Aeration Week

We are happy to have our two Invitational tournaments behind us, with the calendar now pointing us toward fall. There is a lot going on over the next few days, even while the course is closed. Aeration is upon us, and the maintenance team is grinding through the next couple of days to get everything done and headed in the right direction for recovery.

Here is what is going on and what you can expect.

Greens & Collars

Greens and collars have been heavily topdressed with 1 mm sand, then aerated with 3/4" solid tines and left to dry. It is imperative that the sand dries completely before the next steps can take place.

Once dry, the greens will be double-verticut, brushed to fill the aeration holes, blown, and rolled multiple times. They were fertilized Sunday morning before play to get the turf growing vigorously by midweek. The fertilizer and verticutting will help the turf grow through any excess sand and stimulate lateral growth to help everything fill in.

We will most likely roll the greens additional times this week in the afternoon after they have dried. Dew will make it nearly impossible to do much on the greens in the morning, as it causes the sand to move around. We want to keep as much of the applied sand in place as possible. Early rolling or mowing would remove sand and defeat the purpose of the process.

I doubt we will be able to mow the greens before next Monday, but one never knows. The 7th green received a slightly different process. It was cored with 1/2" coring tines, dragged, and blown. It was then lightly topdressed to fill the remaining holes. This new green has some additional thatch due to the normal grow-in process. Using coring tines helps eliminate the development of a black layer and other future agronomic problems.

Tees

Tees are being cored with 5/8" coring tines. The plugs will be left to dry, then picked up and topdressed. Sand will be broomed in by hand, and the plugs will be utilized where possible.

Approaches

Approaches will also be cored with 5/8" coring tines and left to dry. Once dry, they will be dragged numerous times until the soil has been returned to the turf canopy. The remaining thatch will be cleaned up, and where possible, the approaches will be topdressed and brushed once dry.

Fairways

We will start picking away at the fairways over the next few weeks around play, as time permits. We will need a lot of water to help the turf recover from all of these holes, and we don't have a ton of water available at this point. A couple of days of natural rain would be the magic elixir the course so badly needs.

What to Expect

Expect very slow and bumpy greens through the weekend. There will be dew on them in the morning, and they will be soft. THIS IS NOT THE BEST TIME TO BRING A GUEST.

Please fix your ball marks, because there will be a lot of them.

If things go as expected, the greens should begin to improve exponentially after their dry mow next Monday. A nice rain would be very helpful, but we all know what the chances of that are here in the desert.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we put the course in the best possible position heading into fall.

July - It's A Good Start

I originally wrote this blog post as it appeared the storm was pulling away with only 0.16 inches of rain. It has since reformed and we are currently up to 1.22 inches as of 7:35 pm and a final total of 1.4

This rain event was timely but will do little to drastically improve the drought conditions here on the island; but every little bit counts. We continued to fall farther behind in our annual rainfall totals last month, and with the water restrictions currently in place, every missed opportunity for meaningful rainfall hurts; this was a win.

Unfortunately, drought has become an all-too-familiar pattern over the past three years. Even Saturday’s storm dropped nearly half an inch of rain in Rockport while we received the big “zero.” We’ve done an excellent job holding things together, but the lack of rain late last week proved to be the tipping point. Add four straight days of temperatures in the mid- to upper 90s, a full tee sheet every day, and constant cart traffic, and turf damage becomes unavoidable. The course has taken a beating.

After a great deal of discussion and consideration, we’ve made the difficult decision to move to cart path only until conditions improve. This is not a decision we ever take lightly. Many of you had already suggested it last week, and believe me, I was hoping Mother Nature would give us the rain we desperately needed, we've gotten some but the course needs a little break from the traffic. Hopefully this rain event will make this a very brief stint until some of the very beat areas have a chance to recover. 

Below are just a few examples of the damage that has developed over the last several days.

Many people assume that because we’re watering, the turf should be fine. The reality is much different. Golf course irrigation systems are designed to supplement rainfall—not replace it. Unless a course has access to an unlimited supply of high-quality water, irrigation alone simply cannot duplicate what a soaking rain accomplishes.

Right now, we’re able to keep the surface damp, but very little moisture is reaching the root zone where the plants actually need it. Much of the water is staying in the top inch of the soil profile while deeper soils continue to dry out.

