It's Just Grass

You may have noticed some different mow lines around the course. Many of the lines on the course were determined by the irrigation system. Some areas due to lack of coverage would suffer at fairway height so they were turned into rough areas to have a better chance of surviving. Now that our coverage is at its best and stress periods are starting to subside, we are exploring different mow patterns around the course. Some may stay, some may go.

Kevin Atkinson will visit next week and we will go through many of these areas. There are many factors that need to be looked at when changing mow patterns throughout the course. Plant health and playability are the most important, followed by labor and equipment needs.

Planning

On Wednesday this week Bob Weaver from AMEC an environmental consulting group in Boulder visited the golf course to discuss wetland and creek related issues around the course. Here, Bob talks to Mike Ortiz (VRD Executive Director) and Kevin Atkinson (golf course architect) about some of the options to enhance certain environmental aspects of the course. Areas of the course that were discussed were the 7th tee box, wetlands, streambank restoration, drainage and pond health.

Another visit

On Monday, Nov. 17th Kevin Atkinson returned to the golf course to look at possible renovations for the 2009 season and beyond. Currently we are looking at improvements to the 3rd and 7th tee boxes regarding the retaining walls. Kevin has been hired to outline a master plan for the golf course.

Getting in another round

Well Wednesday turned out to be a perfect day. Cool morning but plenty of golf in the afternoon. The golf course stayed steady with play today. We continued to topdress a few more fairways, 10,18,1 and 9.

Also, today we continued to research options for the retaining walls for 3 and 7 tee boxes. These failing walls must be repaired and we are looking at the spring of 2009 to do so. Kevin Atkinson, golf course architect, has been hired to draw up a master plan for the entire golf course over a two year period. He has been employed to start in these locations to better the golf course. Signs look very promising and we are getting excited to accomplish these tasks in the future.