Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

March 29, 2016

The 16^th hole is being sodded as I write this update and it is definitely a new and clean look. Medalist did a nice job behind the green creating the grass swales and blending it into the existing greens complex. The addition of the fairway bunker also blends into the topography nicely. It will define the creeks edge from the tee box, which will warn golfers to stay right off the tee. I have attached an email from Billy Fuller in which he gives insight into the bunker location of #16.

“The intent for this bunker has always been to place it slightly further from the back tee than the right fairway bunker.  It’s purpose is threefold.

(1) The longer hitters tend to hit more right to left shots, and many catch this right to left fairway slope to the creek.  That said, it would stop some shots from going into the creek.  Some bunker lies would allow a player to go for the green, though at least as many would not.

(2) This bunker would offer a very clear definition of the creek edge, and serve as a warning for players to stay right of this edge.

(3) I believe the aesthetics would be greatly enhanced as well for all players.

The great majority of golfers tend to hit left to right shots, which plays into this slope for shorter hitters.  If a player does play right to left (short of new bunker) it is necessary to play further right.  We have always assumed this to be a very small number of players, thus we did not show an additional bunker short of the proposed.  The only negative aspect of adding an additional bunker short of the proposed is added cost.  Our intent with bunker strategy was to reduce the overall sand area on the course, focusing primarily on removing bunkers that seldom came into play.  My question is if we did add a second bunker on the left side, would it have much impact on a significant number of players?

I hope this helps understand the strategic intent on this hole.”

-Billy Fuller

We are expecting 2-3” of rain between Thursday and Friday, so we are preparing for a clean-up weekend. In preparation for the rain, we needle tined the greens to allow more water infiltration, we also added an extra spray tank to protect the greens from any diseases that might flare up during this wet stretch.  The middle section of #12 creek should be dredged by lunch on Wednesday. The team has also been busy touching up pine straw beds over the last few weeks and it is really starting to show, it is always nice to see definition (pop) around the course.

There are a few items I want to mention but don’t deserve an entire paragraph. So below are a couple of quick bullet points from around the course.

1.      Tarps will be removed from the course on April 11^th

2.      We will begin marking for sod replacement mid-late April

3.      Fescue on main drive is filling in nicely and almost ready for a mow

4.      Annual flowers installation is scheduled for the 3^rd week of April

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at kmacdonald@valleycrest.com and for more information and plenty of pictures and videos follow us on Twitter @stivescc_vcsup and the Blog: http://vcgmstivescountryclub.blogspot.com/

See you on the course,

Kyle Macdonald, GCS, Class A