This is one of the reasons we aerate so frequently. Aeration helps relieve compaction, reduce thatch, and create pathways for water to move deeper into the soil where it can benefit the root system.

The rocky areas are especially vulnerable. Rocks absorb heat throughout the day and continue releasing it overnight, creating extremely stressful conditions for turf. Areas with excessive thatch, made worse by three consecutive dry seasons, are also becoming hydrophobic, meaning they actually begin to repel water. Even with surfactants, hand watering, and heavier irrigation cycles, some of these areas simply refuse to rewet.

The result is what you’re beginning to see across the golf course—localized browning and turf stress despite our best efforts.

The following photos show damage that has developed over just the past two days. Even with increased watering, cart traffic, pull carts, and in some locations even foot traffic, are leaving visible marks. While the pull cart shown should not have crossed a tee, that isn’t really the point. The turf has become so stressed that almost any traffic is capable of causing damage.

Over the next couple of days, we’ll be punching small holes in the driest tee areas before soaking them with hoses in an effort to get water deeper into the soil profile. We’ll also try to do the same in the highest-profile fairway areas as time allows.

We spiked the greens last week and are repeating that process again today while the course is relatively quiet. Every little bit helps improve water infiltration, and right now every advantage matters.

As always, we appreciate everyone’s patience, understanding, and cooperation. We all want the golf course looking its best, and we’re doing everything we can with the conditions we’ve been given. Hopefully Mother Nature will eventually do her part.

June Update

It looks like we’ve finally made it over the hump and into some warmer weather—for the most part. Recent rain events have given the course a little boost that we haven’t seen in almost two years. The droughts of 2024 and 2025 are behind us—now we’re dealing with the drought of 2026.

Believe it or not, drought conditions are actually worse right now than they were last summer. We are currently in a Critical Drought. Keep in mind that spring is typically our wet season, yet we received very little rain in April and May. Every month that passes with below-normal precipitation puts us further behind, and the only way to catch up is through months with above-average rainfall—not just a half-inch rain event here and there.

The color of the grass, the leaves on the trees, and the appearance of flowers are not what determine drought levels. Instead, drought conditions are assessed using factors such as reservoir levels, river and stream flow, groundwater supplies, soil moisture, and evapotranspiration. The map below was last updated on May 22. We’re waiting to see what the next update brings, but I doubt the 0.6 inches of rain we received last weekend was enough to significantly change our status.

What does this mean? It means we’ll need to continue paying close attention to our water use. As always, we will follow our Seasonal Demand Management Plan by reducing irrigation where possible, increasing hand watering, shutting off nonessential areas, and implementing other conservation measures. Fortunately, we haven’t used much water so far this season, so we remain in good shape. While rainy weekends may not be anyone’s favorite, they are helping us get through this challenging stretch.

As we move into June, we’re entering the heart of the season and the event calendar will begin filling up quickly. Play has increased significantly over the past week, and we’re already starting to see some of the common summer issues appear.

First, the dreaded unfixed ball marks are starting to rear their heads. Please take a moment to repair them. An unfixed ball mark can take weeks to heal under the best conditions, while a properly repaired ball mark can recover in less than 36 hours.

Second, please rake the bunker after you’re finished. Our bunkers are not raked every day, so if you’re playing late in the afternoon, don’t assume that because nobody is behind you on the tee sheet there’s no need to rake. You may have tomorrow's entire tee sheet playing behind you.

Lastly, remember to keep carts and golf bags in appropriate areas. Having a handicap flag does not mean you should drive up and park on the collar of a green.

Thank you for your help. If everyone does their part and takes pride in the course, it makes Bass Rocks that much better for everyone.

Finally, I’d like to talk about the 7th hole. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback so far, which is great to hear. It’s important to remember that this is a completely new hole and will require a different approach. Aggressive shots at the green may now come with some harsher penalties, so keep the long grass and the possibility of a lost ball in mind when choosing your strategy.

Another topic that has come up is flag color. The old green featured an upper and lower shelf, so we primarily used yellow and white flags to indicate which section the hole location was on. The new green is wide but not very deep and includes more prominent surrounding features. As a result, we’ll be using a more traditional approach to flag color placement.

