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Golf Course Update...

A lot has happened since my last post here on the blog...Men's Club Championship weekend was very well received as Mother Nature cooperated and our members were presented with a firm and fast golf course.
Following Club C we began our fairway aerification program. We were off to a great start only to be halted by two 3" rain storms that flooded the golf course to the point of unplayability.
Through capital improvements on drainage, the golf course can take heavy rains much better than in the past...but two heavy storms back to back were just too much (6.25 inches in 6 days). Albeit, the fairways and rough with new mainlines and slit drainage were much further ahead in regards to playability the day after each storm. One of the hardest hit areas during these storms was our bunkers. We have had issues with the drainage in our bunkers, storms like this really show any weakness in infrastructure. Not only were the bunkers washed out and contaminated, but some of the faces were completely eroded. Needless to say repair of such dramatic damage is very labour intensive. Typically after Labour day our bunker maintenance lowers due to having less staff available from those lost that have returned to school, etc. In a case like this, we were forced to allocate full days to bunker repair just to present a playable golf course for our members. The task of bunker repair includes repair to the eroded faces, removing the contaminated mud and sand by hand, shovelling sand to redistribute as evenly as possible and numerous rakings to soften the compacted, wet sand that remains (substantial hand work required in all 60 bunkers). Due to this time commitment the priority list tends to shift and some of the golf course detail work that is normally completed on a daily and weekly basis has to be neglected.
The good news is that we are now having a wonderful stretch of weather and we are back on track. Fairway aerification has been completed and the bunkers are back in play. We are currently completing tee aerification ( Thursday, Sept 25th) and topdressing will follow.
As always our memberships' patience during both these trying times and all important cultural practices are greatly appreciated. We hope to see everyone out enjoying this incredible fall weather...the sun is shining!

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