Winter 2021-2022: Early February
- matthewbehl
- Feb 11, 2022
- 2 min read
The multiple winter weather events that have occurred the last few weeks has left the course covered in a layer of snow and ice. Heavy rain in combination with the snow melting during the day has resulted in large sections of ice across the course. Our greens are constructed with severe undulations and deep bowls that are very prone to ice formation. Creeping Bentgrass is very tolerant to periods of ice cover. This is one of the reasons why we spend so much time and resources trying to keep Poa Annua out of the greens. Ice will continue to be monitored over the course of the winter.
Our irrigation pump house has received a new coat of paint. In addition, some other building repairs and improvements were completed. A hatch in the ceiling was installed which we previously had to cut open in order to gain enough room to replace a pipe and pump.
The irrigation system is compromised of almost 1400 individual heads, hundreds of isolation valves, and dozens of snap valves. The roughly 1400 heads are assigned a station number at one of the twenty-three field satellites. These are the green plastic boxes spread across the golf course. These heads are individually controlled from either these satellites or the main irrigation computer in the GCM office. We use irrigation maps to keep track of the locations and numbering of these components. However, these maps have errors within them due to alterations made during the systems installation and subsequent additions/changes to the system made since 2004. This winter we have spent time going through and editing our existing maps to be accurate to the current layout of the system.
Part of moving forward with the long range plan of improving vistas throughout the golf course and clubhouse we have cut down an additional five trees. These trees were located on the hillside between the 10th fairway and the 11th green. A vista of the 11th green has been created from the clubhouse. Golfers on the 11th green will also now have enhanced views of the 10th fairway, #18 green complex, #9 green complex, and the clubhouse. These removals will also provide more shot opportunities for errant tee shots that land to the right side of the path. Pruning work to the left of the tenth gold and blue tee was also done to eliminate low hanging branches over the cart path.
Before: View from Clubhouse and from the #10 fairway.
Work in Progress:
View after trees removed:
Pruning work by #10 Tee:
