38 Putts

How dare they !

We recently had a 1-day member quest at our club. (The club usually holds one per month through the golfing season, most of the time on a Friday afternoon.) As the greens crew was preparing for the most recent they encountered problems with the irrigation system and were unable to properly water the greens. The weather however did not co-operate as it turned hot and dry resulting in the need to hand water the greens while the tournament was taking place. Well FREAK OUT, How can you be watering during our member guest ?!? ( Well they were making sure the greens did not suffer any season ending damage.) But to make matters worse, during the process the greens keeper actually left a hose mark in a sand trap and in his effort to clear the green complex in a hurry neglected to rake the hose scar out. How dare he !

I personally don't like to see maintenance workers on the course during a tournament. It's distracting to say the least, but I HATE burnt and damaged greens due to poor care even more. And as far as the hose line in the trap I wonder if bothered any of the greens committee member playing enough that that picked up a rake and took a minute fixed the problem themselves ?

The great fall fairway panics

Every fall  we over seed our fairways with bent. I do not know the particular strand but needless to say our fairways bring us a sense of pride and a terrific shot making surface as well. Part of the process of course is killing back any clover, crabgrass or any other "weed" that my have encroached onto our lush green carpets. This is performed much the same way as you would spread weed killer on your lawn but with a twist, you don't cut your lawn to a range of 3/16-1/4 " so when the weeds are killed on your lawn you notice some thinning. However when it is done to wide winding watered fairways that are cut tight this "thinning" turns into patches of mud ranging in size from 2 to 3 inches in diameter to 2 to 3 feet in diameter.  The members should know and accept this right ? Well it has taken some time but we had a break through a couple years back and the grounds committee began announcing when this was going to take place and as a result the "great fall fairway panics" subsided. This year just to return the members level of interest in this process our fall 4 ball was pushed back a week to this weekend, however the great weed killing was done on the same schedule of the 2nd Monday of September net result, you guessed it, a course full of tournament playing members playing a mud patched golf course on a damp September weekend. Joy oh Joy. Do you think anyone will nominate our green keeper for Turfnet's Superintendent of the Year award ?

Did they run out of places to dump sand ?

Went to the range this noon and was "surprised" to find that tee was covered, and I mean covered with sand. I found a clear spot to hit from and ten minutes later another member arrived and asked "Did they run out of places to dump sand ?" It really looks like the case as it is way to lumpy, muddy and thick in places to be top dressing. Either that or is the I don't give a shit top dressing that some supers just love to put donw this time of year, you know sort of a going away present.....