Catch up

Finally some time (or so I thought) to catch up on the goings on at the club.  Obviously we are open and people are playing.  The original opening date for 9 holes (April 15th) was a flop weather wise but people managed to get some play in that week.  Opening 18 holes on April 22 isn't a record but if you go back and look at the posts for the last couple years it would be hard to dispute the fact that we are ahead of the game this year.

The biggest news for April is the huge amount of time put in by member volunteers.  People stepped up for the annual spring work bee and provided their time and energy to help get things ready for the season.

Raking Needles

Cleaning Up Trees

Group Repairing Holes in Netting

Cleaning out Flower Beds

Attempting to Finish 15 Tee

As documented by the pictures, this years volunteers tackled more than the just the traditional raking.

Weeks before the work bee some members donated their time, their expertise, and even materials to help repair and fix up some of the problem areas that needed immediate attention.

Dean P Working at Clubhouse

Kevin D and Dave W Repairing Half Way House Vandalism from Last Fall

Painting Benches

There is still lots of work being done by member volunteers even as regular play ramps up at KGC.  A group has taken on the task of painting many of the weathered looking accessories.  Sign posts, benches, fences and railings have been blitz by some of the same group pictured painting the deck tables.  Ted G. has also continued with his own pet project of painting yardage blocks on the tee's and fairways.

I can't find any reference to last years spring work bee in older blog posts.  That is a serious oversight on my behalf since they obviously bring so much benefit to the course and to me.  Aside from the from the actual work accomplished, I think the organized work bees and individual volunteer projects bring less tangible benefits such as fostering loyalty and commitment, creating the feeling of ownership/pride, and encouraging a sense of community and belonging.  I read somewhere that belonging is part of a hierarchy of human needs and people who are social live longer....O.K. maybe its a bit of a stretch to suggest volunteering at KGC will make you live longer but it can't hurt!

Annual Spring Photo and Projected Opening Date, 2013

This is what we got now:

April 1st

The past week has been nice and we are probably gaining ground every day.  Right now it looks like we could have 9ish holes sometime during the 3rd week in April and the driving range on ?????.  I've been on the course doing some early clean up and we'll keep at it for this week.  As mentioned in the past, we don't just wait for snow to go when deciding when to open for play.  The ground has to dry and, most importantly, the turf has to be growing.  I've babbled on about the importance of soil temperatures before (go HERE) when it comes to turf growth/recovery in the spring and this year soils temps seem warmer.  This pict really shows the importance of soil temps.

1 Green, April 1st

On Thursday I pulled the tarp on #1 to uncover the sunny side (i.e. the left side) of the green but kept a portion of the shady side covered (look back to the previous post to see what the green looked like a week ago).  The Easter weekend was great with highs in the mid-teens and lows around -6 ish.  Just three days of being covered propelled the shady side of the green past the rest the green.  I wasn't smart enough to have thermometer with me but I will definitely check tomorrow.

I've long given up on getting everything pretty for opening day.  Even with volunteer clean ups I need experienced employees in well before opening to get everything ready.  This years budget has staff starting later as well so we'll be doing more with players which, no offence, drags out any process.  As usual, I ask and hope you'll be understanding and patient.