Meet Norman

Say hello to the newest member of the grounds maintenance team. Norman was born on July 27th and came home with the Temme family on Sunday, September 19th. Norman's responsibilities will include goose control, guarding Temme's office, greeting members, and keeping up crew morale. Norm has been on the job since Wednesday.

The Grass is Greener

Not much is new to report this week from the grounds staff. The weather continues to be very favorable for the growth & recovery of existing turf and for the establishment of new sod & seed. We continue to see great progress throughout the course. Fall aeration has been completed throughout all the greens, tees, collars, approaches, and fairways.

Above and below are photos of drainage progress. Above, the drain in the cart path near the 5th tee was repaired. Concrete was cut out and removed to allow the pipe to be replaced. This photo shows the area prepped for concrete to be re- poured. This should eliminate the standing water that remains in this area following heavy rains. Below, technician Jaret Vasey stands near a drain tile which is being installed on the hillside of the 5th fairway.


Above is a picture of the 3rd fairway and approach. We have put a significant amount of time and effort to replace sod and reseed this area. Our hard work and better weather are paying off. Below you will see the practice tee. It has been recovering very nicely the past two weeks. We will continue to mow the tee with lighter mowers and restrict use of the tee through the coming weeks to allow our new seedlings to mature.
Finally, pictured below, a technician is busy seeding bare areas of the primary cut of rough on the 8th hole.

Fall Aeration

The Green and Golf Committees had the opportunity to enjoy the comforts of the grounds maintenance building this week. The Green Committee meets once per month from March to November and discusses course conditions, policies, and strategies.

Fall aeration is well underway. The greens have been aerated & the plugs removed and filled with sand. This process is the biggest reason our greens survived this stressful season so well. Below is a video clip showing our aerifying and cleaning process.



Once the holes are filled with sand we blow off the excess sand and roll the green smooth to provide the best possible playing surface following aeration.

Marking Our Turf

This week we have taken steps to take the course back from Mother Nature.

Drainage work continues on the 1st and 4th holes.


On Wednesday we aerified, seeded, topdressed, and fertilized the practice tee. This should help the tee make a nice recovery from this season's abuse and rough weather.

We are also in the process of seeding blemishes in the fairways. The worst areas we will continue to sod while minor areas we will first attempt to improve through seeding.


This week we have performed some 'test runs' with our aerification equipment in preparation for next week's partial course closures. The chipping green and green nursery have been areated and topdressed.