2022 Member Survey - Grounds Response
You commented, we answer!
Once again thank you for your positive comments and suggestions on areas of improvement when completing the recent member survey. We use this information combined with our own expertise and direction provided from our golf course consulting architect, Lobb & Partners, to help determine our maintenance and project plans for the coming year and beyond.
I would like to lead off my response with a quote from a fellow Golf Course Superintendent that rings very true for me.
“The one thing I wish all golfers would understand is that greenkeepers do the best they can EVERY DAY with the resources, weather, and circumstances they are dealt. We NEVER come in and say “just half ass it today guys”.”
Jason Haines, Superintendent - Sunshine Coast Golf Club
Our Team takes pride in the fact that we come in every day with the goal of making Olympic View Golf Club better for our members and guests. Through the combination of hard work, education and experience we will continue to make Olympic View an even better experience for you!
Now let’s get down to the top concerns from the Member Survey and how we plan to improve.
Irrigation
Continuing improvements to the course irrigation system will be by far our biggest investment this off season totaling $400,000. The line used to be, that investing in an irrigation system is a great way to take 1 million dollars and bury it in the ground. Unfortunately, that line is a little dated now as the cost of a newly installed 18 hole system can easily reach 4 million dollars.
GolfBC has been making significant infrastructure investments across all of its’ properties and Olympic View is no exception. This year we will be installing all new field control satellites and new central control software. The existing components are 20 years old now and as you can imagine, electrical components continually outside only last so long. We have been dealing with numerous problems from these components and upgrading them will allow us more time to focus on maintenance of the course. The upgrade will provide us with much more capable irrigation scheduling software and an on-site weather station that can automatically turn off irrigation should rain occur during the night. The weather station can also pause the system during high winds and resume when winds recede below a set level.
We will also be replacing the pump that is located in the reservoir near the clubhouse ($15,000). This pump moves water from the reservoir to the irrigation pond on #14 and is obviously essential to have operating properly.
Finally, you may have seen numerous Grounds Team members digging holes on the course over the past few weeks. We are replacing 30 year old isolation valves on the course. These valves allow us to shut off sections of the system to make repairs. They have been failing over the years and often fail closed. Making a bad situation (we already are dealing with a leak) even worse as we now can not turn the water back on. This will be the final year of this 5 year program with the final valves being changed this fall. ($12,000 in 2023)
Bunkers
Bunkers were at the top of the list of concerns. For the past two seasons, and continuing in 2023, we have again purchased an additional bunker sand ($12,000) to increase our annual sand additions. As discussed in a post from last season, we have begun reducing the number of bunkers on the course. The back of #13 has been filled, 2 bunkers on #10 and the back bunker on #9. While we not complete all 10 bunkers listed in the previous post, we hope to fill the back of #2 before the season begins as well.
Tees
Tee leveling is a constant program at any golf course. Not unlike other courses either, we have small tees for the amount of rounds during our year round season. The multi mat usage on tees this winter is definitely helping to reduce wear on tees during the slow / non-growing months of the year. We have increased our aeration, top dressing, over seeding, and fertilizer programs to help our small tees cope with the high traffic volumes. Add in tees that have reduced sun exposure (8,9,10,11,12,13,15) and we now have extremely challenging turfgrass growth conditions.
We are happy to announce the construction of a new white tee deck on #3 which will take place in February of this year. We will consolidate the 3 white decks into on large deck in approximately the same location. The project will include new tee irrigation, drainage, and also improvements to the area between the tee and the fairway.
The project will also include the construction of a new forward tee near the front left corner of the current start of the fairway. As this will be the first project using Lobb & Partners and using our in house construction team, we are motivated to achieve high level results and set expectations for future projects on the course.
Goose Poop
In spite of the efforts of our determined goose dog Leia, we have seen in an increase in our resident goose population. When dealing with the additional migrating birds last fall it was even worse. In response we increased the frequency of fairway blowing to help manage the increase in goose poop. We are consulting with a wildlife management specialist to explore our options to encourage the resident geese to find a new home elsewhere. Again, this is not a problem unique to our course.
Ball Washers
Ball washers are gone. Never coming back. They’ve been recycled. I understand this is departure from provided amenities that in the past, were present on almost every golf course.
Removal of ball washers is not something unique to Olympic View or GolfBC. Please see the excerpt below from the article , “Death of the Golf-Ball Washer"1, found at golf.com this past October:
Terry Buchen, who worked as a superintendent for more than 50 years and remains active today as a consultant, recalls a period when some high-end clubs had two ball washers on every hole, one each for the back and forward tees. You could clean your Titleist in a ball washer at the tips, then smother-hook your drive into another ball washer a hundred feet ahead.
“You don’t see that kind of thing anymore,” Buchen says. “The idea now is to get rid of clutter. Just a sign with the hole number and yardage. What more do you need?”
Well, this guy would sure like what we’ve been up too! The removal of ball washers fits with our goal of removing distractions from the property to enhance the overall “experience with nature” that Olympic View is. Other items removed include:
removal of wooden tee signs with decaled hole maps
removal of refuse cans on every hole
removal of some un used benches
reduce wherever possible direction signs, ropes & stakes
Tee signs were replaced with boulders and metal hole numbers to indicate the hole. Yardages are now engraved into granite blocks on each tee. Both of these items require next to no maintenance and will last for decades.
Small (unsightly) refuse bins at each hole were replaced with 8 (visually appealing) refuse / recycling stations strategically placed around the course. These powder coated units will again provide years of un-maintained life, make less work for morning course set up as there are less bins, and overall we have more capacity on the course.
Fairway Divots
While we have some dedicated weekly hours for filling fairway divots, our maintenance strategy for the past two seasons has been to balance fairway hand watering with fairway divot filling. The idea being that when we are fortunate to have the odd rain shower or stretch of cooler days, we can use Team Members that are normally hand watering fairways, to fill divots and catch up. With two seasons in a row having stretches of 100 days without rain, this strategy did not work out so well. There was simply no off time for those fairway hand waterers. We have rebalanced a strategy for 2023 that includes more dedicated time to fairway divot filling. In addition to this, we will be adding more divot bottles to the racks this spring. The support from members filling divots of the course does not go un-noticed and is truly appreciated.
Walk Paths
We plan to improve numerous walk paths around the course this winter and into the season. This week we completed work on the walk path from #9 green to #10 tee. This work included drainage installation at the top of the path to stop water from running down and washing out the path, cleaning out the creek the runs alongside the path, revitalizing that nice feature & filling in the back bunker on #9. Is that 3 birds with 1 stone?!?!?
We will be removing the brick paver path leading to #6 washroom and replacing it with a simple gravel walk path. We will also replace the pavers across the front of the building with more modern paving stones.
Finally, on #11 we will remove & repair the path that leads along the side of the fairway and around the rock to the left of the green. This is a beautiful green site from the tee and the current state of the path is, at a minimum, best described as unattractive.
While this list in not inclusive of all we hope to accomplish this season, it definitely touches on some highlights. It was nice to hear many of you comment at our member appreciation event that you really enjoy the newsletter. I look forward to many posts this season to help keep you up to date on what is keeping our Grounds Team busy!
T-Jay Creamer
Golf Course Superintendent
Sens, J. (2022, October 14). Death of the Golf-Ball Washer. www.Golf.com. Retrieved December 13, 2022, from https://golf.com/lifestyle/death-golf-ball-washer/