During the evening hours of Tuesday 12/5/23 we unfortunately experienced vehicle damage on our #5 green. Tire tracks leading onto and off of the green were leading in the direction of our front gate so we suspect the damage must have occurred sometime before we closed and locked the gates. By examining the "drifting" pattern of the damage, we suspect the vandalism was made by a electric Drift Trike, which is three wheel tricycle, often battery powered and commonly outfitted with wide rear tires. We are fairly certain the damage was not made with a golf cart or a motor vehicle. Below are some images of the damage and ongoing repairs.
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Damage was located mostly on the left side of the green. |
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We are fortunate that a turf nursery was installed during our 2021 renovation in the out of play area to the right of #1, between #10 & #11. We have a large nursery green over there that is maintained identically to the regulation greens that we can use sod from for repairing damaged areas. Above depicts repair of some of the erratic damage from Tuesday evening. |
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Damage was sand topdressed while we are tediously repairing the worst areas to help with putting across the damage. The greens are not actively growing at this time of the year which makes recovery challenging. |
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As the damage was located on the left-hand side of the green, we will be utilizing the right-hand side for pin placement until the damage is recovered. |
Tree Pruning #10
On Monday 12/4/23 we had some crown thinning tree work done on the large blue oak on #10. The purpose of the thinning was twofold, to lighten the load this very important tree was carrying and to allow for more sunlight to reach the golf playing surface below it. The sod on the left-hand side of this tree has never filled in from the 2021 sprigging. Root competition from the tree itself is surely playing a part in the poor turf conditions, but the main culprit is the trees associated shade to the area. Soon we will be stripping out the Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda there and replacing it with another variety called Tahoma 31 Hybrid Bermuda. Tahoma 31 is ranked among the best bermuda grasses for shade tolerance in all of the hybrid bermuda's. It is locally available and will blend in well with our Santa Anna fairways. We are looking forward to seeing how it performs under this tree.
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Selective pruning in process on Monday 12/5/23 to this all-important tree that splits the fairway on #10 |
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And here is the area below and to the left of the same tree. The split landing area is narrow on both side of the tree so surrounding it with a more shade tolerant cool season rough is not an option. Hopefully the more shade tolerant Tahoma 31 along with some soil conditioning will be a suitable solution. |
Winters Coming
We are two weeks away from the Winter Solstice on Friday December 22, 2023. This is the shortest day of the year and every subsequent day will get longer, not necessarily warmer right away as it takes time for the earth to warm up. As of this course update we still haven't seen the rain frequently associated with a El Nino year however some of our rainiest months still lie ahead of us.
I don't know about you, but it seems like we move from one season to the next fairly rapidly nowadays. And this game that we play and work on is a living, breathing evolving playing surface, that flourishes and is challenged by the contrast in seasons and associated weather. But it's really much more. Granite Bay is a magical place. An Oak Woodland, a habitat for numerous animal and bird species, a business that employees hundreds of people and of course a sanctuary & home away from home for hundreds more. And the approaching Winter Solstice will lead to warmer times, then hotter times then temperate times in what seems to be a rapid succession. I think we are all fortunate to be a part of this place in the world which is cold and wet and hot and dry and beautiful all at the same time.