As with any green, there will always be some hole locations that fall into a gray area. Fortunately, modern golf provides plenty of tools to help, including GPS-equipped carts, sprinkler head yardages, and rangefinders that can provide exact distances. Below is a general guide to what you can expect to see.

The 7th Green

Ok, so it is OPEN for use- earlier than expected. I have a few comments and requests. This is a new green, it cannot take extra traffic, especially foot traffic with spiked shoes. It is also very exposed to the wind and direct sun all day so it will need extra TLC.  Enjoy; its still tough but now its fair.

1. Please don't use it as a practice green, hitting 10 putts to learn it from all angles. It can't handle the extra traffic right now. 

2. Please don't hit a bunch of shots into the green- we don't want the fairway to look like a practice area.. Don't be that person.

3. If your ball lands on the current temporary, TAKE A DROP. We may need to utilize it here and there, especially if the new green starts getting beat from too much play. 

4. Follow the cart traffic signs. They will take you to the new back tee if you have trouble accessing the green.

5. Please fix your ball marks.

6. See number 1.

7. See number 2. 

8. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE! 

We would like to keep it open but there may be a day here and there on a Monday where it will need some extra attention. New greens that get pushed with nitrogen to fill in create a heavy organic layer below the surface that needs to be removed a little at a time over the first year or two. I will work to try and do this with very small "Emperor Tines" to limit the impact on putting quality. 

And We're Off

We are opening the greens and tees today, (or tomorrow depending on when you read this) with the exception of the 7th green, which will remain temporary. Thank you for your patience. It was a long winter, and the extremely cold temperatures over the last few weeks kept us behind schedule on our project work. However, we are now up to speed and ready for you to get out on the course. Reminder — its only April!

Country Golf and I were here all weekend getting sod laid and watered on holes 3, 7, 11, and 13, as well as the lesson tee. Sand is going into the new bunkers today before we rope those areas off. Now we need to keep the grass moist and warm so it can establish roots; our current soil temperatures are 38°. We’ll install the remaining course accessories over the next couple of days and then work to get traffic control in place shortly after. Once those measures are in place, we will begin allowing carts out on the course. I’m hoping that will happen by the weekend.

The team removed the covers from the greens for good last Monday, in record time. Conditions look solid. The aeration holes from a few weeks ago are mostly healed and should be fully ready once we get some warm weather and rain. A warm rain would be especially beneficial, both for the greens and the newly laid sod. All short surfaces have been mowed, and the greens have been rolled numerous times to help smooth them after equipment use. The shock of removing the covers, combined with cold nights, will slow both growth and healing. Fertilizing for quick recovery or growth at this point is largely ineffective—most products don’t perform well in cold temperatures, and forcing growth now is not in the plant’s best interest.

The next few weeks are among the busiest of the year for us. Much of our success in managing pests—including weeds, insects, and fungi—depends on applications made in the last couple of weeks of April and the first two weeks of May. Grassy weeds like crabgrass are controlled with one type of product, while broadleaf weeds such as dandelions, clover, and plantains require others. Timing is everything. Preventative fungicide and insect control applications are also scheduled during this period. A significant amount of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) goes into the next month, including scouting for pests and monitoring historically high-pressure areas. Each section of the course is treated differently based on mowing height, using different products, rates, and combinations. Areas are categorized into greens, tees, approaches, fairways, roughs, native areas, and green and tee surrounds. As you can imagine, this process is very time-intensive.

Homeowner Tip: Make sure you read the label. Some products, such as crabgrass preventatives, need to be watered in, while post-emergent granular crabgrass applications must remain on the leaf and be applied when there is dew. Granular broadleaf weed products should be applied to dewy turf and not watered in, while sprayable products often work better for broadleaf weeds. There are many different formulations for nearly every product on the market, but the most important rule is to FOLLOW THE LABEL. Everything you need is there—read it and follow the directions.

Project Work:

The work areas on holes 3, 11, and 13 will remain roped off until the sod establishes. It’s difficult to say exactly when these areas will be back in play, as weather will have a significant impact on how quickly they take. That said, I’ll open them as soon as possible. As mentioned earlier, a few warm rains and mild nights would greatly accelerate progress, but none appear likely in the coming week. My best estimate right now is sometime in early May, but only time will tell.

