Spring Has Finally Sprung

2023 has so far  been a unusual year for weather here at Granite Bay Golf Club. By now we all are likely aware of California's record breaking snow & rainfall accumulation's in 2023. And although GBGC's rainfall amounts were not record breaking, we recorded to date 32.68" of rain which is the 3rd highest in 18 years. Additionally spring weather has been cooler then normal which hinders the awakening of our new hybrid bermuda fairways. All of this is in the rear view mirror now as we are now experiencing temperatures in the 80's,  with plenty of sun and almost 14 hour days. Summer will be here before you know it.

The week of April 17th we finished aeration and topdressing of the back nine fairways. Weather was cooler then we would have liked for recovery but we are getting the temp's now, so recovery will be rapid. Additionally we have diversified our   Canadian Geese Hazing or harassments efforts by employing  additional pressure from Dog & Whistle Goose Control as well as adding some solar lighting on the water that will irritate floating sleeping geese. See pictures below.

You might have noticed some floating foreign objects in the ponds recently. These objects look like lights because they are. The devices are a flashing solar  light from Away With Geese  that activates flashing lights with a photocell, and that add additional harassment to Geese who like to sleep on the water. Our geese population numbers are tracked weekly by Dog & Whistle, and with the addition of the lights and added dog hazing pressure has brought our Geese numbers down significantly.

Early morning picture of the lights flashing. We have used these lights many years ago with limited success, but not in conjunction with the dog hazing. A shout out and thank you is warranted for Jim Beckmeyer & Keith Benfield who conducted allot of research on solutions to our Goose  problem.

More from the GBGC Animal Kingdom

Last Friday 4/21/22 we had a escaped visitor trucking around the course pictured here with our own Michael Nicoletti. 

Here he is, taking a stroll along the cart path before crossing into the native area.

Here he is again, looking really good in that freshly mowed fescue. He was obviously someone's pet and after a short incarceration for trespassing, he was reunited with his local family. 

If the above pictures of our visitor are not enough to remind us of what a special place GBGC is to be a part of , here is another reminder. A recent sunrise captured by our own GBGC GCM employee partner Amanda Bergstrum.