Tuesday, February 13, 2024

February 2024 Update

The golf course is currently in great shape and holding up to the increased amount of play very well. We have fortunately had some better weather over the past month, however, turfgrass growth remains minimal. Because of this, recovery from cart traffic, ballmarks, divots and all biotic and abiotic stressors remains slower than usual. 

Sunshine has been a warm welcome to 2024, but turfgrass growth is still limited due to the cooler temperatures.

I recently sent out an email blast to the membership outlining some proper golf course care and etiquette guidelines. The feedback from this email was overwhelmingly positive, so I thought it would be beneficial to share the highlights here: 

  • Repair ball marks on the putting greens. Proper ball mark repair includes inserting the tool at the edges of the ball mark and pushing in from the outside instead of prying up.
  • Fill divots with the mix provided in the golf carts. Our divot mix contains organic material utilized to help expidite the recovery process.
  • Keep all four golf cart tires on the cart path around tees and greens. Cart traffic is the number one issue working against us in our turfgrass growth efforts this time of the year. Keeping four tires on the path around tees and greens help protect the turfgrass along the edges of the cart path.
  • Utilize the 90-degree rule when exiting the cart path after your tee shot as you head toward your ball. Do not follow the cart in front of you and please avoid driving in the rough unnecessarily. Our fairways can withstand cart traffic and stress much better than our rough. This will also help maintain the definition in the fairway-to-rough interface.
  • Be careful when removing your ball from the cup once it has been holed. The hole is only 4.25" in diameter, which does not leave much room to retreive your ball without touching the edge of the cup. The slightest interaction between your hand the edge of the grass around the cup will damage the grass edge, leaving a very unsightly scar. 
  • Rake all bunkers after use and tap your shoes to clean them of sand before walking on the green. Enter and exit the bunker at the lowest point. After raking, place the rake with the "tines up" into the lowest point of the bunker, with a small portion of the bunker handle remaining on the turf. The handle should be facing down the fairway (parallel to play) to avoid interfering with incoming shots. 
  • Lastly, always remember to leave the golf course as YOU wish it to be found.
We greatly appreciate your continued attention to these routine golf course course care practices, as they greatly help in continuing to provide the high-quality golf course conditions we strive to achieve.

This image captures the cart traffic after a full day of play on hole #9. Less than 10% of all golfers have appropriately observed the 90-degree rule. 

Over the next two weeks we will be gearing up for the club championship. The weather over the past few months has shifted our agronomic plan from emphasizing turf performance to turf health, however, we are confident that we will be able to deliver championship conditions for this marquee event. 

Putting greens have remained in excellent health this year, despite the challenging weather conditions brought with El Nino.

Our landscaping and irrigation installation around the new pool cafe has been completed. We look forward to opening Ospreys and showing off our updated facility in March! We are now working on the planning and design aspect of the clubhouse landscaping. We will completing our work in this phase of the project over the next several months.

We are currently adding bleachers at the tennis courts located between courts #1 and #2. This new viewing area will mimic the bleachers previously installed between courts #3 and #4. Once the area is prepped, a paver base will be added and the new bleachers should be installed sometime in the next month. There has been a tremendous volume of play at our tennis facilities. We do ask that you please sweep the courts after use so they are properly prepared for play at all times. 

The osprey nest located between holes #3 and #4 has been very busy lately, with three eggs that will hopefully be hatching sometime in the very near future. The link to access our live video feed can be found here: Osprey Cam

We are hopeful to see the three eggs in the osprey nest hatch sometime in the next few weeks.

We have also recently installed a new osprey platform located behind the back tee on hole #17. Within days, this platform saw activity and there is already an osprey building a nest in this new location. This platform is visibile from hole #17, hole #13, the fitness center, pool and pool cafe. We are hopeful to install an additional camera in this location sometime in the next year. 

Our newest osprey platform was installed on February 9th.

This new platform will have visibility from many different areas of the club. We are hopeful that the nest remains active, as it is located in a prime osprey nesting site.

Our wildlife tours have been extremely popular this year. They are led by local ornithologist and wildlife expert, Brian Beckner. The next tour is scheduled for Thursday, March 21st, so please be sure to sign up!

Our Wildlife Tours are a great way to see the birds/waterfowl and other wildlife found on property.

As always, feel free to email any questions, comments or concerns to parkerf@copperleafgc.com.




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