Please stay out of the work areas as much as possible. The sod will be kept very wet, which will make some areas quite soft. The subsoil underneath is very dry, and we need moisture to help everything bind together. If your ball comes to rest in a roped area, please retrieve it while minimizing foot traffic on the sod, and then take relief at the nearest point outside the ropes. 

I’ll continue to provide updates as conditions improve, but I wanted to share a quick post before opening  Here are some photos of the completed work

March 31 Update

We are getting closer but still the weather is giving us a jab. The cold nights, especially last weekend have continued to make things lag about 2-3 weeks behind. Believe it or not, there is still some snow out here. We will catch up over the next week or two but with April's long range "colder than normal" forecast definitely not enough to try and hit our normal target for opening the weekend of the 90th Masters. I'm guessing it will be sometime closer to the following week or in that general vicinity.

We've been bouncing back and forth between different tasks and projects to stay efficient and productive. The course has been cleaned up of most debris but for the massive amount of goose droppings. Yesterday's dry weather allowed us to drag all of the fairways and start that cleanup; we are through the 10th hole. It looks like the rest of the week will be wet; we will play it by ear from here. The greens with the exception of the new 7th have all been aerated, topdressed and rolled before being covered back up. Its been a busy week of taking covers off and putting them back on to perform work. We did our traditional 3/4 inch solid tine on most greens but pulled a core on 2,11 and 17. Eleven and 17 had a little extra organic matter that needed managing and I wanted to incorporate some additional organic material into the 2nd green. While 2 is a few years old it is still considered a new green. It takes a green between 5 and 7 years to really perform like a mature surface. The majority of other green surfaces look really solid; I do see some weak spots in the typical areas that hold water and don't surface drain the way you would want them to but nothing at this point that will keep them closed. All greens have been sprayed and the covers have been put back on. I would like to try and take advantage of the covers heat generating capabilities a little longer in order to speed up aeration healing. 

We've been picking away at some smaller and  larger projects, bringing a lot of material in and around the last week or so. I roughed in some mounding and new forward tees on holes 13 and 3 in accordance with the Enhancement Plan. Our architect Robert McNeil was out last week to go over some of the modifications and Country Golf got here on Friday to start the finish work. We are also reworking the surrounds of the 11th green, replacing some old bunkering, adding drainage as well as enhancing the bracing mounds on hole 13 and improving the play in area to the right and in front of the green. Robert will be back this afternoon to look at the roughed in bunkering on 11 and make a few tweaks before we try and finish it up. It usually comes together pretty quick once the majority of the material is moved around. We will add the irrigation to the new areas where needed once the finish raking is done and the sod is ready to be laid. I'm hoping to have all of these areas completed prior to opening the course. You'll definitely see things roped off from play but more on that once its done. We are also replacing some old drainage on the 9th hole and have discovered and replaced a little drainage by the 11th/rear 9th tees. 

We will get you out here as soon as possible. The goal is to get the course ready, hopefully have the aerated greens recuperate under the covers for a bit and give you an extended period of solid puttable surfaces until the end of August before we ruin them again! Ideally, you'll be enjoying smooth greens while most other clubs are closed and aerating for a few days later this spring. I'll do my best to keep you posted here on the blog and will have another coming around opening with some photos of the finished project work for those of you lucky enough to stay warm into April and May.

2026 St. Patrick's Day Update

What a winter! Snow that came in bunches and stayed around; snow that is finally going away begrudgingly. Apparently the groundhog knew what he was doing when he saw his shadow last month. Two storms this winter, one of which was a blizzard, dropped over 2 feet of snow here in Gloucester. Cleanup was slow and painful for everyone on Cape Ann. A number of trees went down across the course as well.

The winter included plenty of snow cleanup, some tree work, brush clearing, equipment maintenance and supply refurbishing. We finished the mound work on the 3rd hole and started some master plan projects on 3 and 13 until we got snowed out. We will continue these when the weather permits. 

Last week we were out on a few greens with the snow blowers and the loader to remove very heavy pockets of snow. Greens like 5,10,12 and 17 still had over two feet of snow on them. Greens 1 and 10 had 4-5 inches of water sitting on them under the snow- less than ideal. Our goal was to remove the snow to allow the water to vacate the surface. I am typically not a fan of removing snow, especially during the winter months but the trapped water paired with upcoming temperature swings is a recipe for damage. Our hope was to alleviate some of this and limit the water on the surface that encourages the plant to hydrate and wake up. 

