The Putter

If you've been around the Club at all lately then you undoubtedly noticed the work being done around the main putting green.  What's happening?  Well, as good as the putting green is at Tacoma, we're about to make it much better.  To put it simply, we're adding an area of fine turf around the putter so you can practice putting from off the green.  This sounds easy and it is, but the putter covers about 10,000 square feet so there is a lot sod to move in order to complete this project.  We should be finished in a few days but here is what we've done so far. 

First we removed all the rough from around the putting surface.  That rough sod was then hauled down to #11 and used to make repairs on those areas where we released some native oak trees.

Then we lifted the putting green surface on the north corner where it was really too steep to be usable given today's green speeds.  

We imported some quality sand to elevate that area, making it less steep and giving us the opportunity to create a feature that resembles something you commonly encounter on the golf course. 

The new feature in front of the putter has a slope of about 18% which is the same as the slope to the right of the second green or to the left of the 8th green.

We are currently in the process of installing the new fine turf which is being harvested from the 18th fairway near the forward tee.

This area will be restored using aerification cores generated during our normal fairway aeration process next month.  

I'm very happy with how it's turning out. The crew is working very hard and I'm always amazed by their level of skill with this type of project.  Lastly, this new putting green space is just that, a place for putting.  It is only going to be great, and stay great if people respect that this green is for putting only.  As always, there is NO CHIPPING allowed at the main putting green.

New Driving Range Tee - Phase 1

The driving range tee turned 30 years old this past spring so it's no surprise that it's in need of a renovation.  Typically, practice tees can last 10 - 20 years.  The fact that ours has lasted so long is really remarkable. We've been talking about this project for several years now and we are actively trying to work it into the Asset Replacement Fund (ARF).  The image above is from the Club's Master Plan and shows the footprint of the new practice tee.  With today's technology and the distance that the golf ball travels, it's necessary that we build the new practice tee as far back as possible which brings it closer to the trees that are behind the 9th green.  Below is an image which shows that grove of trees between the practice tee and the 9th green.

Although we're still trying to set a date for the construction of the new practice tee, we have the exciting opportunity right now to complete the first phase of the project which is to remove some of the trees in order to make space for the new practice teeing ground.  The reason we want to move on this project now is because we have just been given dozens of very large evergreen shrubs which are perfect replacements for the lost trees. These evergreen shrubs, which are really small trees, need to be removed from a nearby residence within the next several weeks as the home site is being completely cleared off for the construction of a new home.  So, the plan is to remove 6 of the 9 trees between the practice tee and the 9th green, and then transplant those large shrubs to this area and create a vegetative buffer.  Below is a picture of the 9th green as it looks today and then another picture showing what it will look like when we are finished planting the new buffer.

My photo-shop skills aren't the best, but you get the idea. The new look with one majestic tree is definitely more appropriate given the surrounding oak savanna landscape.Something I found interesting is that these trees behind the 9th green are not as old as they look.  Below is a picture of the golf course taken around 100 years ago and that arrow is pointing to the location where those trees are today.  Back then this was the 16th green and those trees were planted to protect players from errant shots being hit towards the 18th green.  

One more thing I need to mention is that there are so many large plants coming off this home site near the 11th hole, that we also will be using them to replace those small fir trees near the 8th green.  See the picture below.

Obviously the fir trees will get way too large for this area being they are immediately adjacent to a putting green.  These trees were planted in 2010 as a temporary buffer following the installation of the sewer utility, and the new evergreen shrubs will be a perfect permanent solution.  For those of you that weren't here in 2010 or if you don't really remember that project I created a photo album of pictures I took during that crazy 6 month period.  Over 190 trees were removed to facilitate installation of that utility.  Click here to check it out.  All of the trees that I've mentioned here which will be removed this fall are now marked with ribbon so please take a look at these areas the next time you're on the playing field.  

Course Care 101

Here's a familiar sight for this time of year.  A thoroughly trampled bunker and some of my staff out hand watering fairways.  We've been so busy trying to get caught up yet, we are just at the beginning of what's bound to be one of the busiest summers in our long history. Membership is the highest it's been in ages and today's membership is a very "golfing" membership.   Don't get me wrong, nothing makes me happier than seeing golfers enjoying the playing field at Tacoma.  At the same time, nothing is more frustrating than seeing some of the unnecessary damage caused by golfers which only makes the golf experience less enjoyable for everyone.  

