Mulch Beds

If you have been on the course in the past couple years I am sure you have taken note of the mulch beds. A lot of them include a hole sign but there are others that do not. All of these beds have been overtaken by a plethora of plant material, mainly perennials that have continued to get larger and larger every year. I started in 2006 and there have been minimal changes to a vast majority of these beds until this Spring. This week we embarked on revamping all of these beds that have become unsightly.

Every bed needs cleaned up, which is normal process for this time of year. Then all of the existing plant material is dug up and removed, while dividing any ornamental grasses and other perennials such as lilies. This plant material has simply become too large for the occupied space. After all the plants have been removed and divided the material is then replanted in a more organized and correctly spaced design. We are using a majority of the current plants along with some new additions where applicable.

I hope that everyone enjoys this fresh take on some existing herbaceous and ornamental features, as the crew is putting a lot of time and hard work into these improvements. I have included some pictures of the process to date.

Spring Update

I am happy the weather changed and we are finally able to play some golf. The week upcoming doesn’t look promising with Mother Nature but, soon the sun will be shining and we can resume our spring. We are continuing to clean up the course and get ready for the season. Some of the early season work on the course includes edging the bunkers as well as starting to trim up all of the broken branches from the ice this past winter.

A spring project that was completed this past week before the course opened was the new concrete approaches on bridges #5 and #6. This is a picture of the approach on #5 which was particularly rough due to large amounts of water over the past twenty years eroding the dirt from underneath it therefore compromising the integrity of the concrete. Before the new approach was installed we drilled steel rods into the existing path and bridge abutment. This will help in the future to negate that problem from occurring again. We also stuffed all of the concrete after it was demolished into the cavity under all three approaches that were rebuilt. The reason for this work to be done while closed is the fact that it needed three to four days curing time before carts could resume usage. It turned out very well and I hope it goes as long as the bridge lasts.

The grounds department has been exploring new ways to communicate with all of the members in the past couple of months. We have started a new turf blog along with Twitter and Instagram accounts. Our goal is to give the members of Panther Creek a more up to date look at projects and work we are doing along with putting faces with the names of the staff in the grounds department. We will be using all three lines of communication on a regular basis so if you would like, those are places you can go for information.

Turf Blog:  http://pcccgrounds.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @PantherGrounds

Instagram: @PantherGrounds

 

I hope to see you all on the course very soon,

                                                    Greg Willman

                                                    gwillman@panthercreekcc.com

                                                    546-1469

 

 

New Tee Markers

One of most common questions I get this time year when I tell people that I am an assistant golf course superintendent is "What do you do all winter?" And while I am not here to bore you with the day to day winter work I would like to share one of the more exciting projects that our grounds crew has embarked on this winter.

We have revamped and in my opinion refreshed our tee markers. We started with 2 x 6 cedar boards, cut into six inch blocks. Then we routered out the stripe at the bottom and the sides to make an edge. Next, we traced the logo on each side and used the router again. We end the process with paint and a marine grade varnish which helps the marker withstand the rain, irrigation and UV rays. One of the advantages of this new design is you will be able to see the tee color from the cart path better, as the router stripe will be painted.

Unfortunately, I am not posting a completed picture today. You will just have to come out and play this spring to see the finished product. Although, there may be a sneak peak posted on our twitter page. @PantherGrounds

The whole staff has worked very hard on these new markers so we hope you enjoy the new style.