Fall Schedule

Fall is officially here, finally! Here is our Agronomic Schedule for Fall 2012.

**Dates are tentative based primarily on weather conditions

Ø  Monday September 10^th-Tee and Fairway aerifiction begins. Tee times start at 9:00am

Ø  Monday September 17^th-Fall fertilization begins

Ø  Monday September 24^th -Front nine greens aerification begins. Tee times start at 10:00am

Ø  Tuesday September 25^th-Back nine greens aerification

Ø  October 14^th-Golf Course closes

Ø  October 15^th-November 1^st-Fall integrated pest management  (IPM)

o   Course off limits to all non-maintenance traffic

o   Fertilization and chemical applications will be taking place at any given time/place

Ø  Tarp greens and pray for snow.

 

NOTE OF CAUTION: Please stay off the course in the early mornings when it is frosty, as you will likely be killing turfgrass anywhere you step until the warmer temperatures can melt the ice of the plant.

JHGTC Tip of the Week

JHGTC Tip of the Week

Thanks to Rick Stuck for helping out with this week’s tip.

 

When at the practice tee, please make your divots in a straight line backwards. For example:  After you hit a shot, place the ball directly behind and on the edge of the divot you previously made. See article below.

 

Practice Like A Pro

By Ty McClellan, agronomist, Mid-Continent Region
July 13, 2011

 

Randomly scattered divots (on the left) remove up to 50% more turf than practicing in a linear pattern (on the right) where each new shot is placed directly behind the previous divot.

Late July is usually the time when there is a lack of turf coverage on practice range tees established with cool-season turf grasses, such as creeping bentgrass or Kentucky bluegrass. Heavy play removes divots faster than the turf can recover, and hot, dry summer conditions leave little opportunity for seedling establishment or regenerative growth of surrounding turf. Poor turf coverage that comes in mid-summer generally indicates that the practice tee is simply undersized for the amount of play received, i.e. there is not enough time for turf to recover before tee stalls are returned to previous locations. It also indicates that tee stall rotations need to be reviewed for efficiency and that synthetic turf options should be considered at the rear of the tee to provide the additional time needed for turf recovery.

With the exception of an efficient tee stall rotation, enlarging the tee(s) and adding synthetic turf are improvements typically left for the off-season when time and funds become available. So, until then, what can be done? The solution resides with golfers. Since randomly scattering divots can quickly destroy a practice range tee, the better approach is to shrink one’s divots by removing them in a pattern just like the professionals. More specifically, this includes placing each shot directly behind the previous divot. This can easily be repeated for up to 10 shots resulting in much less turf being removed.

Let’s take a look at a practical example that was provided by Golf Course Superintendent Chris Pekarek at The Village Links of Glen Ellyn in Illinois. Mr. Pekarek estimates more than 2 million shots are taken annually from the 1.25-acre Kentucky bluegrass practice tee and that 1.5 million of the shots result in turf removal. Although divots come in all sizes, the average iron shot is believed to remove a divot 3 inches wide by 6.5 inches long for a total of 19.5 square inches. After just 30 shots, or a small bucket of balls, 4.1 square feet of turf are removed, given a typical practice routine (30 shots x 19.5 in² = 585 in² / 144 in² = 4.1 ft²). Therefore, after an entire season, 205,000 square feet of divots are removed from the tee. That's more than 4.6 acres of turf from their 1.25-acre surface.

If instead each shot is played directly behind the previous divot, subsequent divots are reduced to an average size of 3 inches wide by 3 inches long, or 9 square inches. After 30 shots, this pattern removes only 2.1 square feet of turf. (As the first divot removes 19.5 square inches and the subsequent 9 divots remove 9 square inches each for a total of 81 square inches, a total of 100.5 square inches is removed for every 10 shots, which is typical for this linear pattern. For 30 shots or a small bucket of balls, 3 x 100.5 = 301.5 in² / 144 in² = 2.1ft² are removed.) If everyone adopted this method, the annual number of divots removed would be reduced from 205,000 square feet to just 105,000 square feet. That’s nearly a 50% reduction in the amount of turf removed.

Implementing this simple divot pattern into your practice regime has significant season-long implications at your facility. So, rather than voice a complaint about the turf during oppressive conditions in July and August, do the turf a favor and practice like a pro!