I'm not really talking about ball marks and filling fairway divots.  I'm pretty sure everyone is tired of hearing the same old lecture about the proper way to fix ball marks and lets face it, some people fill divots and some people don't.  So, I'm not going to talk about ball marks but if you haven't seen the video I made several years back, you should watch it since It's still very relevant today....click HERE.  When it comes to filling fairway divots, we have so many people that love to fill divots that it kind of makes up for the people that don't like to fill divots.  

I do want to talk about practice tee divots because it's clear that some people still don't get it.  The other day I came out to see this horrific damage to the practice tee.   The amount of turf consumed here could easily have been reduced 50% by simply practicing properly. Thankfully right next to this carnage was this........

...........this is a really good picture.  Almost everyone that hit in this area tried to hit in strips thereby reducing the amount of turf consumed.  Maybe this is obvious but I'll point out that when you consume less turf, you leave behind more turf.  This means the next time you go out to hit golf balls on the practice tee, the more likely it is that you will find some nice turf.  In addition, the less turf consumed, the less time and money we spend repairing the damage which means more time and money we can use elsewhere to improve your golfing experience.   I understand that some people simply just don't know how to take divots properly. That's really the bottom line.  It's about education.  Again, if you haven't seen it, watch this video I made back when I had less gray hair......click HERE.  

Lastly I need to touch on something that I haven't spoke much about, but is of growing concern.  We all know Tacoma may have the best bunkering on the planet, but these bunkers are taking a beating, and it's caused by the golfers..............the one group of people that you would think "care" about the condition of the bunkers.  What I'm talking about is one very basic rule of bunker etiquette, but at Tacoma this simple rule is even more important.  The rule is "Enter and Exit the bunker properly".  

Check out this bunker face on #9 green.  Someone decided to enter the bunker or exit the bunker in this area and they collapsed the face of the bunker.  Now we have a condition which needs repair.  This kind of repair is something we do not have time for this time of year so it will just remain this way for quite some time.  The problem is that before this damage occurred we had a bunker face which released the golf ball properly.  Now we have a bunker face which may swallow up a golf ball and create an unplayable lie like in this picture.

This is a reality at Tacoma.  Our bunkers are true hazards and if you play here you will find that you need to deem the ball unplayable from time to time.  I call that golf.  It's much more interesting and exciting golf when the price of a bad shot can be very costly.  I can't stand the modern type of golf I see where being in a bunker is no penalty at all or even worse, being in a bunker is the better lie than not being in the bunker.   With that said, none of us want to deem our ball unplayable.  It is a very costly price to pay.  Missing a green by a few feet should simply mean that more often than not, your going to have to pull off a good recovery shot to make par.  I'm seeing more and more of this type of damage because people can't take that extra few seconds to use the low side of the bunker for entering and exiting.  Before you know it, the unplayable lie might become the norm.  None of us want that.  Please people, enter and exit properly!  Enter and exit at the low side of the bunker.

Project Update 12/30/16

The BPCI folks stayed very busy this week installing trusses and lastly today they even started putting sheets on the roof.  It's looking fantastic.  

My amazing staff pushed hard to finish the turfhound strip.  The foundation was backfilled with gravel.  The framing for the turf was installed and most of the turf has been put in place.

You can see there is still a lot of work to be done around the new turf strip.

A lot of turf has been removed in order to tie in the surrounding area with a nice gradual slope that can easily be maintained.

 With all the work on the practice tee and the performance center we have a lot of disturbed ground and it looks pretty much like a construction site at the moment.  I cant wait to get it all restored but unfortunately that will not be happening any time soon.  We have super cold weather coming so all the ground is going to freeze again which will delay work on this project. Meanwhile, your welcome to come out and try the new turf.  During cold, frozen periods, the new turf will probably be the most desirable place to practice.

Project Update 12-24-16

This week started with some wind and rain.  Unfortunately the greens were still frozen on Monday so the rain just puddled up and we had to keep the course closed.  It's times like this when we need to keep people off the greens.  I don't mind people playing the greens when they're frozen solid as long as there is no frost.  When the greens are partially thawed like they were on Monday, any kind of traffic on them can cause damage to the root system.

It was another very productive week by BPCI on the new ProShop.  All four walls are up on the expansion/retail area.  You can see now how many windows there will be on the front of the structure.  From inside there will be an awesome view of the first tee and practice area.

Out on the practice area you can see there is steady progress on the performance center. They've installed an infiltration trench and the underground pipe to move water from the downspouts. 

Nearby on the practice tee my team is moving forward rapidly with the installation of the foundation for the Turfhound strip.  By the end of next week we should be ready to back fill the area with gravel which will be heavily compacted and then essentially ready to go. Obviously there is still a lot of work to do around the foundation to tie it all in, but this thing is really looking good.  The Turfhound product is the best artificial turf surface.  If you want to know more about it, click HERE to go to their website.

