4 Lake Update

I had to pull the trigger and re-sod #4 lake green on Thursday morning. While there were still some green plants mixed in, some of the green plants were starting to turn yellow at the crown. The sod came from our nursery green and matches well with what is currently on the green. The upcoming rain showers over the weekend should help it root very fast. Don't worry about walking on it or putting over it as we took a deep cut of sod (2").

My Week at CordeValle

A little over a year ago, my colleague and friend, Tom Gray , announced to me that CordeValle would be hosting next years Fry's.com tournament and that I would be changing cups for the event. I congratulated him on the event and really didn't think much of changing cups as it was so far out. A year later, I get a reminder from Tom that I will really be changing cups on the tournament front nine for the entire week. I was really excited for a few moments and then thought to myself; when was the last time I changed cups? Fortunately for me, changing cups is like riding a bike.

My schedule for the week of the event was Monday, Wednesday through Sunday from 4am to 8 which really turned out to be around 9:30am. Once I reported for work on Monday, I was paired with a gentleman from South Africa named Graham Collete. He and I would be cup changing partners for the entire week. Come to find out, Graham is the Director of resort properties at the famous Fancourt resort in South Africa (Fancourt and CordeValle share the same owner).

Monday's cups were very easy as we had no instruction to how the PGA wanted to change cups. In the afternoon of the same day, we got instruction from Tom Brown who was the on-site agronomist for the PGA tour. Never in my life did I think changing cups would involve so much work. He picked me out of the group to teach by example and show everybody the right and wrong ways to change cups. I did surprisingly well but I hadn't been that nervous before standing in front of my professional peers in a long time.

The special things we had to do for changing cups were to:

- Trim the inside of the cup with finger nail scissors to remove any wayward grass blades

- Put a cover over the cup cutter during transport to avoid damaging or dulling the cup cutter

- Place the tool bag on a towel vs. setting on the green

- Any loose sand deposited on the green was to be blown off; not wiped off by hand

- All cup cutters were to be sharpened at the end of each day

All items mentioned are because of previous experience or player complaints and most intricacies of a PGA event come from the latter.

Everything with cups, at least on my side, went exceptionally well. The back nine boys put the cup on 18 in the wrong spot Thursday and I am sure they are still getting grief from Tom about that.

While I learned a lot about cups and how the PGA sets up their courses, I learned much more from Tom Gray and his staff on how to host an event. These guys worked from 3:30 am until 11 at night for seven straight days and were running on fumes, but all involved stepped up to the task. I have spent a handful of days with Tom on his course in the past and aside from the hours, nothing was different the week of the event. It was a well oiled machine that I can only hope to imitate in my career.

Now that the tournament is over, Tom and his staff get to get ready for the PAC-10 tournament in two weeks. No rest, but that is what you sign up for at a club like CordeValle. Congratulations to all involved!

What the *#!*

If you have seen 4 lake in the last 5 days, you will know exactly what the title means. If you haven't seen it, I unfortunately have pictures.

I don't know what material caused this, but I do know that it was not gas or diesel. If it were gas or diesel, the area would be completely dead. I know it happened Tuesday during the day because we watered the greens heavy that night explaining the runoff look. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter how it happened, but rather what we are doing about it. Currently and fortunately there is a lot of green grass in the brown area so I think we should be fine in a matter of a week or so. If the area digresses, we will then have to sod which I am not hoping for.

3 Lake Bunker Renovation

I know, I know; another post about bunkers. The problem is is that the bunker work the guys are doing is amazing. Just look at the pictures below. The first two pictures are of 3 lake fairway bunkers 12 years ago and today.

Below is the way the bunkers look from the tee.

Even more amazing than the fairway bunkers was how the green bunker on 3 lake turned out. If you have had the fortune of being in it lately, you'll know the green edge of the bunker had completely deteriorated. The reason for its deterioration was because the edge was essentially vertical which makes it difficult to keep the grass hydrated.To soften the edge and make it more manageable we had to make the bunker smaller and bring the green edge in a couple of feet. The material we used for this is bender board which is what a lot of homeowners use for the edges of their gardens. It is flexible and with enough stakes, it is very strong.

With the bender board in place, we then filled it with soil to form the new bunker edge. Yes that is Scott Hoyt out on the golf course if you need proof!

With the new, softer edge we will have better odds of keeping the grass alive than trying to grow grass vertically. Enjoy the finished product.