Member Newsletter

Dear Membership,

The summer just continues move forward with no end in sight.  We had our first short frost delay this morning as the temperature on our weather station got down to 37 degrees..which is closer to 34-35 degrees on the course.  Looks like we may experience a little harder freeze on Friday night.  This signals, as we all know, that fall is just around the corner and those beautiful blue bird days with highs in the 60’s and 70’s aren’t far behind.  I appreciate everyone’s patience with the frost delays that will soon be upon us, and rest assured we will get everyone out as quickly as we can on those mornings. 

Thursday we are hosting our half of the Snake River Cup…GO JHGTC!!  After years of holding on to the cup we have let the Pines “borrow” it for a couple of years and it’s time to have bragging rights back on “the east bank”.  Good luck to all those that are competing and thank you for representing the club.

The big news on the course recently has been the increase in activity of bees, both on the course and around the clubhouse.  We have been putting up bee traps around the facilities and have gone through several cases of spray around the course.  That being said we are guests in their environment and as long as you aren’t aggressive with them they will tend not to be aggressive towards you.  We will continue to try and manage the situation keeping in mind that bees are the baseline for all living plants as they account for a significant percentage of all pollination that takes place on our planet.  Interesting fact: 1/3 of the food we eat in America comes from pollinating insects such as bees.

The golf course continues to play wonderfully and I am looking forward to cooler days so we can see some healthy growth on the course.  I want to thank everyone for continuing to use cart paths where available and not driving around approaches, greens and tees.  It is very easy to see what the compaction does to playing conditions..good example is the right side of #3 between the bunker and the cart path.  All the driving and parking in that area has made keeping healthy turf almost impossible.  You can see improvements in areas we have put signs and ropes.  Good example of that is to the left of number 12 green..you can see how the area just next to the bunker has improved and the difference in turf quality where carts are exiting the fairway further up to the east.  I appreciate everyone’s help in their travels around the course.  Have a great week.

 

Andy Erskine, GCS

Good morning all-

Wanted to let everyone know that JHGTC hosted a US Amateur qualifier yesterday.  It was a two round event that sent the top two finishers to Cherry Hills GC in Colorado at the end of August to play for the National US Amateur Championship.  Top two finishers of that will qaulify for the 2013 US Open at Merion CC in Pennsylvania next year.  This is very exciting for us as a property and a company.  The course is in fantastic shape and we have gotten rave reviews from the WSGA representative that sets up the course and participants that have I talked to over the last couple days.  I even got a.."this is the best course we've seen so far in Wyoming"..from one of the interns that works for the Wyoming State Golf Association.  We have been working round the clock for the last several days to get ready..so if you run into one of our Grounds Workers let them know they did a great job. For all you golfers out their we had the greens stimping at 11.5 this morning and rolling true.  Have a great day.

Here is a link to the scrores from yesterday's event! The winning score was Even Par (144) after 36 holes.

http://www.ghintpp.com/wysga/TPPOnlineScoring/Default.aspx?id=129

Learning more about Bunkers

JHGTC Tip of the Week 6/23/12

FIVE BASIC TIPS AND TERMINOLOGY FOR THE FIRST TIME GOLFER

1. Dress the Part                                                                                                                               

Many golf courses have dress codes. Find out what the dress code is at the course you're playing and dress appropriately. A pair of khaki shorts or slacks and a collared golf shirt will almost always meet the requirements, but it's a good idea to check beforehand.                                                                                                                

The policy for Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis is:                                                                               Soft Spike golf shoes only. Appropriate attire is required at all times.
- Men: Shorts must be no more than 3 inches above the knee.  Tucked-in collared shirts are required.
- Ladies: Shorts and skirts are also to be an appropriate length.  Women do not have to wear a collar; however, halter and midriff shirts or short shorts    are not permitted. Ladies shorts must also be no more than three inches above the knee.

2. Teeing Off

On the teeing ground, you must place your ball between the tee markers, either even with them or up to two club lengths behind them. Never in front of them. Tee markers are usually small, colored cones or stones or some other similar indicator. For example, if you're playing from the white tees, look for markers painted white.
As for who tees off first ...

3. Honors, Away and Ready Play

The player who has "honors" plays first from the teeing ground. On the first tee, this can be decided randomly (draw straws, play paper-rock-scissors, whatever). On ensuing tees, the player with the best score on the preceding hole goes first, the second-best score goes second, and so on. Ties carry over to the next tee box, so you keep your place in the rotation until you beat someone on a hole.

"Honors" determines who tees off first; what about the order of play on shots from the fairway? He who is "away" (or "out") leads the way. The player who is farthest from the hole always plays first, from any position on the golf course other than the tee box. The exception is when all members of the group have agreed to play "ready golf," meaning hit-when-ready. Ready golf can be played when a group is trying to speed up the round.

