NEW !!!!! Swimming pool construction update at WVCC

There is a new blog that will show updated activity on the swimming pool construction and half way house.
The address is:
wvccpool.blogspot.com

Deep tine aeration in process!

Slow motion video of the deep tine aeration of the greens. Most greens get the 1\2" diameter, 10" long tine to break through any hard pan created by years of normal core aeration. A few of our greens will get the 3\4" wide tine treatment.

No swimming today!

Due to filter changes, the pool will be closed today!

Restroom on the golf course closed for the season

Happy Thanksgiving!
Frost delay this morning.

Thanks WVCC grounds staff for a great year!

Whitemarsh Valley Country Club's grounds staff had a very good year in 2015. Their hard work and dedication reflected on the quality conditions on the golf course. All of these workers have proven time and time again their value to the club. To show appreciation to each employee, they were  given a 20" carry-on suitcase with the Whitemarsh Valley CC logo embroidered. As you can see the smiles on their faces tell the whole story. A special shout out to Jerry Stockmal (senior asst. superintendent) checking out the tensile strength of the carry-on. And Jim Dennison (asst. superintendent) showing off his strength by pressing the suit case over his head.

Whitemarsh Valley CC is Golf Digest's #5 Remodel in 2015!

Congratulations to the members of WVCC for this honor from Golf Digest. Many years of preparation went into this project with he final result shown here in Golf Digest's list of top new courses and remodels. This is something everyone involved should be very proud of.

Practice approaches are closed for the season. Practice bunkers are still open.

With the cooler fall temperatures upon us, the rate of turf recovery has diminished dramatically. With this said, the green committee has recommended the closing the practice approaches for the remainder of the golf season. This will give the turf some time to partially heal before winter. The two practice bunkers will still remain open until the sand freezes.We thank you in advance for your understanding. 

Bridge to #5 fairway is now open!

Gary Farrer and Gabriel Tavera Alvarez inspect their bridge repair work. Special ordered 4x6x16 foot long pressure treated lumber was used for the repair. The easy access route to the teaching tee is now open for business.

Bridge below maintenance building is closed for repairs.

The large bridge below the maintenance building is temporarily closed for repairs. This is the bridge that get's you to the teaching tee. Please use the bridge at 6 tee or 4 tee to access that area.

Golf course now open!

Sunday October 18th, FROST DELAY this morning.

With temperatures this morning at 30 degrees, a frost has developed over the golf course. When the sun comes up it should start melting the icy coating. Golf course is on a delay until enough frost has melted enough not to cause turf damage.

After a wet, windy weekend.....The new 2015 Penacale Derby winners!

After grinding out a 44 on the 3rd nine, John Begley and Dan Boyce rebounded with a 29 to shock the frontrunners during the 2015 Penacale Derby.

 

Penacale Derby is on.......1 hour delay of tee times

It is not the best of conditions out there with 2.2" of rain falling yesterday. But the greens are firm and as the day goes on the rest of the course should also firm up.

Trying to live with nature.

As much as we work hand in hand with nature, I sometimes wonder why a fox who has 123 other acres to dig for food  must dig up some of our 3 acres of greens. !

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New tee open at #13!

Starting today the new tee is open on hole #13. The yellow tee markers have been placed on the tee, enjoy!

Golf course open today, all 18 holes. Carts on paths.

High nine to open at 11:30 with carts.

Golf course and range closed this morning.

Golf course closed this morning. Possible high nine later in the day.

AED installed in golf course restroom.

We have added a AED device to the restroom near the 16th & 12th greens. This along with the ones installed in the golf shop, men's locker house and main clubhouse will provide timely access if needed.

It is that time of year again!

Starting Monday August 17 greens aeration will begin. Weather permitting we hope to have all the greens aerated, sand topdressed and rolled by the end of the day Wednesday August 19th. Even though this activity is disruptive to the putting surfaces it is a vital procedure to promote and maintain turfgrass health on the greens.

The little things we can all do to help the golf course!

