August Course Update

Farm Course Plays Host to the 95th Carolinas Open

The Farm course welcomed the top Club Professionals and many of the top amateurs from the Carolinas to test their skills this past week on the Farm course.  From all the praise that was offered by the players it was clear the club made a great showing.  Positive comments were plentiful in recognition of both the outstanding service and course conditions.  Staff from every department worked long and hard to make a good showing and based on all the comments I believe their efforts more than paid off.  Congratulations to Rick Morton from Rock Creek Golf and CC in Jacksonville, NC for his 11 under par - 3 day final score, which earned him a one shot lead and the Championship Trophy.

                                                                                                   Day Two - Carolinas Open

Recent Course Improvements

Farm Forward Tees - Two new forward tees were constructed this summer on holes #15 and #18 as part of our long term Farm forward tee program.  We now have a total of 10 newly constructed forward tees in play out of a planned total of 13.  Forward tees on all par threes will be played from the current green tees.  The course yardage from the new set of tees will measure somewhere around 4,200.

15 Forward Tee

18 Forward Tee

Farm Drainage - In addition to the large drainage project on #1 fairway, additional drainage was also added to the #11 and #15 fairways.  Similar to other drainage improvements on the Farm course Zoysia fairways each of the areas had extensive new French drainage installed with catch basins added wherever they were needed to get the water off the fairways as quickly as possible.  Drainage improvements are a seemingly never ending necessity, so we already have another long list planned out for next year.

15 New Drainage

11 New Drainage

P. David Brown Bench - A new bench was recently dedicated for long standing member P. David Brown on the #4 hole on the Irving Park course.

P. David Brown #4 Irving Park

Walking Path Farm 2 Green - 3 Tee - The most direct walking path from 2 green to the forward tees on 3 was a very rough and uneven path and was therefore very difficult for golfers to traverse.  Numerous trees were remove, soil and irrigation were added and new sod was installed to make this an easier walk for golfers using this shortcut.

Midway through Walkway Repairs

Numerous Sod Repairs - A total of 5 truckloads of sod was added to the two courses in June and July.  The vast majority of these repairs were tree related.  The largest portion of the sod was to repair areas where trees had been recently removed with the balance going to patching up areas underneath trees where shade had thinned the turf to an unacceptable level.  The blue and white tee on hole #6 at Irving Park was converted to Zeon Zoysia two weeks ago and should be reopening soon.

6 IP New Zeon Sod

15 New Shade Tolerant Zeon Sod

Off to College - A common ritual for mid-August is for kids to begin heading back to school.  We brought in 15 college students this year and by the end of this week nearly everyone will be leaving us to head back to college.  This part of our staff proves to be invaluable to us during what is our busiest season and without them it would not be anywhere close to possible to achieve the course conditions and small improvements we provide throughout the summer growing months.  The next 4-6 weeks are always the toughest time of the year for the full time staff because everything is still growing at a peak rate and we have now effectively lost 1/3 of our staff in one week.  This year was also a little special as I waved goodbye to my daughter as she headed off to her first year at the University of South Carolina.

Lauren Lowe - Freshman Move-In Day USC