4. Play It As It Lies

One of the most fundamental principles of golf - an idea that much of the Rules of Golf is built around - is "play it as it lies." What that means is pretty simple - don't move or touch the ball! Where it comes to rest, whatever state it is in, you most likely have to play it as is.  There are exceptions spelled out in the Rules of Golf, but if you want to play by the rules, a good rule of thumb is this: Don't move the ball, don't touch it, don't pick it up unless you are certain that you are allowed to do so under the Rules.

5. Keep Up the Pace

Slow play has always been an issue on golf courses, and it's even more important as a beginner to be aware of your pace of play. You don't want to keep golfers behind you waiting, just as you probably don't want to be kept waiting yourself by slow groups ahead. Always be prepared to play when it is your turn to hit. Don't wait until it is your turn to decide which club to use, or to determine the line of a putt; use the time while others are hitting to make those decisions, so that when it's your turn you can step right up and play. If your group is slower than the group immediately behind yours - if your group is holding up another group - it's good etiquette to allow the faster group to play through. Not all groups will want to do this, but many will, and all that do will be very grateful for your show of etiquette.

REMEMBER:                                                                                                                                    

Always repair your ball marks (also called pitch marks) on the green.

Always repair your divots in the fairway. Repairing a divot might mean picking up the sod that you've chopped up and placing it back in the resulting scrape; or it could mean pouring sand or seed into the spot of the divot. If sand or seed are provided by the course (usually in a container that rides on the golf cart), that's what they want you to do.  JACKSON HOLE GOLF & TENNIS CLUB prefers that you use a combination of both options..if the divot is in one piece then replace  it, if not use the sand.  At the very least please fill with sand.                                                                       

Always rake sand bunkers after you've hit your shot to smooth out the sand so that ensuing golfers don't have to play out of your footprints.

June Member Newsletter

Dear members,

It looks like we are on our way to summer after a brief return to winter over Memorial weekend.  The course is coming along wonderfully.  We have begun working on the bunker project again and have completed the large greenside bunker on #4 which was contaminated with a tremendous amount of debris.  It looks and is playing great..let us know what you think.  We have 4 more greenside bunkers to finish then we will be starting on the fairway bunkers.  We have also begun our efforts on drainage around the course and you should see firmer, dryer conditions as we progress through the summer.  You will see new sod installed in areas as we begin this project in earnest and I would ask that you are conscious of these areas and stay off them until we remove ropes.  These areas will be designated GUR-Ground under repair.

We have turned our focus to weed control, tree limbing and native clean up recently.  As we have passed what hopefully is our last really cool spell we will begin clubhouse plantings and other landscape work.

The greens are coming along nicely and are looking great for a summer of heavy play.  I stimped them today and they are running around 10-10.5.  They will continue to speed up and smooth out as we start our regular mowing and rolling schedule moving forward.

Feel free to let me know if you have any concerns on the course and visit our blog at www.jacksonholegolf.blogspot.com  for our “tip of the week” and other course information.  Have a great summer.

Andy Erskine, GCS

JHGTC Tip of the Week #3

JHGTC TIP OF THE WEEK

GOLF CART ETIQUETTE

The rules below are standardized for all golf courses.  Some courses may have rules specific to their course.  Thank you in advance for adhering to these simple rules and keeping our course beautiful for everyone that uses these facilities. 

·         Never drive the cart within hazard boundary lines, native areas or within about 10 yards of water hazards or bunkers, or within about 50 FEET of greens (unless you're on a designated cart path, of course). These areas are especially susceptible to damage by the wheels of golf carts. Never drive onto or close to tee boxes, either, unless on the cart path.

·         Never drive the cart through mud, on or off the fairway.

·         Never drive through casual water on any part of the golf course (unless it's a little bit of water over a paved cart path). The wheels of the cart can do serious damage to the turf, including leaving ruts, in wet areas

·         Always stay on designated cart paths on par-3 holes. Even if the course allows carts onto the fairways on par-4s and par-5s, stay off the grass on par-3s. 

You should always ask when you check in what the course's standard golf cart rules are, then also be alert for any signage. What might the signage specify?

Over time, golf carts speed up soil compaction, which can lead to less-than-ideal growing conditions for turf grasses. And that can lead to less-than-ideal fairways for golfers. So even when "cart path only" is not in effect, it's a good idea to keep the cart on the designated path.

