Dear Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis Club Members,
I wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday. The club will be closed on Thanksgiving Day (11/24/2011) and Friday (11/25/2011) but will reopen for normal business hours, Monday (11/28/2011) for the fitness facility (6am – 5pm). Next week I will send out a revised winter hours of operation for the club, fitness facility and the North Grille. Again, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.
Best Regards,
Maintenance Department
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Bring on the snow
Having another successful season in the books, you might be asking yourself what the maintenance department possibly does being holed up inside for six months of snow. There are a lot of workings that go on behind the scenes to ensure that we continue to improve from the previous golf seasons.
We just got the nordic trail marked and are currently waiting for more snow to regularly groom it. We made a few changes to the trail this year by creating two separate loops. One traverses the entire front nine, and the other the back nine. We heard people's suggestions and decided to implement these changes. We hope you can experience the wildlife from a safe viewing distance. Please remember to keep your dogs on leash while out on the golf course as this land is designated critical moose habitat and we are dead center of the yellowstone elk heard's migration to the National Elk Refuge.
The North Grille will open up for dinners starting in December. We will keep the parking lot plowed and the sidewalks free from snow for our membership to use the clubhouse facilities throughout the week. Throughout the course of the winter we will continue to evaluate our agronomic plan and see where we can make improvements for best management practices. We are working very hard to ensure that you will have an experience of a lifetime when you come to play our course this coming season.
We just got the nordic trail marked and are currently waiting for more snow to regularly groom it. We made a few changes to the trail this year by creating two separate loops. One traverses the entire front nine, and the other the back nine. We heard people's suggestions and decided to implement these changes. We hope you can experience the wildlife from a safe viewing distance. Please remember to keep your dogs on leash while out on the golf course as this land is designated critical moose habitat and we are dead center of the yellowstone elk heard's migration to the National Elk Refuge.
The North Grille will open up for dinners starting in December. We will keep the parking lot plowed and the sidewalks free from snow for our membership to use the clubhouse facilities throughout the week. Throughout the course of the winter we will continue to evaluate our agronomic plan and see where we can make improvements for best management practices. We are working very hard to ensure that you will have an experience of a lifetime when you come to play our course this coming season.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Fall aerification has begun
(Editor's Note: This article appears courtesty of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.)
It's a perfect, sunny morning and you've just reached the first green in regulation. You feel great and you know you're within birdie range. Then, you see them, those little holes in the green. Arrggh! They've just aerified the course, and it's going to ruin your round, right?
Well, maybe not. Consider the fact that PGA Tour legend Tom Watson shot a sizzling record 58 at his then-home course, Kansas City Country Club, just days after the greens had been aerified.
Consider also that aerification is merely a short-term disruption that has long-term benefits for golf courses. When you see them, remember that without those little holes, the greens would eventually die.
Preventative maintenance is an integral part of successful golf course management. Golfers view aerification as an inconvenience that takes the greens out of play for a day, pulling cores from the greens and leaving holes that can affect putting for many days before healing. To add insult to injury, aerification is best done in many part of the country during mid-summer, at the height of the playing season and when most greens are in prime condition.
But a golfer needs to understand how important aerification is to producing healthy turf.
Aerification (also known as aeration) achieves three important objectives. It relieves soil compaction, it provides a method to improve the soil mixture around the highest part of a green's roots and it reduces or prevents the accumulation of excess thatch.
Like so many things, the quality of a good putting green is more than skin deep. In fact, the condition of a green has a lot to do with what goes on below the surface. In order for grass to grow at 3/16-inch, it must have deep, healthy roots. Good roots demand oxygen. In good soil, they get the oxygen from tiny pockets of air trapped between soil and sand particles.
Over time, the traffic from golfers's feet (as well as mowing equipment) tends to compact the soil under the putting green - particularly when the soil contains a lot of clay. When soil becomes compacted, the air pockets on which the roots depend are crushed, and the roots are essentially left gasping for air. Without oxygen, the grass plants become weaker and will eventually wither and die.
Aerification is a mechanical process that creates more air space in the soil and promotes deeper rooting, thus helping the grass plants stay healthy. In most cases, it's done by removing half-inch cores (those plugs you sometimes see near a green or in fairways) from the compacted soil, allowing for an infusion of air and water that brings a resurgence of growth. The spaces are then filled with sand "topdressing" that helps the soil retain air space and makes it easier for roots to grow downward.
