Men's Member Guest

First round of the Men's Member Guest is underway. The course is playing very well and the greens are rolling true. What great weather for such a great tournament at our club!

Prep for this tournament is such a great time for our crew. We work long hours and well into the night for days but the smiles, handshakes, and accolades make it all worthwhile. There is nothing better than seeing members and their friends enjoying themselves on the course!

Course Care and Appreciation

I wanted to take a moment to thank one of our members, Randy Holmes, for using his valuable "off time" to help us on the course. Randy came to the course, last week, and hand topdressed all twenty greens in order to fill in the small areas on the greens that were still slightly depressed. We really appreciate Mr. Holmes donating his time to help us on the course. Help like this saves us so much time as a crew.

On a related note, many members have asked about the proper protocol in repairing ball marks... It's the same procedure as with the bentgrass greens, pull all material towards the center of the ball mark and tap down with a putter. The finished product should look like the greens surface. Unrepaired ball marks can take a month to heal. By properly repairing them, they recover in 24 hours. Amazing, isn't it!

Thanks for everything and I'll see you on the course!

Wesley Michielsen

Opening Day

Saturday morning, I stood out on the patio of the club, talked with a few guys that passed by,  and wore the biggest grin on my face. To see everyone back out and excited to play is such a great feeling. As the day closed, I could have hung out all night listening to the stories of who shot what, what putts were missed and made, and all of the wonderful comments that were showered on myself and my staff.

Thank you all for making this club such a great place to be a part of. I can't wait to continue to move forward with the greens and the course over the next few weeks and months.

I hope everyone is enjoying themselves and I'll see you on the course! 

#13 Lake Bank

A lot of players have complimented us on the trimming of #13 lake but many have asked why we left some plant material in certain areas.  Trust me, this was not by design.  The areas of tall grass still left on the lake banks are due to large populations of yellow jackets residing in the ground.  The crew members performing the work were stung several times in the process of trying to remove the material.  We have treated the areas several times but the bee presence is still very high.  Once the bees are exterminated then we will finished the work that was started.

The Importance of Temperature

While we have made great strides with the Mini Verde greens throughout the unusual cool temps and heavy rain, nothing compares to what a 90 degree day with full sun can do. 

The greens have responded amazingly well through the past week of high 80's-low 90's temperatures. Based off of this summers weather pattern, I couldn't have asked for a better scenario going into the reopening.  Higher air temps do so much for turf grass types like Bermuda. Higher air temperatures are directly related to higher soil temperatures and this is why the grass thrives.  When the canopy of the plant and the subsurface reach higher temps, this creates a perfect platform for all areas of plant growth.  Roots begin to search deeper for water and the stolon of the plant starts to aggressively grow laterally.

Temperature and sunlight are critical in growing and maintaining a healthy and vibrant sports turf.  As the temperatures increased over the past week, this allowed the plant to photosynthesize more, thus creating a need for more food to grow.  We have been fertilizing the greens with a formulated plan that gave the grass an opportunity to explode once the higher temps set in.

As you can see from the pics below, taken this morning, we have made tremendous strides over the past week.  I think I speak for all the GCM staff when I say, we are very excited to be on the verge of opening the course greens for member play.

Wesley Michielsen

 

#6 Green

 

#7 Green

 

#8 Green

Groundhog Day

Flood from last night.  Not as severe as May but still just as daunting of a clean up.

The picture above is what the golf course has looked like five times since the first of July.  Amazing

Flood from 5-19-13 a week and a half before Club Championship

August 19th flood

From Saturday to Monday morning we have received another 3.5" of rain here at the course.  The golf course has received this type of substantial flooding, twice this year since May and overall the golf course has received flood bearing moisture on five occasions.  This coupled with the regular rain every four to five days has kept of from accomplishing most anything that we have wanted to.  

The repair work involved in this type of situation is daunting.  It will take us the remainder of the week to not only clean the slit off the greens, pick up the storm debris, but to also get the bunkers back together and get the course back in general playing conditions.   Unbelievable...