TOPDRESSING

Topdressing is a term we use for the product that we apply to our putting greens to firm up the surface and smooth out ball marks.  We started a new program at Deer Creek this season where we apply the sand topdressing once per week.  It has resulted in a very firm  and smooth surface.  We use USGA sand as our topdressing medium and done correctly you do not notice that we applied the topdressing minutes after it was applied.  It is a great example of the things we do behind the scenes that help make our greens awesome.    

FLOOD UPDATE

It has been a crazy three weeks since we flooded.  We have spent countless hours cleaning up the debris and preparing the course for play.  It is in good condition now and we are anticipating weekly improvement as we work on the finishing touches of the clean up process.  I want to thank our staff for the tireless commitment they have given the club.  Without them, we would not be able to provide the good conditions we all have came to expect at Deer Creek Golf Club.  

Let's hope for decent weather this summer so we can enjoy the game of golf at Deer Creek.  

Local news crew stops by.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm4aEeHJ_4E&feature=youtube_gdata_player

MAJOR FLOODING

We just received 3" of rain in one and a half hour. That isn't good for us. We are going to start the evaluation now to see how much damage there is. We will prevail. Check in with us this weekend as we will be open for play as soon as we clean up the mess. We are very good at the cleanup process.

FIRST CLASS MAINTENANCE FACILITY

We are always looking for ways to improve at Deer Creek Golf Club. Recently we have placed our focus on the maintenance facility. It is our employees first impression of our department and it sets the tone for the job that they do when we maintain our golf course. We have improved organization of tools and completed a complete floor reconditioning project in the primary technician bay. We are proud of the facility we have and we are excited about the recent improvements.

GANSO THE GOOSE DOG

MEET GANSO

I am sure all of you that have played Deer Creek this winter have noticed the geese that have been vandalizing the golf course.  The geese are particularly bad this time of year due to the fact that they are migrating.  Deer Creek is a temporary home for these birds as they travel.  We do have a small number of geese that make Deer Creek their permanent home.  The geese leave droppings on the ground everywhere they go and they do damage to the greens as they are pecking for food.  

We have explored many means of gees control and we have determined the most cost effective way to control this problem is to have a resident dog that scares the geese away.  Border Collies are the proven breed that has the best track record with geese control.  They are herders by nature and are fast enough to keep the geese on the run. 

We found Ganso at a local rescue league.  Him and his brothers and sisters were very happy to see me.  Ganso was the one that looked like the best fit for us.  Ganso has already been to basic obedience school and is quickly learning to heel, sit, stay, come, and lye down.  We are kennel training him and have currently made him an awesome home in the shop where he will have an indoor kennel with a doggie door access to a kennel run outside.  He will spend most of his time riding with us on carts and policing the golf course for those pesky birds.

We are excited to welcome Ganso to the Deer Creek Maintenance Staff.  Say hi to him when you play your next round as he is always excited to meet new friends.

FYI:  The name Ganso means goose in Spanish   We decided that was a perfect name for the the little goose chaser.    

IRRIGATION AUDIT

Water is a precious resource and we do many things behind the scenes to ensure we apply water to the Golf course in an efficient manner. Primarily making sure we apply just enough water to provide our turf plants is the objective while not over watering maintaining firm playing conditions.

Recently we started a project where we are collecting data that we will process and ultimately determine the efficiency of our turf sprinklers and we will use this data to decide if updating our sprinklers is a cost effective way to decrease ou overall water use while offering an even more consistent playing surface that looks terrific.

The technical description of this process is an Irritation Audit. We will be testing strategic areas and will hopefully come up with some valuable data once the project is completed.