Clubhouse Christmas lights

Monday and Tuesday this week the maintenance crew decorated the outside of the clubhouse. It turned out really cool. On Tuesday next week the inside of the clubhouse will be decorated with help from the social committee.

Pro Shop Entrance

Main Entrance

Greens snow mold application

On Friday, we shoveled snow off of 7 greens on Weiskopf and 4 greens on Devlin. By Friday afternoon, we were able to put our plant protectant for snow mold down on the Weiskopf greens. Saturday morning we were able to blow off Devlin greens and spray them with the same spray. We will be doing tees and fairways over the next few weeks on both courses.

This morning the Weiskopf course was open for play with cart path only being the rule as it is very wet from all the rain and 4+" of snow melting. We changed cups and blew greens off on the Weiskopf for play and then blew and sprayed Devlin. Devlin will remain closed until we close Weiskopf for the season. Devlin back nine will be available for walkers only once Weiskopf is closed for the season. 

Toro 5800 Multi Pro Sprayer

Great day of work

Even with the snow on the ground the golf course maintenance had a very productive day. 9 big trees were taken down on the Devlin. The 2 fairway bunkers on #1 Weiskopf and the 3 fairway bunkers on #4 Weiskopf had drains put in them so they won't hold water after a rain event.

Cutting down 3 trees on #10 Devlin

Reason why the trees were cut down

Golf Course Update

In case anyone missed it in the email blast last week here is the golf course update for November that was sent out to all the members.

November 1, 2013

Golf Course Update

                  The golf season has all but come to an abrupt end here at Quail Hollow.  I hope we will have some nice, dry days in the month of November to get in a few final rounds for 2013.  One course will be open daily as the weather permits until it is unplayable due to weather conditions. 

            The golf course maintenance staff has accomplished many goals set forth August 1^st when I arrived here at Quail.  As I look back at my initial notes and goals from that time, there were 10 things that I wanted to get done in a short amount of time. They are listed below.

1.     Irrigation leaks – We have fixed over 25 leaks since August, and the system is pretty well buttoned up.  We will have some issues arise when we prime the system back up in March/April, but we are in much better shape than we were.  ClubCorp also fixed one of the broken pumps that was the cause of some of the leaks and are now in place.

2.     Drainage finish work – Areas have been fixed, sodded, and drain how they are supposed to in most areas.  #16Devlin and #3Devlin Tee area will be projects this winter.

3.     ForeFront Construction has fixed all areas that they damaged and resodded #3 Tee Box which will be in perfect shape when we open back up in the spring.

4.     New TeeBoxes – With some extra fertilizer, topdressing, aerating, tee placement, and seeding, the new tee boxes are in good shape heading into winter.

5.     Fairways – The fairways have all healed in from the heat stress this summer and were in very good condition this fall.  We sodded many areas, so there are no major bare dirt areas in any of the fairways.

6.     Greens – Greens rolled true and were quicker for much of the fall.  The past few weeks before the weather hit, the Devlin greens were as good as any around.

7.     Wet area caused by RedHawk – No longer affects the golf course; it just needs finish work for aesthetics.

8.     Details – The staff has done much better with details – e.g. Cup cutting, bunker edging, traffic control, divots on tees, driving range setup. 

9.     Holes and bare spots – over 100 yards of topsoil were spread and seeded in the last 12 weeks.  Many areas were sodded as well.  We will do much more of this in the spring.

10.  Wetland trimming – was taken care of immediately.

We are now down to our winter staff and we will be continuing to clean up leaves, getting final mowing done, and applying our winter plant protectants to the greens, tees, and fairways.  Other than some of the projects mentioned above, if the weather allows, we will be continuing with the reinvention project at #1 Tee.  That area will look much better for the 2014 golfing season.  The small chipping area by the driving range needs a facelift as well as creating a bentgrass fairway nursery behind #3 Devlin green.  That is an area we need to utilize the best we can as irrigation and good soil is present there.  We will be servicing and repairing all equipment, grinding reels, adding drainage to fairways, rough and bunkers, dead tree removal as well as any other things that arise in addition to our duties in snow plow removal. 

This has been an exciting last few months, and I am very happy to be here at Quail to see these goals met.  We still have much work to be done, but we are headed in a positive direction.  If you see any of the maintenance staff, please thank them for their efforts as they have adapted to the changes that have been implemented with positive results.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions and visit the GCM blog all winter long for updates at http://qhccgrounds.blogspot.com.

Sam Leatherberry

Director of Golf Course Maintenance

Sam.leatherberry@ourclub.com