October is traditionally our driest month of the year, and this year is no exception. We have only had four measurable rain events at the club totaling just under one inch (0.91"). We have been blessed with clear skies, low humidity, and some absolutely beautiful sunrises.
 |
| Number 10 |
 |
| Number 5 |
 |
| Number 10 |
 |
| Number 18 and Uptown Skyline |
Besides grooming and maintaining the golf course to near perfect conditions, October is also that time of year when we renovate any natural/native areas not performing to expectations. You may have noticed some recently seeded areas scattered about the golf course, but the most noticeable is located to the right of the cart path on number 10. The Greens Committee felt this area was too thick and negatively impacted pace of play when individuals spent time searching for errant tee shots. Although marked as lateral hazard, the decision was made to kill off the predominant stand of broomsedge and reestablish the area with the other native grasses used throughout the property. The effort here is to create an area that matches our look and feel of the natural/native areas yet provide players a better opportunity to find their golf balls and move play along.
In other news, the recent story of my book collection courtesy of the wonderful members here at Carolina Golf Club garnered national attention when featured in the October issue of Golf Course Industry magazine. GCI is a nationwide publication dedicated to serving the hard working caretakers of golf courses everywhere. Here is a link to the DIGITAL EDITION and our story is located on page 10. I have made attempts to contact Mr. Tadge, the previous owner of most of the books, but unfortunately I have not been successful as of yet. I will keep you posted.
Earlier this week was our annual Tough Day. This is when we stretch the course to its max and place hole locations that would make the USGA's Mike Davis cringe. This year was no exception and I really had a lot of fun creating this year's setup.
Today is #ToughDay @CGC1929! Channeling @USGA Mike Davis today with extreme @usopengolf hole locations! pic.twitter.com/riLRTVSknp
— Matthew Wharton (@CGCGreenkeeper) October 29, 2014
There are of course hole locations you have seen before, but I always try and find something new and this year was no exception. We even had three-time PGA Tour winner Johnson Wagner as a participant and I took to Twitter to gauge his perception of our Tough Day setup.
Quick question @johnson_wagner ... What is most difficult course you ever played, & how does @CGC1929 #ToughDay stack up? 😉 #JustCurious
— Matthew Wharton (@CGCGreenkeeper) October 29, 2014
The fellow Hokie was kind enough to respond with the following...
@CGCGreenkeeper the toughest course was Oakmont in the '07 US Open and I thought CGC was brutal today.I've never seen tougher hole locations
— Johnson Wagner (@johnson_wagner) October 30, 2014
There you have it folks, Carolina Golf Club Tough Day is the toughest test of golf... ;) Well, as we pull the curtain to a close on October that can only mean one thing, Daylight Savings Time is coming to an end so don't forget to reset your clocks this weekend (#FallBack). We only have one more big event on the horizon, The Carolina Invitational November 8th and 9th. The past few years we have been fortunate to experience average or above average temperatures and not contend with significant frost until much closer to Thanksgiving. At press time the forecast for the next several days does not bode well in that regard. With morning lows in the low to mid 30's I am expecting potential significant frost and that means our bermudagrass is about to say goodnight and make an early entry into winter dormancy. The good news is despite the weather outlook for this weekend, I believe we still have plenty of good golfing weather ahead before Mother Nature brings winter to the Carolinas for good.
See you on the course,
Matthew Wharton, CGCS
No comments:
Post a Comment