When "cart path only" is in effect, drive the cart on the designated path until you are parallel to where your golf ball rests on the course. Stop the cart, get out, pull a couple clubs (so you'll have some options when you reach your ball), and walk out to the ball.

90-Degree Rule In Effect
The "90-degree rule" means that the golf course is allowing carts onto the grass - but only at 90-degree angles from the cart path. In other words, don't drive the golf cart up the middle of the fairway from the tee box to your golf ball. Stay on the cart path until you are level with your golf ball, then make a 90-degreen turn off the cart path and drive straight across to the ball. The "90-degree rule" minimizes the time a golf cart spends rolling over the grass, while still allowing convenience for golfers.

No Carts Beyond This Point
This sign is one you might see in a fairway as you close in on the green. Courses don't want golf carts near the putting green; the "no carts beyond this point" sign makes sure golfers get that message. Even if you are allowed to drive the cart on the fairway, be sure to observe these signs. When you see one, stop and return to the designated cart path before proceeding forward again.

This sign may also come in the form of an arrow pointing toward the cart path. The meaning is the same: Don't take the cart beyond this point on the fairway; go back to the cart path.

So, those are the signs golfers are most likely to see on a golf course regarding cart usage. Observe the signs - and don't forget to ask about golf cart rules when you check in.

JHGTC Tip of the Week #2

Entering, raking and exiting bunkers

Golf Rules for St. Andrews Golf Club as stated by the Greens Committee: Rake all areas that you disturb by entering, exiting and walking through bunkers. ALWAYS enter and exit bunkers on the low side DO NOT climb up or down steep bunker slopes, as this will damage those areas.

Bunkers are designed to be and are classified as a hazard, therefore if you go into a bunker expect a bad lie and to be penalized. Bunkers were not designed to be easy to get out of hence they are called a hazard.

To limit your bad lies and help keep the bunkers in good order on any course you play always enter and leave the bunker at the low point. Always rake the bunker sand with the teeth of the bunker rake on the flat pan and then as you exit use the toothless side to smooth the bank. If you use the teeth side of the rake on the slopes it softens them and makes the sand vulnerable to balls plugging in.

USGA rules state (in summary) with respect to bunkers:

1.    Leave the course in the condition in which you would like to find it.

2.    When entering and exiting bunkers, always do so on the low side away from the green.

Here is a great link on the proper way to enter, rake and leave a bunker

http://www.theleicestershiregolfclub.co.uk/bunkers-entering-raking-leaving

JHGTC Tip of The Week

Proper Way to fix a ball mark

A university study has shown that a properly repaired ball mark will heal (in the growing season) in approximately 16 days. An improperly repaired ball mark will heal (in the growing season) approximately 38 days. Improperly repaired ball marks take 43% longer to heal than properly repaired ball marks.

* Improper use of the traditional tool doubles the time ball marks need to recover. After healing, surface quality remains reduced, and the mark leaves the largest scar.—Kansas State University Study, 2005

Inserting the tool and leveraging or lifting up on the depression actually tears the roots and does more damage than good.

"Levering seems logical, but it’s not the way the tool was meant to be used. We found that the digging and lifting actually has a more long-lasting effect than leaving the mark unrepaired,"—PhD, Horticulturist, Kansas State University

Spring 2012 Member News Letter

Dear Members,

I hope everyone had a great winter and are as excited as I am about getting the golf course up and going for a great summer.  Just when it looked like spring was going to make a grand and early entrance we are back to more typical April weather.  As I am sure you have all noticed the course cleared very rapidly over the last three weeks and we are currently left with a little snow in some bunkers and ditches.  Winter was a difficult one with many courses seeing ice damage to one extent or another and we are no different.  There are a few areas on the fairways and rough that are slow coming back due to icing issues early in the winter.  They are scattered and with a little seed and TLC they will be back in no time.  A few of the greens were also affected by some icing.  Even with our early snow removal, having tarps down and deep tine aerification last fall, some of the more exposed, windblown areas on some greens saw ice development.  These areas are small and confined to only 4-5 greens.  We aerified and top dressed the greens this past week and that should help with these areas, along with some seed and additional fertilizer. These areas will be a little slower to come back; however, I am confident you will have the best greens possible for an April 28^th opening.  It’s been a while since we’ve been able to open in April, with the course snow free!  Very Exciting!

