Turkey Season

November is coming, leaves are falling and its almost Turkey Shoot time. The weather this month has been great for grass with an almost weekly rain event,  warm days and some moderate nights. No frost delays as of yet at Bass Rocks but the sun is coming up much later and going down earlier. Its been a challenge the last few weeks getting out in the pitch dark with our smaller fall staff. I'd like to mention a few upcoming items as the season is coming closer to the end, mention a few items from this last year and look forward to next year.

One great question I was asked last week was about my staff and it was basically about the size and visibility of the maintenance staff. During peak season we run between 18-20 people, many if not most of them are part time staff comprised of high school and college kids as well as a couple retirees. They allow us to complete tasks early while the course is quiet. This is extremely efficient and  is a win/win for the club and the employees. We need them more in the morning and many of them don't want to work a full time job to enjoy their afternoons at the beach. Many of them punch out around 11am. After they go back to school, which is typically around Labor Day, our staff shrinks to 11-13 people depending on the way things shake out each year. The number of tasks actually increases as the fall goes on because leaves need to be blown off or picked up prior to mowing, outings and other course events are more plentiful, limiting on course maintenance time for the staff. The staffing decrease requires us to shift focus, prioritize tasks in a different manner and rework our typical regimen. We are now doing primary tasks then coming back around to complete secondary jobs. As you might imagine, doing this in the middle of play is more time consuming and I realize, at times, this may be inconvenient but I just want you to know we're doing our best to minimize disruption while still trying to do our jobs. As always, thanks for your understanding.

We still have a number of maintenance items to address over the coming weeks and months as the season starts wrapping up. Fairway aeration and approach verticutting are still on the docket; we plan on starting  next week by doing a few a day in house as weather and time permit. Please be aware of the staff and keep their safety in mind if you are playing and notice them out cleaning up. We will have Sportscapes Unlimited in to help us with some of the double fairways on November 18th and/or 19th and our annual deep tine aeration of greens is scheduled for November 11th. These are both contracted services. Deep tining gives us a long 9-10 inch solid tine hole with a "kick" that fractures the subsoil and aides in drainage during the winter, Greens will be rolled after but left open to allow water to exit the root zone. 

Multiple light sand topdressings will be made as mowing comes to a halt. The sand will help protect the putting surfaces from injury and aid in thatch reduction and green firmness. Frost will become a problem especially as it pertains to our ability to get out early and in front of play. November 12th is the day we've rented our compressor for irrigation blowout as well as winterization of the on course bathrooms, drinking water and pump stations. Our snow mold fungicide applications will be made as weather permits mid November and we will start covering greens and tees on December 1st. As always, temporary greens will be out there for you to play during the off season. 

The 7th green is coming along nicely, the roots are still very shallow but that is to be expected. I'm hoping for some decent spring weather to help us get the roots we need to open it as soon as possible and we will as soon as it is ready to handle the traffic. Thanks to Country Golf again for a great job making Robert McNeil's vision a reality. I think the Green Committee and the Board hit it out of the park with this project. 

Its been a busy year at the club with the patio installation, the 7th hole, some mound work we've started on the 3rd hole, a pond dredging feasibility study along with a few other things I know I am forgetting. I'm already excited for 2026 and will keep you posted with what is to come as we close out 2025. For now lets focus on Halloween candy and a Turkey Shoot that we know you'll enjoy. Kyle and Chris have been scheming up some things to give you all fits to close out the season.

Finally, I would also like to take the time to acknowledge all of the people on the maintenance team that make things go around. My assistants Kyle Franey and Chris Grady are two great men that truly care about the course and the club. Their tireless efforts and hard work cannot be appreciated enough. Jim Fox has things humming in the shop and keeps our reels sharp, equipment in top shape and has us all laughing with his silly one liners. To the main team of Chris Luke and our boys from EDA Jonny, Marcos, Jose, Hugo and Angel, thank you for offering to pick up extra weekend shifts with our busy schedule. These guys simply gets stuff done and they do it well, muchisimos gracias. The seasonal crew of Jim Doyle, Brady Sullivan, Charlie Donato, Aiden and Cole Doke, Ben Sperry, Jackson Colbert, Drew Johnson, Brooks Slingluff and Shawn Gildden who didn't get sent home early one time from rain this season; thanks for doing a lot of the little things that just need to get done to make things look good. Last but not least, Cheryl Bonin and Lorena from Plant Creations who make the flowers and perennials look better each and every year at the club.

October 9th Update

The season is chugging along, its hard to believe its almost mid October and Columbus Day is next week! We received 0.65" of much needed rain yesterday which should help perk things up and get us over the proverbial hump. The forecast for later this weekend and the holiday is pretty ugly with inches of rain and 50 plus mile per hour winds. I suspect Monday to be a wash and Tuesday may be as well. Expect some wind damage, flooding and a mess of leaves to affect your golf schedule but hope for the best. 

Fall is an extremely important time for turfgrass. Lower temperatures and reduced daylight tell the plant to start pushing roots and slow top growth. This switch tells the plant to get ready for the winter and our main turf type of poa annua is extremely sensitive to temperature swings. I think we will avoid a frost tomorrow with the warmer ocean temperatures but one never knows; if we do have one, there will be a delay. As always, pay attention to the tee sheet and prepare accordingly. I would suggest thinking about getting later tee times if you can moving forward. Walking on frosted turf can do severe damage or even kill turf. Please know its just as much as an inconvenience for the maintenance team as it is for the golfer, we have to bounce around much more and work where we can as frost comes off in order to get things done before golf. Frost may be off in one area of the course and still be on in others; I simply ask that you trust me and my team's judgement to get you out as quickly as possible.

Fertility is extremely important this time of year as well. We made our annual Polyon fertilizer application to fairways last week as well as some other fertilizer applications to roughs. I'm planning on continuing our spoon feeding regimen to greens until late October before making an application of SeaBlend to greens and tees. We will slowly begin raising cutting heights and reducing mowing frequency as we move through this month and I suspect we will cease mowing altogether sometime around Halloween. Weather will be the ultimate factor in my decision making process. 

We've come into some luck thanks to a friend and member, Mike D'Annolfo who gave us a really nice supply of beautiful sandy fill. We have started to move it onto the course, specifically on the 3rd hole. The photo illustrates the general areas where the native mounding will be created. We were planning on doing it this winter but the material is here and we need the space. Mounding is in the Enhancement plan for multiple areas on the left of the hole and behind the green. I flagged the areas for my staff under the direction of our architect and we'll be hauling when we have time around  our other tasks and of course the impending onslaught of leaves. 

The 7th green is starting to fill in and it looks good from a distance but its still VERY thin up close; the roots are only about 1/2 inch long where we have coverage. I am continuing to feed and topdress it regularly. It is currently being mowed almost daily at a higher height of 0.150"with a specially configured mower set up with solid front rollers. The rough sod has been mowed a couple of times and we are raking the bunkers weekly to keep weeds from germinating. I've taken the ropes down but the signs are still up so please continue to stay out of the area. I only wish I could keep the deer off the green and the coyotes from digging up the bunkers, they've had a few dance parties causing some minor damage. I'm still hoping that we will be able to use it some time mid June next season if things go according to plan. There is still a decent amount of tree thinning both to the right of the green and at the corner where the old irrigation box used to be. I've ordered the new yardage markers for the sprinklers as well. I suspect the hole will be re-rated at some point prior to opening but doubt the design changes and the added length on both 7 and 8 will really affect the rating much if at all. 

Really good from far...

Good from far...

Far from good and very bumpy