Older greens often are constructed of soils with significant amounts of silt, clay and fine organic particles that are prone to compaction. Filling aerification holes with sand improves drainage and resists compaction. The periodic introduction of sand to a green's top layer can, over time, avoid or postpone expensive rebuilding or renovation of greens.
Finally, growing of turf adds to a layer of organic matter on the surface. This layer, called thatch, is an accumulation of dead stems, leaves and roots. A little organic matter makes for a resilient green, but too much invites diseases and insects. Topdressing with sand can prevent thatch buildup, and aerification is one of the best ways to reduce an existing layer and prevent an excess of thatch from becoming established.
Other aerification techniques use machines with "tines"; or knives that simply poke holes through the soil profile. A new technique even uses ultra high-pressure water that's injected through the soil profile to create small holes that relieve some compaction but heal quickly.
There are many types of aerifying machines with different attachments that address different problems in the various stages of the life of a green. So the next time you're ready to scream when the aerifiers are brought on the course, remember that a little preventative maintenance produces the best greens over the long haul.
The bottom line is that aerification is a necessary practice. But before you curse the superintendent for ruining your day, just think of Tom Watson.
It's a perfect, sunny morning and you've just reached the first green in regulation. You feel great and you know you're within birdie range. Then, you see them, those little holes in the green. Arrggh! They've just aerified the course, and it's going to ruin your round, right?
Well, maybe not. Consider the fact that PGA Tour legend Tom Watson shot a sizzling record 58 at his then-home course, Kansas City Country Club, just days after the greens had been aerified.
Consider also that aerification is merely a short-term disruption that has long-term benefits for golf courses. When you see them, remember that without those little holes, the greens would eventually die.
Preventative maintenance is an integral part of successful golf course management. Golfers view aerification as an inconvenience that takes the greens out of play for a day, pulling cores from the greens and leaving holes that can affect putting for many days before healing. To add insult to injury, aerification is best done in many part of the country during mid-summer, at the height of the playing season and when most greens are in prime condition.
But a golfer needs to understand how important aerification is to producing healthy turf.
Aerification (also known as aeration) achieves three important objectives. It relieves soil compaction, it provides a method to improve the soil mixture around the highest part of a green's roots and it reduces or prevents the accumulation of excess thatch.
Like so many things, the quality of a good putting green is more than skin deep. In fact, the condition of a green has a lot to do with what goes on below the surface. In order for grass to grow at 3/16-inch, it must have deep, healthy roots. Good roots demand oxygen. In good soil, they get the oxygen from tiny pockets of air trapped between soil and sand particles.
Over time, the traffic from golfers's feet (as well as mowing equipment) tends to compact the soil under the putting green - particularly when the soil contains a lot of clay. When soil becomes compacted, the air pockets on which the roots depend are crushed, and the roots are essentially left gasping for air. Without oxygen, the grass plants become weaker and will eventually wither and die.
Aerification is a mechanical process that creates more air space in the soil and promotes deeper rooting, thus helping the grass plants stay healthy. In most cases, it's done by removing half-inch cores (those plugs you sometimes see near a green or in fairways) from the compacted soil, allowing for an infusion of air and water that brings a resurgence of growth. The spaces are then filled with sand "topdressing" that helps the soil retain air space and makes it easier for roots to grow downward.
Older greens often are constructed of soils with significant amounts of silt, clay and fine organic particles that are prone to compaction. Filling aerification holes with sand improves drainage and resists compaction. The periodic introduction of sand to a green's top layer can, over time, avoid or postpone expensive rebuilding or renovation of greens.
Finally, growing of turf adds to a layer of organic matter on the surface. This layer, called thatch, is an accumulation of dead stems, leaves and roots. A little organic matter makes for a resilient green, but too much invites diseases and insects. Topdressing with sand can prevent thatch buildup, and aerification is one of the best ways to reduce an existing layer and prevent an excess of thatch from becoming established.
Other aerification techniques use machines with "tines"; or knives that simply poke holes through the soil profile. A new technique even uses ultra high-pressure water that's injected through the soil profile to create small holes that relieve some compaction but heal quickly.
There are many types of aerifying machines with different attachments that address different problems in the various stages of the life of a green. So the next time you're ready to scream when the aerifiers are brought on the course, remember that a little preventative maintenance produces the best greens over the long haul.
The bottom line is that aerification is a necessary practice. But before you curse the superintendent for ruining your day, just think of Tom Watson.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Please Excuse the Delay....
Our corporate IT Dept had blocked our access to all unrestricted media, which included our blog. Now that our sight is no longer blocked we will continue to update the blog on a regular basis.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
This week’s Golf & Tennis summary topic: Weather
Thank you all for your patience with Mother Nature. We have all been watching and waiting for warmer golfing conditions, which seems to be in full swing now. Don’t mind the golf puns.
