Monday, February 20th, 2012

My blog began as a weekly report which I sent to Gordy (TGMS President) each week on the course conditions. It then evolved into a blog, which was a way to look back at previous reports and also able to include photos more easily. Superintendents have been utilizing blogs more now than ever, and it has proven to be an effective way to communicate to stakeholders, golfers, members, and peers.

I began posting in July of 2009 and have posted weekly ever since. Today, 197 posts later and over 40,000 page views, I am humbled at the amount of traffic that has come by the Stone Creek Blog. By internet standards, 40,000 is a drop in the bucket, but for something that was simply intended to be a weekly report, it amazes me. Thank you to all who find what we do at Stone Creek worth reading about.

Last week was another mixed bag of weather. Just when we felt like we were through the cold, an upper level low drops in over us and puts us back in the low 40's. We did however manage to mow the fairways once again and were also able to get the greens fertilized, first in almost two months. This week we will be applying Verde-Cal to the greens and tees. Depending on when you play, you may see some particles stick to your ball. Given the rain in this weeks forecast, it shouldn't be on the surface long.

After

Before

We continued to work on small projects throughout the course last week. There are still several catch basins and wet areas the guys wanted to fix so they took it upon there own to just simply "get it done". They added a catch basin along the path on eighteen to alleviate the wet area that seemed to be a cart magnet for so long. They also repaired two lows, one behind ten green and the other at the 200 yard mark in the eleventh fairway.

No sooner when Chris and I had just noticed that the disease issue pressure has been low, we begin to see microdochium patch pop up again on the putting green. It seems like clock work when the temps drop along with heavy moisture, we start seeing it pop up again. We are due for an application and will do our best to get it done between rain events. I like to see 24 hours of dry weather following the application for environmental safety and maximum effectiveness. If not, we can waste a lot of money and risk off target run off.

Finally, I just want to mention how great it is to see Dan Zinzer and Mike McLees spending time playing golf. Both Dan and Mike played such a vital role in developing Stone Creek and now that they have both retired from the County, they are finally able to spend their time doing what they love to do!