Control is the Key

Many of you have noticed that we've been doing an awful lot of digging on the driving range tee lately.  What we're doing is digging up each sprinkler head and adding an additional sprinkler head.  Here's a good picture of what it looks like after the additional sprinkler head has been added.

So why do we need two sprinkler heads at each sprinkler head location?  I can answer that with one word "control".  Having control over where the water falls on the driving range tee is the key to good divot recovery and a luxury we've never had.  That's one of the reasons the practice tee looked like this last summer.

Of course last summer was a challenge like no other given the record dry, warm temperatures which meant difficult conditions for seedling survival, record numbers of rounds and excessive use of the practice tee.  My fear is that last years perfect storm could easily happen again this year and it may even be the new normal.  The bottom line is the condition of the tee was unacceptable last summer and the additional sprinkler heads will give us the control we need to make sure we never see that kind of condition again.  Let me explain.

The above image is an aerial view of the practice tee and those red dots represent the sprinkler heads.  The black circle represents the area watered by that sprinkler head.  All of the sprinkler heads water in a full circle pattern so as you can see each sprinkler covers a large area.   This is why it's so difficult to water the practice tee mid day without getting everyone wet.  If we don't water the repaired divots in the middle of a hot day, the seedlings will dry out and die.  If that happens then before you know it there is no grass on the practice tee.  

Now in this image you can see there is two red dots in that same location.  The additional red dot represents the new sprinkler and you can see that this sprinkler's area of coverage is half as big as the other sprinkler.  This type of sprinkler is called a "part circle" because it is adjustable to water less than a "full circle" sprinkler.  With these part circle sprinklers we now can water just the areas that need water without closing down the tee and hopefully avoid getting anyone wet  (honestly, one of you might still get wet).  That is what we call "control" and that will be the key to ensuring the best turf conditions possible on the practice tee.

The Range is Toast !

SPRINKLERS WILL BE RUNNING ON THE RANGE TEE FROM 2:30pm to 3:00pm EACH DAY THAT WE HAVE DAYTIME TEMPERATURES ABOVE 85!

THE RANGE TEE WILL NOT BE CLOSED BUT IF YOU CHOOSE TO HIT BALLS DURING THAT PERIOD, IT'S POSSIBLE THAT YOU WILL GET WET.

I'M SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHY THIS IS HAPPENING, THEN KEEP READING.

This is what the range tee looks like today.  Needless to say there is very little grass and the surface is very sandy.  We struggle with the range tee every summer but this is definitely the worst it's ever been.  This summer we have had more dry, hot days than has ever been recorded during any summer in our history.  That means there has been more use of the range tee and also more difficult growing conditions.  Warm weather is great for germinating seed and growing grass but in order to do those things well, you need water.  Watering the range tee only in the morning or at night is not adequate when every day is warmer than average.  Water needs to be applied mid day to minimize loss of existing grass and facilitate seed germination.  This is why we will be running sprinklers on the range tee during the day while we are experiencing this heat wave. 

 The daytime watering will definately help with the condition of the tee but like I said earlier, we always struggle with the range tee so there more to it than just water.  Here's a little history lesson to help understand our situation.  Above you see how the range tee was after it's construction in 1989.  We had two decks which provided a total of 30,000 square feet of hitting area.  That was adequate back in those days when everyone paid for each bucket of balls.  Golfers back then were satisfied with hitting a bucket of balls or just a few to warm up before their round.  That started to change in the early 90's.  A new generation of golfer was forming.  Golfers wanted to spend more time practicing.  In 1993, the Club changed to a range program where you payed a monthly fee and had unlimited use of the range.  Right away there was a problem with adequate space for this type of program.

 The solution was creative and economical.  The part of the range closest to the forward tee was simply mowed in such a way that it became a hitting area.  The image above shows the new configuration.  Now there was 45,000 square feet of hitting area which is what we have today. So now you know why that front deck is not level and so uneven. It's because it was never constructed as a deck and never intended to be a hitting area.  So anyway the added hitting area has made the range satisfactory most of the time.  But times have continued to change and now the membership is made up almost entirely of the new generation of golfer.  Our membership loves to practice and in fact many members are members because of the practice range.  So we have simply out grown the range tee once again and there is a need to increase the size of our hitting area.  That is something the Committee is exploring at this time.  In addition to more space, a new range tee would have a state of the art irrigation system with better control so that you can hit balls while we irrigate and not get wet.

In the mean time, please bare with us as we try and make our existing range tee work for you.