took a divot out of #5 green. Golf can be frustrating but taking that frustration out on the course is unnecessary.

The membership pays to use the facility and we use that money to maintain a certain set of standards. We work hard and take pride in making sure everything is as good as it can be. To see someone deliberately take a swipe of turf out of the green is very unfortunate. There is no way to know who is responsible; it does not matter anyway. It could have been a member or a guest, adult, or kid. Hopefully, the rest of this person’s group admonished them for the choice.

The next step will be to plug a new piece of turf from the edge of the green in place of the divot, and relocate the damaged piece to the far edge, out of play. The grass will recover, and eventually, no one will be able to tell the difference. However, from the day it happened until we can repair it, the damage could affect any person who plays.

While 99% of the people who play here are very considerate, when someone disrespects the course, it is disappointing.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please keep carts on cart paths for the entirety of par 3 holes.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Pool work

As we head into the middle of April, the property really comes alive. The Bermuda grass is starting to awaken, the rough is getting a lush color, and the trees are blooming. For the Grounds department, this time also means a great deal of work at the pool.

The pool basically sits dormant from Labor Day until we start our spring cleanup. For several years now, we have aimed to begin that work in April. With opening weekend being the Memorial Day weekend, starting the work in April has two main advantages:

1.       It gives us plenty of time to get our work done! Just because we have lots to do at the pool facility, does not mean that maintenance of any other areas of the property stop. We must have time to work on the golf course and the pool. Starting this early means we have a buffer before crunch time of opening day. If we must only work a half day at the pool, or even skip a day here and there, starting early gives us that ability.

2.       We lay several pallets worth of new sod at the pool each season. The turf at the pool is subjected to a nightmare scenario every year: heat, no irrigation, heavy foot traffic, and shade. All these factors combined, leads to specific locations needing to be redone every year. Laying the sod as early as possible gives it the most amount of time to grow and establish before the onslaught of pool patrons.

We hit this schedule right on the nose this season. Our cleanup progressed nicely, and we have already started the sod process. The sod should be completed by the end of this week with plenty of time to prepare itself for the busy pool season.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please keep carts on cart paths for the entirety of par 3 holes.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Another lower driving range tee update

We are continuing to make progress on the lower driving range tee. Last week, as the sod continued to heal in, we added new trees and a golf cart parking area.

Planting the new trees

With the expansion and increased use of the new lower tee, we added these new trees for both aesthetics and safety. We chose holly trees because of their hardiness, deer resistance, and quick growth.

While the entire Grounds operation originates at our maintenance facility, it is not the most eye-pleasing thing to look at. We keep a tidy work area, but our equipment, materials, supplies, etc. are best kept out of sight. We want our members and guests to see the product that we create, but not necessarily all the nuts and bolts of how we get it done (unless we are explaining our work). So, these new trees will provide a screen that blocks the view of the maintenance yard for anyone practicing on the tee.

A view towards some of the Grounds
department storage. You can see that
when the new trees mature, they will shield this view.

The trees also provide a bit of safety to the Grounds staff at our equipment wash area. After construction, the new lower tee was set much lower, further back, and slightly angled more to the center of the driving range. All these changes lend a bit more towards an errant shot coming toward our cleanup area. Though the risk is still slight, it is not zero. Therefore, we also arranged the new holly trees in a fashion that blocks our wash area from golf balls coming from the new tee.

A picture showing the angle towards our
equipment wash area. The last few trees in the
line will protect our staff.

The planting area completed with mulch

While finishing the trees, we also added a small cart parking area to the side of the new tee. The cart path that runs behind the tee is also one of the Grounds staff most highly utilized roads. Nearly all our equipment and carts pass through here every day, multiple times per day. It would have been very difficult for us had this lane been clogged with golf carts of those who were using the tee. Similarly, we do not want the golfers to drive their carts anywhere they want and park anywhere they want around the new tee. So, we created a small parking area that is off the main path, but also allows easy access to the new tee. It should help keep the whole area clear and more organized for everyone.

The cart parking area along with a small access path
for the driving range picker cart to get out
onto the driving range.

The last step for the new tee is to get the hitting mat in place, which is scheduled for mid-April. One final post after that and the new tee should be up and running.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please keep carts on cart paths for the entirety of par 3 holes.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Busy week

Due to power and internet outages, this report was not posted until Monday afternoon. Therefore, it was not sent as part of the regular blog email at 10am. Thank you.

 

This past week we had a list of many small tasks to keep us busy. some of these things are minor or are of very little consequence to golfer. But many small, seemingly minor jobs added together help to improve the entire operation.

First, we cleaned and organized our chemical storage area for the season. We must wait until we are past the threat of cold temperatures before we can accomplish this (though this coming week has a couple of cold nights forecast). Once we are through the worst, we bring our liquid products from inside the warehouse and organize them by type and place them in their respective spots for easy access during the year. We also purchased another pallet rack for our dry chemical storage. We now have 2 racks that we can put our less frequently used products up on to free up more space below. Having these areas clean and organized is helpful during the season when things get hectic.

We also had a nice rain day mid-week. This was perfect timing for new sod that had been laid at the lower driving range tee and on the collars. It was also perfect timing to trim sprinklers, drains, valve boxes, and yardage plaques. Keeping sprinklers and yardage plaques trimmed and clear helps golfers to quickly gain information regarding the distance to the flag. It is also much more attractive when neatly manicured. Keeping the drains and valve boxes trimmed is more for the Grounds department’s benefit. Allowing grass to grow over the drains reduces their effectiveness and can lead to puddling and poor draining of water. The valve boxes are the locations of all the shut-off and isolation valves for the irrigation system. We keep these clear so that they are easy to locate. If we have an irrigation break and water is gushing out onto the course, we need to be able to quickly find and access the correct valve box. If it is overgrown by grass this becomes nearly impossible.

After the new sod was complete at the lower driving range tee, there was a little extra leftover. We took this opportunity to spot-sod a few locations on the property. We almost always have a list in the shop of miscellaneous areas to sod. This list comes in handy in times just like this: when another project leaves a small surplus of sod, we must quickly find a place for it so that it is not wasted. We repaired a few green surrounds areas, some tee walk-on areas, as well as 3 stump holes at tennis. We managed to find a place for all the extra sod.

Lastly, we started our annual spring bunker sand addition work. Every spring we rearrange the existing sand in bunkers so that it is evenly spread within the bunker. As part of this process, we record which bunkers need additional sand so that there is adequate depth. In most cases, nearly all greenside bunkers need at least some new sand, but we check everything to be sure. We dispersed a full load of bunker sand last week and we have 2 more coming this week to finish up.

Each of these on its own is no enormous change or improvement to the course, but taken together, along with our other practices, they can make a difference.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

When parking your cart at a tee or green, please keep all 4 tires on the path

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org