Prepping the courses

Both courses are coming along nicely with spring cleanup. Our efforts have been mostly focused on the Weiskopf course. It is a much easier course to cleanup from winter and drys out much faster. We rolled greens on Wednesday and plan on mowing them tomorrow weather permitting. All bunkers have been edged and raked. Sand was moved around to proper depths and sand was added to some fairway bunkers. The rest of the Weisopf green side bunkers that were not rebuilt with the Better Billy Bunker system will be rebuilt starting late April or early May. 1,8,9,10,12,15,16,18 are the remaining holes to be done. We will continue to add sand to the fairway bunkers as the drains that were added in the past year are performing great. As the fairways and tees dry out we will mow them too. The Devlin course has many more branches and cleanup than Weiskopf. The bunkers take much longer to edge and the greens stay much wetter since they are soil based, not sand. We will open the Devlin course once we have the amount of golfers needed for two courses.

Re-establishing the edges

#4 Weiskopf fairway bunkers after edging

Much nicer

Sand was added and spread out in both fairway bunkers on #1.  New Finish rakes were added to the sand pro this winter for a better, smoother, more consistent rake in the bunkers 

Better view of rake and sand being added and smoothed  

Weiskopf open tomorrow

The Weiskopf course will be open for play tomorrow at 10AM. Please check in at the pro shop. Carts will be Cart Path Only as it is very wet. The Devlin course greens will remain closed. Sunday both courses will be closed due to the weather. Going forward we will continue to monitor conditions. If the greens are in a freeze/thaw cycle the Devlin temporary flags will be open out in the fairway for walking. Please stay off of the Devlin greens until they are open for play.  Anytime you are on the course, please check in at the pro shop. If you have any questions, please call my office or send me an email. Below are a few pictures of the course. The greens, tees and fairways are in really good shape coming out of winter. They are sprayed in the fall with snow mold control which we had great success with. The rough was not sprayed and is loaded with snow mold. This has been the worst snow mold year we have had in a long time. You probably have some in your yards if it wasn't treated. It is unsightly right now, but should grow out rather quickly once the temperatures warm up and we are more sunshine.

#6 Weiskopf Green.  Color and Health are very good.

#6 Up close

#6 Weiskopf from the tee.  Fairway looks good which was sprayed with snow mold control.  The rough was untreated and you can see exactly where the sprayer left off.

End in sight?

With the sunshine and 45 degrees yesterday(felt like it was 70), we were able to get our equipment moved around and our buildings cleaned out. We are about a day or so away from being able to get out in the course and work on projects that were started in the fall and get trees and limbs cleaned up. We need sun and a slow melt down.  Temperatures are forecasted to be back below normal next week, but hopefully the snow will be gone!

cleaning out pole equipment storage building

Shop yard finally has no ice in it

Still alot of snow

Manager Round Table

On Wednesday March 11th, Jeff Austin, the Devlin course superintendent will be the manager featured during our managers round table dinner at the clubhouse.  If you have not gone to a managers round table, it is a great time to get to know some of the staff and have dinner with them.  Jeff and his wife Tina will be there and have room for 8 more people at their table. Please make your reservations through Maria-Elena.  

Crew Spotlight - Jeff Austin

Jeff Austin - Devlin Golf Course Superintendent

Jeff has been the Devlin Golf Course Superintendent at Quail Hollow since last April and was instrumental in the course conditions on the Devlin course last season. In the late fall and winter, he also helps with projects on the Weiskopf course. He came to Quail Hollow from Augusta National Golf Club where he had worked since 2010. Jeff has worked 5 Masters tournaments, a U.S. Women's Open, a Senior PGA Championship and will be working the 2015 Masters tournament as well. He was an assistant superintendent at Beechmont CC, Lake Forest CC, and Stonewater here in NE Ohio before heading to Georgia. He has a turf degree from Penn State and a political science degree from the University of Dayton. Jeff has made improvements to the irrigation system, drainage system, turf quality, personnel management and overall golf course maintenance operation during his time at Quail. He is an asset to our team and my go to guy. If you have not met Jeff, please say hello when you see him around the club.

Winter update

With the cold weather coming this weekend, the snow that is covering the course provides an excellent blanket to avoid winter damage. I have been on several greens this week and dug through the snow to see if we have an ice layer at the surface. An ice layer can choke off the plant if it is covered for an extended period of time and cause damage. As of now, we do not have an ice layer and the snow is very beneficial. The grass underneath is nice and green and has not been exposed to the elements since Jan 5th. Here are some other winter pictures from the course.

#6 Weiskopf Green under 12-15" of snow.  NO ICE!

#6 Weiskopf in front of left green side bunker

Black and White #6 Weiskopf

#3 Weiskopf from tee

2015 flags

The 2015 golf course flags and flagsticks are in. We are ready for spring weather to get them on the course. We changed the back flag color to a lighter blue to make them easier to see. The new Quail Hollow logo is incorporated as well.

New Flags