5/18/2020
Once we received the approval from the provincial government to prepare for the 2020 season last week, we have been busy with some cultivation to prepare for the season. We have aerified and dryjected our green surfaces as well as aerified and top-dressed our tees. The bent grass areas continue to be slow to “wake up” due to extremely low soil temperatures, recovery has been less than ideal to date, we hope with some warmer temperatures as well as some warm rain forecasted, these will begin to heal more rapidly.
You will notice our roadway has had a tough winter, we have experienced many freeze, thaw cycles over the past two winter seasons. Our road was due to be re-surfaced in 2019, since this did not occur, it has now been scheduled for this spring. Our selected contractor to re surface our road has been sidelined to the Covid 19 situation like many businesses. We hope to line up possible dates for this work to be completed in the coming weeks.
We have cleared some secondary growth behind the thirteenth green in order to provide sunlight to the green surfaces. This area was cleared back in 2011 just prior to the construction of the new thirteenth green. The large pine tree stand was not allowing enough sunlight to the green. When we removed the Pine trees, the area quickly filled in with deciduous trees causing shade once again. We have now removed all of the stumps and will also be hydro seeding the newly exposed hillside with fescue. This will not only be visually appealing but will allow us to control the woody vegetation from re-generating. Again, getting our hydro seed contractor to commit has been difficult as they were also considered non-essential during these times.
We have been extremely cautious in bringing staff back to the club for the 2020 season. We have not had a large influx come back all at once so everyone can get used to the new routine, how it looks and feels. We want to make sure that everyone feels safe and we are able to distance comfortably from each other. The new normal is very different, we have a small meeting area requiring staggered start times for staff members in order to prevent gatherings. We have one rider per cart, making things very tricky as we simply don’t have enough vehicles for everyone. We will continue to work out details as we move forward and find solutions for new challenges ahead.
We look forward to a very different but great 2020 golfing season. We hope to see you out on the course.
We ask that you replace all divots, as seed and sand will not be provided due to Covid 19 restrictions. We will not have the staffing requirements to keep up with all of the divots all the time so please be prudent. Please also help us by fixing your ball marks on putting surfaces, this is especially important at this time of year, as poa will quickly invade voids in the turf.
Respectfully Submitted,
Chad Vibert
Golf Course Superintendent