     With July behind us and the dog days of summer ahead of us, here are a few things that everyone can do to help the golf course.

Repair your “ball marks” on the green:

These unsightly blemishes are absolutely preventable and if every golfer just repaired their own ball mark, the greens would appear to be smoother and healthier.

Replace you divot on tees and fairways:

I understand that it is easier to reach over to your golf cart and grab some divot sand to use, but in reality a well replaced divot has a 10 time better chance for complete recovery than sand with seed mixed in.

Keeping your cart on the path at the green and tee area:

I would mention that it is extra helpful to keep all four tires on the path. Just by carts constantly running over the edges of the path will cause compaction and loss of turf.

Not making extremely sharp turns on the fairways:

This is the most preventable turf damage. The newer golf carts have a very tight turning radius, add that to a golfer checking a sprinkler head for yardage and we have turf damage. The fairways are cut at .390” and it does not take too much to bruise the turf, this type of damage will stick around a while.

Watch where you spray sunscreen and insect repellent:

The same ingredient that helps the product come out of the can and dry quickly on your skin will be the ingredient that kills the turf. When applying these products, please do so while standing on a cart path.

And finally………..be careful where you place your drinks:

There is nothing better than walking down a fairway on a warm sunny day with a cool beverage in your hand. The only problem is that you must put it down to hit your next shot or line up your next putt. I have seen many examples of spilled drinks on the golf course this year, and believe me it is long lasting. Damage has occurred on the 3^rd and 8^th greens and the 8th fairway, so please be mindful when enjoying that cold beverage.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parking carts at the range.

Please remember to park your cart at the turn-a-round circles behind the practice tee. We are planning to increase paved parking this fall, but until then please keep carts on the path. 

Play for Pink Invitational Today!

Please remember! Apply sprayable sunscreen while standing on a cart path.

This picture shows turf damage to the 11th fairway (actually 3 separate spots). The person applied spray on sunscreen or insect repellant while standing on the fairway turf. The ingredients that allow the product to be sprayed are the culprits for the damage. You may notice the green areas that look like the outline of two feet, this is where the person was standing so the spray was not able to settle on these two spots. So please remember to use the spray products in the locker rooms or while standing on a cart path.

Course closed today for member guest preparation .

Please! Be careful with your cart on the fairways....

This is turf damage from a golf who wanted to check the distance to the green. The person drove up to the sprinkler and made the sharpest & quickest turn they possibly could to get back to the ball. Please remember that golf is played on grass not blacktop.

Identifying Problem Greens

Sunday June 29th- 2.3" rain, Course Open, no carts.

I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at the golf course this morning. Since yesterday afternoon 2.3" of rain fell since and it was extremely heavy during the early evening hours. The golf course is open because the greens drained great overnight. The decision to install drainage in the greens 6 years ago continues to pay off day after day.

Spilled drinks CAN kill turf!

Please be careful when you have drinks on the golf course (especially alcoholic). Any spills will damage the turf which would takes weeks to recover. Place bottles, cans and glasses off the greens, fairways and tees while hitting your next shot. Thank you!

Fairway topdressing today.

We will be topdressing with straight sand the fairways today and tomorrow. By doing this, the sand over time can improve the soil (many applications), help aide in reducing thatch and smooth the surface. We will apply approximately 10 tons per acre, which sounds like a lot but really is not. That would provide maybe a 1/8" layer of sand. This rate is the maximum we would apply during this time of the season, the cooler temperature in the spring and fall would allow us to apply more for a thicker layer. We are planning for another application in October.

Staff photo 2015

We gave it our best shot!

The hybrid Bermudagrass experience has run it's course after two years. This grass could not tolerate the worst two winter's in recent memory. WVCC's membership has been very patient in the spring of both 2014 and 2015 but the timing of regrowth was not in concert with usage demand.
This spring we even tried to overseed the practice approaches with perennial ryegrass to act as a nursery cover while the Bermudagrass  established again. But as of this date, we decided to move in a different direction. The 30,000 square foot practice tee was sodded with Kentucky Bluegrass and today we are laying 15,000 square feet of Bentgrass to the larger area of the practice approach.
The practice tee is open for play today but the newly sodded area of the approach will have to wait a couple of weeks to open.

