February Greens Notice

Our golf course re-appears….for a while anyway.

Winter 2009 has provided snow and cold to keep the golf course white for about six weeks. Recent warm weather has removed all snow and ice from your golf course. This warm weather respite was welcome to yours truly, as concerns about turf damage from ice cover began to move toward the top of my “Things to Worry About List” for 2009. However, greens and fairways are in wonderful shape at this writing on windy Thursday.

Will the spring-like weather continue? Meteorologist (and member) Herb Stevens says we should be ready to return to winter conditions within the next week in his weekly report to Golf Course Superintendents….enjoy the thaw while you can!!

Winter has kept your Grounds Staff busy. We have continued tree work, although on a lesser scale as in past winters. We have worked to open up the fifth fairway from shading issues. Work continues in the shop on all equipment and golf course supplies. New steps have also been installed to the 10th men’s tee.

As you may have heard, 2009 will be a challenging year financially. Club membership roles have declined since last year, and fewer funds will be available for maintenance. We plan on limiting spending in many areas, yet still provide excellent playing conditions for members. Since over 60% of our funding is directly related to labor, the majority of savings will be utilized by using fewer labor hours. There will be changes made to how we maintain the golf course. We will write more on this in future writings.

We are anxious to get back to the golf course and hope to see everyone soon!!!

Patrick Gertner CGCS