Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Serve Pro, Links Gems, and DJR!

Hello and welcome to The Greenkeeper!  Today is Tuesday, January 7th and I thought I would share a few interesting finds as we close out the first week of 2020.  Wow, can you really believe it's 2020!  That means we are less than a decade away from CGC's Centennial in 2029!  But I digress.

 I certainly hope everyone enjoyed the holiday season with their families, friends and loved ones!  As much as we enjoy some time away from the course with those nearest and dearest to us, I always look forward to the new year and seeing the team reunited.  Everyone is refreshed and ready to get after whatever is necessary to make Carolina Golf Club the best it can be.

 Yesterday was our first Maintenance Monday of the new year and we wasted no time in prepping the greens for the expected rains today.  A quick vent with needle tines followed with a roll left the surfaces smooth yet ready for more precipitation.  
Before Roll
Smooth Roll
After Roll


































Speaking of precipitation, if anyone was wondering our rainfall total for 2019 was 57.20 inches.  Just 1.40 shy of the 58.60 inches that fell in 2018.  That's nearly three FEET above average for the two-year span!

With that much excess water it was a good thing the team installed an interceptor drain near the walk-on/walk-off area of the Blue and Black teeing areas on Hole 6.  Our aim here is to capture the ground water before it surfaces at the toe of the slope and transport it to an existing subsurface pipe making for improved traction and appearance. 

 The team really came together on this project, most likely working hard to shed a few new pounds gained over the holidays. ;) I was extremely proud of their efforts and attention to detail.

















You can see from the photo in the above tweet how the drain runs parallel to the Blue Tee before wrapping in front.  We attached our new drain to an existing pipe behind the left, greenside bunker on No. 7.  Here's a couple more photos of the project as the team buttoned things up!
Almost Done

Like it Never Even Happened





































In other news, those of you on the social media channels Twitter and/or Instagram may know of Links Gems.  Jon Cavalier is a lawyer by day, or maybe by night as he takes amazing golf course photos by day!  He's based out of Philadelphia and travels the country sharing photos of some of the best golf courses ever designed.  

 Anyway, Jon was recently a guest at Carolina Golf Club and had some nice things to say about our beloved Donald J. Ross design.  Hope you enjoy!
It was nice of Jon to utilize Black and White considering our mostly dormant appearance, made for some rather interesting looks.  My understanding is his Instagram page receives even more traffic, you can find links to both on his website linked above.

 Segueing into a little more about Donald J. Ross, I posted this yesterday evening taken from Keith Cutten's book, The Evolution of Golf Course Design. 

"Seamlessly into the existing terrain" I believe accurately sums what Kris Spence was able to recapture during our restoration a little over a decade ago.  In the business we commonly refer to this as "tie-ins" and I think this is what separates Kris, his team, and the team from Golf Course Services from others, they nail the tie-ins.  

 Anyway, that's all for now.  Welcome to 2020 and a new golf handicap as the World Handicap System goes into effect.  Here's hoping we all manage to shave a stroke or two this year!
See you on the course,

 Matthew Wharton, CGCS, MG

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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2020 at 10:48 AM

    Matthew, what a compliment in LinksGems and certainly well deserved! We are very lucky to have you and your team. Thanks for everything that you all do.

    ReplyDelete
  2. jdporterJanuary 7, 2020 at 2:01 PM

    Kudos on the work at 6th tee. That was the next thing on my mental list - so, great minds....

    ReplyDelete

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