Course Update

By now the leaves are falling and the weather is getting colder, a sign to a close of a good year.  Here is a small run down of the year;  The winter was a record setting event that never gave us a break with an accumulation of over six feet of snow. Once the snow melted we were forced to condense our work load at an unbelievable pace to reach some of our goals pertaining to projects. Though we did not achieve a lot of them we really tried our best. The spring was no surprise either as the warm temperatures quickly developed leading us to one of the hottest summers on record. With over fifty days above the 90's and a handful in the 100's the golf course should its weak spots. There were days that we just physically could not keep up. I can honestly say that in this job you learn something new every year and how to handle certain situations.  This was a year that we ( golf course's ) had some kind of issue, maybe it was not severe as others had but none the less there was always something going on. We really fared well and learned a lot of the strengths and weakness of our very own course. I plan on building the strengths as well as gaining on the weaknesses so when this does happen again we will be prepared. Really what it comes down to is not losing sight of your agronomic practices such as aerification for the greens. Ultimately this is a very good reason why we disrupt things temporarily so we can defend ourselves when the hot, wet  and humid weather arrives. I thank you for being patient with us as we always will and continue to make the golf course a special place to play. 

You may have noticed that we are changing somethings as you drive into the club. Near the tennis courts we had some cedar trees that were just not doing well in that environment.  What we plan to do next week is line that part of the drive way with Zelkova's that match the other side (parking lot side). Once mature the drive will be lined with trees that hang over kind of giving a since of magnolia lane.  Of course that will take time but will make for a great drive into the club.  


On number six green complex we brought out the covers for the rough that wraps around the bunker. As usual that area receives a lot of traffic. We have seeded this area and the covers provide a rapid germination process by keeping the ground moist and holding in the warmer temperatures as we get into some frosty nights. I anticipate it being covered for 10 days and should get a full stand of grass in the bare areas. 


Please bare with us on the leaves, we are constantly making our rounds, most trees still have 80% left to go. 

Here is the New 16th Ladies Tee Complete

Here is the new ladies tee completed. It will not open until next year so that the sod will be rooted in and the surface becomes smoother. You may have noticed a lot of sand on the cart paths. The reason is we are top dressing the rough especially high traffic areas. We will blow the paths off once it becomes a little dryer. Another question I would like to answer is why do we have a cover on #8 rough. Since we are getting late into the seeding time frame we covered this area to keep the area moist and trap the heat in to further accelerate the germination process. Once we have a good stand we will remove this as soon as possible.  

16 Tee

The new Tee on 16 is going very well. We have completed the drainage in side the tee and have started to add the sand. Adding sand is a tedious process, every time you add you need to tamp. We want to make sure that we will have no settling once completed. Once we have finished adding the sand we then work on getting the right pitch of the surface to shed access water and then we will be ready to sod hopefully by next week. We are officially getting in to project mode and soon will be chasing leaves on the golf course. Some projects that we have completed is the new sod around the greens in locations that was being over run by Bermuda such as #4, #11, #18. Also on #3 fairway we took an arc out of the clean-up pass in the fairway, actually widening in this area. The reason is because it was such a tight corner for our fairway mowers to make we were losing grass in this area. This should solve the problem. But as we have already received over an 1 

inch of rain some projects such as the Tee will be put on hold until 

we can dry out. 

Course Update

These are the days that I really enjoy, no I am not talking about the weather but the amount of work that we can accomplish. It seems that for the past three weeks it has rained on Monday making my plans for the week turn upside down. But not today! The greens were verti-cut and top dressed. We do this so that they will put smooth as well as incorporate sand into the profile to make them firm. The sand should disappear in a few days.  The continuing saga of sod was also accomplished on number 1 cart path edge and will move on to other areas of concern. The next big task is fertilizing the rough, things are going really well and will have the front 9 completed today and will finish up the back nine tomorrow. We are seeding the intermediate! This makes for a good color transition as well as gain some grass in the areas that were contaminated with Bermuda. If the weather holds true this week we should see germination this weekend.  As for future immediate plans, install drainage and add sand on the new ladies tee on number 16, with the hopes of sodding this week and top dress the rough.

October Golf Course Update

The past few days we have seen large amounts of rain that total over 7 inches. The golf course faired well with excluding the bunkers. Currently we have a few more holes to go but will be done by Saturday Morning, if not Friday afternoon.  You may have noticed some construction activities going around the 18th green as well as near the pump house in the native area. The City of Rockville has permanently removed a valve off of our property and we have abandoned the club house water line that runs under the 18th green. It seems a few years back there was a rupture behind the green and by abandoning the line we will not risk another rupture which could jeopardize the green itself incurring thousands of dollars to fix. As shown below. The second picture is the relocation of our domestic water source and we hope to have this completed on Monday.

We have made little progress on the new red tee on the 16th hole, we plan to be complete by November 1st but rather will open starting opening day of next year. This morning we pushed to seed more of the rough i.e. #17 rough. Although unsightly this is what we want for a good seed to soil contact. With many projects coming our way we will work hard as to not impact your round of golf. So thank you for your patience.