Traffic control!

In an effort to reduce the amount of yellow stakes and rope on the golf course, we  instead went with the green and white post placed along the path. As this picture illustrates there may be some spots that "scream out" yellow stakes and rope. We will monitor this situation and adjust as needed. 

Total team effort when aerating fairways.

The process of aerating and then cleaning up the fairways is a very time consuming task. The actual time it takes just to punch the holes into turf is a small part of the job. After the fairway is aerated the cores must dry out.....but not too much. There is a fine line between a core that breaks up easily and one that is as hard as a brick. A tractor with a large steel mat does a great job breaking up the cores. Then a tractor mounted blower will concentrate the organic matter into piles which are then picked up by hand. the area will be blown off again to create additional piles of debris. When these are also picked up, the entire fairway is blown off and rolled with water filled rollers to tighten the turf.

Last fairway aerated for spring of 2015!

This shows the 18th fairway during the aeration process. After the plugs are dragged and blown into piles, they are picked up and removed. When the fairway is clean of organic debris it will then be rolled, watered and ready for play.

Cold morning predicted for Saturday !

Temperatures at or below 30 degrees are predicted for Saturday morning. If the ground is frozen rather than just frost we may decide not to cut greens that day. Being that cold, green speeds may not be effected.

New restroom open!

When you are over 110 years old....you get some special attention.

A tree crew was in to safety prune and even out branching on this Red Oak by the 1st tee. This tree is one of two remaining trees that lined the driveway to the estate home of George C. Thomas jr
that became the original clubhouse for Whitemarsh Valley CC.
With a clubhouse and concrete on one side and the 1st tee on the other, it is a tough balancing act between turf condition and tree health.

WVCC will have a restroom on the golf course in 2015.

This picture shows the base installation of the new restroom facility for the golf course. After the base section is secured, the top section will be attached. This facility is waterless but will provide upscale look and feel for those in need. After installation the surrounding area will be tastefully landscaped to screen the view of the structure.  

Is this really March! And remember, only 5 days until the breakfast tournament.

This was the view we had on Friday March 20th. The golf course was open during the week and we were able to get carts out also. But.......with this snow event it has pushed back our efforts a little bit. Hopefully by the end of the week all the snow will be melted and we can start the 2015 golf season!

Thursdays slush removal.

A day after the initial clearing and we are making headway. The snow and slush are now being tossed over the ridge line around the green so this melted snow does not drain back onto the green.

Helping out #11 green.

Doug Miller, Jerry Stockmal and John Fleming using plastic snow shovels to help clear the snow and ice from the 11th green. This green slopes towards the north so it does not benefit from the direct exposure to the sun. Every day the snow and ice melts on the back of the green and runs down the front to drain. The problem is that every evening that same water draining down the green and freezes on the green surface. This will go on day after day until all the snow has melted on the back of the green. Each day in the afternoon our guys encourages this process by moving the slush off the sides of the green. This will reduce the total amount of water melting onto the green and hopefully hasten it's opening.

Remember: just 23 days until the breakfast tournament

Members of Whitemarsh Valley CC only!

I have just uncovered 18 embroidered Whitemarsh Valley CC, 2011 Member guest flags. These flags were embroidered with the wrong WVCC logo. When I requested that they make me 18 flags with the proper logo.....they let me keep these at no charge!
If any WVCC member (only) would like to have one of these for free, please contact me at my office or stop by and pick one up. There is a limited quantity so when they are gone.......you know the story.

Fore the Golfer: Use of a Stimpmeter

Only thing we need now is Arnold Palmer.

Bridge at #6 Jan.2015

Bridge at #6 with Arnold Palmer walking across. Guess what year it was?