Course closure

The golf course will be closed for the season starting Monday, November 18.  Looking at the long range forecast - we have one more good weekend for golf then the weather turns cold again.  With temps in the 30's and lows back down to the 20's, the soil will start to freeze.  With the inabililty of the turf to heal itself while it is dormant during the cold weather, we do what we can to keep golfers off of the greens.  Starting Monday, we will be placing temporary pins in the approaches on holes 1, 2, 7, 10, 11, 12 for anyone that may want to hit some balls on those balmy 45 degree days in the offseason.

Last year we had 60 degree days in December and we were able to stay open longer, this year we are not so fortounate.  Thanks to everyone for a great season, we will continue to work hard throughout the winter months to bring you the best possible golf course next spring.

Winter projects

With snow still present on the ground, we have transitioned from leaf mulching to landscape trimming for now.  One of our early winter projects will be to trim all the landscaped beds (shrubs).  You will notice a cleaner look to the landscaping next spring.  We will continue with leaf cleanup and our late fall maintenance once the snow has cleared.

 

Winter weather

We had about an inch of snow on the ground here this morning.  Looks like temps in the upper 50's for the weekend, we will be able to get back to mulching leaves in a few days.

It looks like the course will be closing a little early this year.  If this weather trend continues, I can see us closing the course in the next ten days.  Last year we were open until Dec. 14, I don't anticpate us lasting that long this year.

Halfway house

The 15th hole snack shack project was completed this week, it looks great.  This is going to be phase 1 of a multiple phase project.  Next year we hope to place a stone veneer on the outside of the building to match that of the 1st hole watering station.

This building will be painted inside and out next spring.

 

 

Tree Plantings

Today I went to our landscape supplier and hand picked out 4 trees that will be planted on the golf course this fall.  I like to view what the supplier has in inventory and pick the right tree for our property.  This year, we will be planting:

Northern Pin Oak
Heritage River Birch (single stem)
Crimson King Norway Maple
October Glory Red Maple - seen below

 

Most of these trees will be planted in "out of play" areas.  As our older trees die off, this next generation of trees will bring beauty to the property in years to come.

Modern Efficiency

Below is another article written by the USGA:

USGA Article

This article relates to our maintenance practices at FCC.  Before my tenure here, the greens were mowed with walk mowers from May - August 95% of the time.  Last year we used a triplex on the greens from May - August 85% of the time, using the walkmowers in certain situations.  This past season we used the triplex on the greens from May - August 99% of the time, only using the walk mowers a few days.

This was done for a few reasons (as the article states):
- same quality, the technology of triplexes has matched that of the walk mowers, golfers can't tell the difference.
- improved shop capabilities, in the past it may have been difficult to produce three cutting units that were cutting with the same quality at exactly the same height, today we have those capabilities.
- increased efficiency, walk mowing uses 11 man hours every morning, triplexing uses 3.
- Budget, our current Grounds budget is $10,000 less than the budget was in 2008.  We are constantly pushed to do more with less.