GCC Fall Projects ..... Douglas Lowe, CGCS

November in the Carolinas to most Golf Course Superintendents equates to several things.  For those of us still hanging onto Bentgrass putting surfaces it means faster greens and less stress.  For those of that play, it usually means we can once again occasionally play to our handicaps.  To those who still head out at the break of dawn every morning it means some really cold rides to wherever your going.  Layering is the fashion style for this time of the year with a clean shop in the morning and jackets scattered everywhere in the afternoon.  Mowing grass this time of the year generally gives way to dealing with leaves, that on any given day, fall from the trees like a steady rain.  Few venture onto the course this time of the year without some sort of blower.  Backpacks, turbine pull behinds and PTO tractor mounted blowers are the standard pieces of equipment for this time of the year.

Turbines and Tractors hard at work

While both courses pose there fair share of problems with heavy deciduous tree populations the Irving Park course can be especially difficult at times.  As everyone knows this course is lined with public streets and very maintained lawns.  Nearly every leaf that drops from a tree on this property has to be blown into a pile or row to be collected.  Once collected they are temporarily dumped in a small holding area at the shop to be eventually hauled away to a local yard waste landfill.  By the end of the leaf season close to a one hundred truckloads of leaves are collected and removed from the property.

If you are fortunate enough not be on leaf detail that means you have been assigned to take on one of the many off season projects that take place this time of the year.  At the Farm that may mean cleaning up overgrown plant material on one of the many lake dams throughout the course.  Tree pruning and tree removals also begin to take place during this time of the year.  At the Farm we have switched gears from drainage work in the fairways to replenishing bunker sand in select bunkers where the sand is no longer at an optimal level.  We expect to add nearly three hundred tons of sand over the next few months to improve the overall playability and drainage characteristics of these bunkers.

A couple of our key staff members at the Irving Park course have spent every day for the last several weeks working on a patio enhancement project near the practice putting green.

In the recent membership survey the membership made clear they would like additional outdoor dining and entertainment areas. One initial result of that feedback was to create a small sitting and dining area by adding new outdoor furniture, blue stone pavers, a small brick sitting wall and quaint fire bowls. This project was a true collaborative effort with our new GM, Steve Matlaga and Board member Garson Rice offering some key direction and objectives for the area.  Staff members from both golf course maintenance, Greg Hopkins and Wes Proctor, worked side by side with the house maintenance team of Mark Hall and Jason Hall.  Despite the relatively small size of this area the project was very different from everyone's typical job and it couldn't of been done in-house without the multitude of talents all these guy's possess.

Building the Wall

Paver Base

Pavers In

Completed 1 week ahead of schedule

We certainly hope the membership takes advantage of this new outdoor space as the weather permits for this time of the year.  As noted this is leaf season and they fall hardest from mid-November to mid-December so please be patient with the staff as they work hard to get to all those fallen leaves. Lastly, this is also frost season so those of you signing up for those early morning tee times please make sure you check with the Pro Shop staff prior to your departure to the course if night time temperatures fall below 35 degrees.