What's been going on? A lot and the weather has been ideal! After a soggy summer Western North Carolina is basking in a beautiful fall. The golf season is winding down, turf growth is slowing, and our staff has been able to focus our attention to various projects and the start of leaf season.
I have come to realize that September and October are two of the best months to play golf here. The weather and course conditions are phenomenal. But historically members are putting on aerified greens. This year we, myself and the Green Committee, made the decision to move our fall core aerification of greens from early September to late October. This change has been very well received by the membership, the entire course is perfect. Since we are aerifying October 28, it is important to remember that the greens will heal much slower than we are used to.
One of many projects we have been working on is restabilizing the creek bank near the tees on #9. The summer monsoon rains took their toll on this new creek. We have restabilized the bank with sod, seed, and netting. We also lowered the sod between the bridge and the tee. It was a natural rise and as water traveled to the other side it would be pushed on to the bridge. During a few rain events, I thought the bridge was going to become a causality.
Tee times are still at 8:00am, and the sun comes up later and later each day. Our staff is once again prepping the course in the dark. It is neat, this time of the year, to look out over the course and see the lights of our machines moving about.