Seeing More Of The Green

So far we have 7 of 20 greens cleared for the season. Things are looking great overall, some snowmold has developed with the early snowfall, but no ice damage. The weather has been warm lately and over the past week we have lost almost a foot of snow depth. More snow and cooler weather is in the forecast. Most likely we will continue clearing next week when the weather turns better.

Happy St. Patricks Day to you all.

Keeping It Local

While we are still in tax season I wanted to mention a couple of organizations that I have been involved with professionally that benefit Vail Golf Club and the local community.

The first organization is the Eagle River Watershed Council. I have been active with this group for over a year now and have really enjoyed learning everything they do for the local watershed. Local golf courses have started to become more involved in this group lately with a Water Wise Wednesday presentation last year and currently we are looking at starting a golf/fish challenge fundraising event slated to happen this fall.
The mission of the Eagle River Watershed Council advocates for the health and conservation of the Upper Colorado and Eagle River basins through research, education, and projects. They provide a forum where everyone can gain a greater understanding of the Eagle River environment. Said another way, the mission is "Preserving our quality of life by protecting the Eagle and Colorado Rivers in Eagle County." Visit http://www.erwc.org/ to learn more about the educational outlets, yearly projects, fundraising events and opportunities.

The second group I am involved with is more focused on golf in particular. The Golf Foundation of Colorado is a philanthropic arm of the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association.

Started by Colorado golf course superintendents, the foundation unities people to support golf and enhance the environment where the game is played. Its purpose is to raise monies for the support of education and research in turfgrass and related golf course amenities, scholarships for individuals pursuing or interested in a career in golf course management or other academic fields, for charitable and philanthropic activities that support golf course management professionals and their families, and for other non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations. Click here to learn more about the Golf Foundation of Colorado.

Flogton

What? Ever hear of it? Flogton (Not Golf, spelled backwards). It's a new sort of "grass roots" way of making the game of golf more attractive to newbies. I applaud the fact that people are trying to keep the game of golf alive. Sure people will object to the idea of it, but if more people are having fun being on a golf course and tee sheets are filling up, does it make sense?

More and more golf courses are closing (even in Colorado) these days and it is more of a challenge than ever for golf managers to come up with ideas to bring in revenue just to stay in the game.

Like it or not, in reality, most of this has already been done, it just isn't accepted in most circles.

Click here to view the Wall St. Journal article about this slightly new way of playing golf.

In Good Company

According to Colorado Avid Golfer Magazine's recent readers poll, Vail Golf Club finished tied for third place as the best public course on the Western Slope. Vail Golf Club now sits as the top public spot in the Vail Valley. It is the highest ranking Vail Golf Club has ever received in this category from Colorado Avid Golfer.

Thanks to all of those who voted for us.

Each course deserves their ranking this year. Click here to check out where your other favorite courses ranked in 2010 in the Spring issue of Avid Golfer. The best private course rankings may surprise you this year, but not me!

Interns

Andrew Evans completed an internship for the 2010 season and he did a fantastic job. He graduated Iowa State University in December and has a bright future ahead of him in turf management.

I was forwarded this blog post from Dr. Nick Christians at the University about his experiences here in Vail. There are some gret pictures to... Click here to view the post.

2010 Review

Another year gone by. Not a bad one at all. A warm year, lots of golf, very little weather delays and rounds were good. 2010 brought a decent amount of spring snow, sustained high temperatures, flooding, drought conditions and somewhat early snow.

This year we finished up the pumphpouse landscaping, new cart path in areas, new tees on 4 & 8 and we now have a final master plan. This year we also began perfecting the irrigation system, tore into the 7th tee, built two new bridges and a new weather shelter.

The weather numbers for the year are as follows:

warmest month: average high, July 74.9, highest temperature: July 18th at 85 degrees; coolest month: average low, January 6 degrees; lowest temperature: January 8th, -13 degrees. At the golf course we measured 26.43" of moisture with 197.75" of snowfall for the calendar year.

2011 is looking real good right now. We'll start the year with better knowledge of the new irrigation system, finishing touches on the bridges, #7 tee and the weather shelters. The master plan is beginning to open the door to possible new projects on the horizon.

Thanks to the great staff here in the Vail Golf Maintenance Department, especially to Equipment Manager, Kirk Hower; Assistant Superintendent, Justin Gompf; Second Assistant Superintendent, Tony Giroux and a special thanks to VRD Facilities Manager, Scott O'Connell for making us look better.

Happy New Year!

There is still time

You have until January 5th to vote for your favorite golf courses in the state of Colorado. Click here for the link to vote Vail Golf Club as your favorite golfing destination.