With anticipation of a large runoff and the occurrence of unexpected erosion at the river bank’s edge of the Gros Ventre, we have noticed affected areas along holes 9 & 10. By the recommendation of brought in a construction company to put some large rocks, called rip-rap, in the river to divert the force of the river in strategic points to reduce and potentially eliminate any further erosion of the land. Let’s hope that the runoff doesn’t cause any more problems for the golf course.
Other upcoming projects are going to hit on bunkers, drainage and filling in the thin areas in the rough and fairways. Also, this year we are taking a new approach to our native in an effort to make playing out of it a possibility for missed shots. We will be cutting the native down to 4” during the wet part of the season and let it dry and grow out in the later part of the summer. This will be a three-fold benefit. Maintaining the native will hopefully reduce the vole (field mouse) habitat and will thin out the noxious weeds by maintaining a lower height of cut during their active growing months. Finally, the benefit for golfers will ultimately be more found golf balls. That means less penalty strokes on your score cards and speeds up the pace of play.
Get out there and enjoy the golf course!
With anticipation of a large runoff and the occurrence of unexpected erosion at the river bank’s edge of the Gros Ventre, we have noticed affected areas along holes 9 & 10. By the recommendation of brought in a construction company to put some large rocks, called rip-rap, in the river to divert the force of the river in strategic points to reduce and potentially eliminate any further erosion of the land. Let’s hope that the runoff doesn’t cause any more problems for the golf course.
Other upcoming projects are going to hit on bunkers, drainage and filling in the thin areas in the rough and fairways. Also, this year we are taking a new approach to our native in an effort to make playing out of it a possibility for missed shots. We will be cutting the native down to 4” during the wet part of the season and let it dry and grow out in the later part of the summer. This will be a three-fold benefit. Maintaining the native will hopefully reduce the vole (field mouse) habitat and will thin out the noxious weeds by maintaining a lower height of cut during their active growing months. Finally, the benefit for golfers will ultimately be more found golf balls. That means less penalty strokes on your score cards and speeds up the pace of play.
Get out there and enjoy the golf course!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
Why do you punch holes in the greens?
The golf season at Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis Club has finally arrived. Starting tomorrow Saturday May 7th JHGTC is officially ready for golfers. We are glad to see the snow finally leaving the valley as we have been ramping up for a great summer of golf. Here is a video we would like to share with the Teton Valley community. We cannot wait to see you out on the links. Enjoy!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Welcome to Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis
For nearly five decades, Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis Club has developed quite a reputation as a popular golf, resort, and wedding destination amidst the base of the Tetons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. You read it right, JHGTC first opened its doors to golfers in 1963. This summer we are celebrating our 48th year of operations.
Laurance Rockefeller, an avid golfer and resort property pioneer, saw a diamond in the rough when he purchased the Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis Club in 1967. In 1971 Rockefeller contracted Robert Trent Jones II to develop a major remodeling plan for the original Bob Baldock designed course.
In 2004 Jones was contracted once again for a second redesign of the course. The nearly $3.6 million dollar renovation set forth to preserve our legendary status.
As we seek to return the golf course to the standard that you've come to expect, we hope that this blog can inform you about all of the happenings in the golf maintenance department.
With this blog, we hope to bring the general public a first hand view into the world of golf course operations, the obstacles we face, and what we've done to improve the conditions at Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis. Our golf course superintendent, Andy Erskine, and I will be keeping you in the loop through weekly entries so check in to see what’s new and exciting at Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis and feel free to send questions, make comments, and connect with us.
Laurance Rockefeller, an avid golfer and resort property pioneer, saw a diamond in the rough when he purchased the Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis Club in 1967. In 1971 Rockefeller contracted Robert Trent Jones II to develop a major remodeling plan for the original Bob Baldock designed course.
In 2004 Jones was contracted once again for a second redesign of the course. The nearly $3.6 million dollar renovation set forth to preserve our legendary status.
As we seek to return the golf course to the standard that you've come to expect, we hope that this blog can inform you about all of the happenings in the golf maintenance department.
With this blog, we hope to bring the general public a first hand view into the world of golf course operations, the obstacles we face, and what we've done to improve the conditions at Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis. Our golf course superintendent, Andy Erskine, and I will be keeping you in the loop through weekly entries so check in to see what’s new and exciting at Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis and feel free to send questions, make comments, and connect with us.
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