Audubon Recertification

We are one of only 16 courses in the state of Ohio to be certified and 895 worldwide!!

Press release from Audubon International:

CONCORD TWP, OH - Quail Hollow Country Club has retained its designation as a "Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary" through the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses, an Audubon International Program.

Participation is designed to help course personal plan, organize, implement, and document a comprehensive environmental management program and receive recognition for their efforts.  To reach certification, a course must demonstrate that they are maintaining a high degree of environmental quality in a number of areas including: Environmental Planning, Wildlife & Habitat Management, Outreach and Education, Chemical Use Reducation and Safety, Water Conservation, and Water Quality Management.

"Quail Hollow Country Club has shown a strong commitment to its environmental program.  They are to be commended for their efforts to provide a sanctuary for wildlife on golf course property," said Tara Donadio, Director of Cooperative Sanctuary Programs for Audubon International.

Quail Hollow Country Club is one of only 16 courses in the state of Ohio and 895 courses in the world to hold the honor.  Golf courses from the United States, Africa, Australia, Central America, Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia have also achieved certification in the program.  The golf course was designated as a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary in 2011.  After designation the courses go through a re-certification process every three years.

This year the re-certification process, coordinated by Sam Leatherberry, Director of Golf Course Maintenance, required a visit by a local community representative.  Larry Napora, Audubon International Steward, was given a tour of the golf course and sent his observations to Audubon International. "Sam Leatherberry and the staff at Quail Hollow Country Club have done an outstanding job maintaining their golf course within the guidelines and philosophies of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program.  The beauty of the course, the naturalization areas and wildlife are one.," Napora reported.

"We see the site visit as an important component of a courses's re-certification," stated Donadio.  "It provides an objective verification of some of the more visible aspects of the course's environmental management activities.  In addition, it offers an opportunity for golf course representatives to share publicly some of the voluntary actions they have taken to protect and sustain the land, water, wildlife, and natural resources around them."

Tree project

Our Quail Hollow Grounds winter crew has been busy cutting down smaller trees for various reasons on the golf course (shade and turf conditions, death or disease, etc). This winter we were able to do additional tree work on both golf courses thanks to having two tree crews on property. They are taking care of some of the bigger trees that we cannot do.  The first crew came in and cut down the trees and took the bigger logs, while another crew will clean up the tops and will grind and cleanup the stump shavings. In total, 120 trees have been cut down on both courses(22 on Weiskopf, 98 on Devlin).  All that remains for the first crew is to get the logs off the course and to the logging truck. The cleanup crew has around 50 trees cleaned up so far. The cleanup will be a slow go as the ground is not frozen currently beneath the snow. Hopefully we can get a hard freeze soon to speed up the process.  Once everything is cleaned up, the stumps will be ground and shavings cleaned out.  We will then backfill with soil and either seed or sod depending on the location.  Many of the trees were hazards that were dead or had many dead branches and tops. Others were removed for shade and to better the turf conditions. Our goal was to not change the way the hole setup, but to enhance the turf conditions in a particular area for playability. We are very excited with the results and cannot wait to get the grass start growing in these areas. I will have many pictures to follow, but here are just a few to start. 

Large rotted tree left of #4 Devlin Green.  All five trees over by the bunker were removed.

BIG Oak tree right of #1 Devlin green.  Another tree that was not in good condition

One of the 2 trees that was taken down between #10 Devlin Green and #11 Devlin Tee.  Both were not in good condition

Before and After picture looking back towards 4 Devlin Tee from between 4 Green and 5 Tee.  All the brush has been cleaned up from there now

2 trees removed right of the cart path on #1 Devlin by the green.  The brush here is also already cleaned up.

This is how good the cleanup crew is when they are finished.  It's much better when the ground is frozen like it was last week.  

Update for Saturday

The greens on the Weiskopf course are unthawed in the top 1", but frozen from there down. This is why the Weiskopf golf course is closed today. Roots can get sheared off at this level and is not good to be walked on when the greens are like this. Usually we would allow play on the Devlin temporary greens, but with the ongoing tree project the only temporary greens open today are 17/18 Devlin and 18 Weiskopf. Thanks for your understanding. 

Winter tree work

Every winter we take down trees for many different reasons. We remove them if they are dead or diseased, if they pose a hazard to safety, or if turf conditions could improve with removal without changing the way the hole is supposed to be played. The amount of trees we remove always depend on weather and first priority. This year we are removing many trees that fall into these categories. Many pictures will follow of our progress. Here is a good article regarding trees on golf courses from the USGA.

http://gsrpdf.lib.msu.edu/ticpdf.py?file=/article/oatis-right-11-6-15.pdf

Drainage work

With the warmer weather and unfrozen soil, we have taken advantage by doing many drainage projects this past week. We did some work on the fairway bunkers on both courses. On #1 Weiskopf and #8 Devlin there were several sink holes from improperly installed drainage. The drains were installed to shallow to the surface, not enough drainage rock and too big of rock was used in the past. You'll see in the pictures below, a small break, a crushed area or clog can create a sinkhole or a wet spot. We fixed 21 of these alone on the fairways of 1 and 8. We added some blowout points so when the irrigation is live in the spring we can clean the lines out even more.

Shallow lines lead to crushed pipe and holes here in #8 Devlin fairway

Clogged pipe…Not enough rock was used and not pea gravel

Very Shallow….We added blowout points for in the spring

December 11th prep

Today we rolled the Weiskopf greens and did a quick spin of the bunkers. With our snow mold fungicide down we cannot mow anything until the spring. Other than my time in Atlanta, I have never had to roll greens this late in the year!!! Great bonus golf and work weather for the maintenance crew.

James rolling #2 green

Charles raking #5 bunkers

Snow and Saturday tee times/shotgun

This afternoon, we still had snow on some of the greens and other places on the golf course. We will try and do a shotgun start for anyone that wants to play at NOON on Saturday. This is only if we are melted enough to allow play. With temps forecasted tonight at or below freezing we will have frost in exposed grass areas and slow melting in the morning. Please call the pro shop in the morning to confirm the NOON shotgun. I know the proshop staff tried to inform/call anyone that was on the sheet from 9am-12

As always, but especially now in the winter, you must check in the pro shop before going out onto the course. Significant damage could occur to frosty or frozen surfaces if the course is closed and traffic goes onto the course. The maintenance department will inform the pro shop everyday in the winter when the course is closed or open and at what time. Please feel free to contact me anytime with any questions. 

12 Weiskopf fairway at 3:30 Friday

10 Weiskopf approach and green - the back of this green was still covered in  snow

6 Weiskopf - I will do another post about the brush clearing and tree removal….As you can see, the fairway bunker and the right side of the fairway can be seen now from the tee and it is much more open.