Jedd's Corner

Friday, May 24, 2024

Good morning- 

As the summer season is almost upon us, I'd like to remind everyone that you will encounter maintenance staff out hand watering greens. Please be patient and wait for us to complete a quick watering. Every year I ask members to be sure maintenance staff is completely clear of the green area before hitting your approach shot. Every year we have close calls because members are not honoring this request. Just the other day, I was coiling up a hose and I had a ball land within feet of me. We are putting record rounds through the golf course, and often we do not have a gap to work while watering. We will have to jump in front of groups from time to time. Please be patient! We are hand watering to provide you with the best conditions possible.

I have heard from many of you regarding the cart paths. I can assure you if there was a simple, inexpensive solution to fixing the paths repairs would have been made years ago. That simply is not the case. We are on the tail end of a couple significant, expensive upgrades to the club with the construction of the new maintenance building, equipment purchases and the pool renovation. Paving the cart paths is included in the capital plan moving forward. As you can imagine, excavating and paving five miles of cart paths is not an inexpensive endeavor. For now, we will go through all of the paths and thoroughly patch and repair all defects. 

I would like to thank Dave Bloniarz for his help with pruning the shrubbery around the clubhouse. Dave has taken time out of his extremely busy schedule to help get the shrubs back under control. We will work at replacing some of the shrubbery while saving what we can. Special thanks to DJ Dryer, Doug Dryer, Steve Blanchette, Michael DiClemente, Sean Kavanagh, Dave Smith, Karl Schuhlen and Sam Maroney for their help with filling in the old sand target greens on the driving range. Together they moved almost 100 yards of topsoil within a few hours. Unbelievable work!

Lastly, the golf course is incredibly busy. Cart traffic is causing some major wear issues at exit and entry points along fairways. If possible, scatter your traffic to help avoid these major wear areas. The native, fescue areas (tall grass) are going to look exceptional this year. Please do not drive through the tall grass with golf carts! Cart traffic mats down the fescue and it cannot recover. For the first time this year, we have had a divot taken off the fifth green. This was never a problem in the past. Over the last 3-4 years, we are seeing about five divots per year on greens. I know it can be a frustrating game, but it is not frustrating enough to warrant taking a divot off a putting surface. 

Thank you!   

Jedd Newsome, GCSAA

Golf Course Superintendent 

Springfield Country Club