My crew and I have been busy pulling snow stakes, cleaning up around the course and taking care of all the little things that need to be addressed from the winter.  We have been blessed with some early season weather and are making great progress.  The extensive mouse/vole damage that we see every year is much less significant this time around and should aid in course recovery time.  The other animals; elk, deer, moose and bison; certainly made their presence known and left us with plenty of clean up, as is the case every year.  We are going to continue cleaning up the course, work on the bunkers and get the greens in shape.  This will involve a good deal of large equipment on the course between now and the 28^th.  We will be verti-cutting (vertical cutting) the fairways, tees and approaches and putting sand down to help the soil profile and “tighten up” these areas.  This is part of our new focus on drainage and improving the soil profile to aid in a drier, firmer course.  In addition, we will begin adding small areas of drainage and amending the soil to enhance water penetration and begin getting rid of those areas that consistently hold water.  We will be blowing and sweeping up all the debris left behind by winter.  In addition, we will be working on bringing the bunkers back in shape and getting ready to finish up our sand amendment project that we started last year to provide firmer more consistent playing conditions in our bunkers.  There is much work yet to do in order to get the course in playing condition, as well as, the need for warmer soil temperatures but we are on our way!  It’s going to be a great year, let’s all keep our fingers crossed for a quick return of those 60-70 degree days!!  Please don’t hesitate to let me know if there is anything I can do for you all.  Look forward to seeing everyone out on the course.

Andy Erskine, GCS

Winter Update

This winter has been an interesting one to say the least.  It can easily be said that everything we do on the golf course during the summer is in preparation for putting to bed a healthy golf course that will survive the winter.  Three certainties that we prepare for every winter are the guarantee of severe cold, it will snow (we just don’t know how much) and the fact that weather forecasters would never make it in the stock market.  The big winter promised by forecasters and bolstered by a continuing La Nina weather pattern has been slow to come, at least so far.  All of our snow has come in fairly significant storms sandwiched between weeks of dry weather.  We have had extreme cold, temperatures in the 40’s early on and even a nice rain storm around Christmas.  There has been nothing real unusual for a Jackson winter in that it has been predictably unpredictable. 

That being said, I am sleeping relatively well these days knowing that we did everything we could this summer in preparation for the winter and we have a great plan for the spring melt to get the course back into the playing conditions you all expect.  The conditions have been a challenge for some areas in the rocky mountain region with several courses dealing with ice issues on their greens.  Prolonged periods of ice on greens is a sure fire way to have turf loss come spring.  This is another reason; one of a hundred; that fall aerification is so important in our region.  All those holes helps the water drain and lessens your chances for standing water to accumulate under the snow and turn to ice.  We have been extremely fortunate, considering we didn’t aerify this fall as we have done in past seasons.  We were able to deep tine (8-10” deep solid holes) our greens prior to putting tarps down and that in and of itself has been key to our lack of ice.  I know of at least one course in the area that is currently battling ice on greens and they did not poke any holes in their greens this fall.  When the ground froze early and hard this year it set up potential problems when we got the rain around Christmas.  I feel for those in the industry that were not able to poke holes this fall.  We had the “perfect storm” early this winter to set up for ice.  All that being said, I am confident we will come out of winter in very good shape. 

 **Example of ice on greens…note the lack of aerification holes that would have aided in draining the standing water**Anthony Benes and I have been hard at work laying the ground work for a comprehensive environmental plan for the property.  We have been investing a lot of time and energy educating the cross country skiers about the fact that our course sits squarely in the middle of an elk and deer migratory route.  Emphasizing the fact that everything on the south side of the road, encompassing holes #9, 10 and 11, is designated Natural Resource Overlay because it is critical winter moose habitat.  Limiting our impact on these areas by requesting all dogs be leashed and minimizing the other impacts on wildlife by sticking to the trail, not breaking new trail and steering clear when we do see wildlife.  As we mentioned earlier, we have partnered with the Teton Science School and tagged several deer on the property this winter to track their migration and identify hot spots with respect to road crossings.  Anthony recently became certified as a mapping volunteer through the JH Wildlife Foundation and JH Nature Mapping.  He can now map observations to be used in research and to help better understand the impact of our activities on the golf course.  It’s easy to forget that the wildlife was here long before us and we owe it to the wildlife, community and the environment to minimize our impacts on and around the property.  We want to continue our mantra that “wildlife has the right of way” on the golf course.   

If there was ever any doubt about our proximity to the elk migration corridor...the elk answered that for us this past fall as nearly 400 of them made their way south towards the Elk Refuge