New Cart Path Policy

We have had a ton of rain lately. I'm hoping that we will be able to get the carts off the path in about a week or so. There are a few more chances for rain this week and we are already soaked.

We will be changing our cart path policy soon. We will be deviating from the standard 90 degree rule. We are switching to a new policy that will help us protect our roughs. Instead of being 90 degree, we will have a fairways only rule. There will be a green banded post at the start of the fairway, which will be the entrance point to the fairway. There will be a set of red banded stakes at the end of the fairway, which will be the exit point of the fairway. If you hit your ball close to the boundaries than you still have the option to drive down the cart path, but you may not drive in the roughs.

The reason for the change is milti-fold. Our agronomic practices have changed in the past few years. We have aerified the fairways twice in the last two years, which has created better soil conditions for the turf in the fairways. We have gotten more irrigation heads to work in the fairways in the last two years. I have seen this policy enforced at other courses with good success. The main reason is that roughs are not as recuperative as the fairways. We fertilize our fairways with at least 2 lbs of nitrogen fertilizer per year. Our roughs get 0 lbs of nitrogen fertilizer per year. I try to get 15 minutes of water per irrigation head in the fairways 3 times per week. Our roughs only get 10 minutes of water per irrigation head, when they are present, 2 times per week. So, put simply the roughs are not as healthy as the fairways.

I think that the new policy will benefit the course greatly. It's not that bad to have to walk from the edge of the fairway to the ball within 20 yards. Please check up in the golf shop the new rules will be posted there. The golf shop staff or myself will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the change.

Aububon Projects

We have been working on some Audubon International related projects here lately. When the weather gets bad, and we have a chance to work inside, we have been making Wood Duck houses. As of today we have 5 of them out on the course. Two of them on #7 pond, two of them on #18 pond and one on #12 pond.

They were built at virtually no cost of materials. We got the plans from an online source. We got the lumber from my family farm, where we cut fallen trees for reuse in our saw mill. We went to a local metal recycling place and found some old 1.5" X 12' fence posts for $1.83 each. The mounting brackets cost $0.50 each at the local box store. I have some installation pictures below.

If you or someone you know would be interested in a project of this nature, please don't hesitate to give me a call. I'll be happy to help.

This is the finished product on #12 pond.

Here we have Neil and Spencer trying not to fall out of the boat while mounting this Wood Duck house.


This is the mounting pole going into the pond on #12. There is A LOT of rock in the bottom of this pond we found out. It took a while to find a place where they could drive the posts into the pond floor.