The course still has a few pockets of snow after the brief cycling warmups and cool downs of the last week. We had about an inch of rain yesterday making the course a soggy mess and now we have the upcoming forecast of swinging temperature I previously mentioned. As of right now I feel pretty good about the turf conditions coming through the winter. March however is a very touchy month when it comes to winter damage. Wet conditions followed by prolonged temperature swings put the plant into limbo giving it mixed signals of "wake up" and "go to sleep". This rapidly decreases food stores and makes it susceptible to low temperature kill. Note the lows for the coming week plus.   

We are currently cleaning up the fallen trees and starting stick cleanup now that the course and dump are accessible.  There is a ridiculous and disgusting amount of goose poop on the course. Once things dry out we will attempt to drag it and blow it off. 

We are quite a bit behind schedule both in terms of tasks and plant development. For reference, a season ago we had already uncovered greens, aerated them and covered them back up as of last week. I don't see a window to do this any time soon with nighttime temperatures going into the 20s and even teens. There is still a fair amount of frost in the ground in places which won't come out until we get warmer nights  Our team will bounce around working where we can to prep the course, clean up debris and get some projects completed as we can. I wouldn't expect an early or typical opening this season as far as timing goes. The long range forecast could change and with that my opinion but I'm trying to be realistic.

We are looking forward to seeing you all back soon!

November Update

I thought I might just put together a quick update this morning as things start to wind down. We have a few things going on as we get through the next few weeks before we go to temporary greens in December. 

On Thursday we used our tiny Emperor Tines on the greens at 2.5 inch spacing to pop a little thatch and put down a light topdressing. The playability is basically the same. This will allow some gas exchange and aid in some late season thatch removal without any mechanical damage to the turf. We picked away at and have completed fairway aeration over the last couple weeks. We also core aerated our typically thatchy tees on holes 7,9, and 12 as well as the new tee on 8 and the new 7th approach. I also aerated the lower, wet portion of the 3rd fairway a second time and have been trying to work some sand into the thatch to help firm it up. This is a little bit of a test project that hopefully really improves playability on the first half of the hole. Most of the mounds on the left of 3 have been rough shaped, I have to bring material to the left of the green for that larger mound over the coming weeks as we get access from the hotel. I think these will really make this hole stand out and should fit in beautifully. Our architect Robert is also pleased with this so far. 

We started with the brush removal to the right of the 7th green and will move on to the corner on the left side when we are done. Our plan is to only remove the scrub brush below the tree canopy. The smaller trees will also remain with the exception of the large sumacs (weeds) that were on the immediate edge of the right bunker. Once the brush is removed we will grub out the area; I hope to hydroseed it next spring with a fescue mix that will give it a similar appearance and  playability of the area between 4 and 7. I cut the new 7th green for the last time on Saturday morning; all other surfaces were cut for the last time earlier last week so that's a wrap on that. Here are a couple photos of what she looks like; I am extremely pleased with where we are.

Tomorrow, Tuesday Nov 11 we have Sportscapes coming in to do our deep tine aeration on greens. I hope we don't have a long frost so they can get in and out. The compressor is coming Wednesday for us to blow out the irrigation system, the clubhouse system and the on course bathrooms. Leaf cleanup is ongoing but we are making great progress; most of what is left is the oaks which will hang on until the very end. We will be making our snow mold applications sometime in the coming weeks when the weather is cooperative and will begin covering on Monday, December 1 following Thanksgiving. Temporary greens will be available through the winter as always with the exception of the 2nd hole. There are a couple trees by the lower tennis courts that are dead as a doornail. I am planning on having Mayer Tree come in to remove them sometime over the next 2 weeks. We also have some that are hanging on but are fighting a losing battle to an invasive pest, the emerald ash borer. 

Jim is cranking it up in the shop. He has started breaking down reels in preparation for servicing bearings and sharpening both reels and bedknives. This will take him to Christmas and then the full service on everything else will start. We're getting a lot of orders in for service season, repair parts etc. I have much of my fertilizer, seed and chemical order put together already and certain items will be arriving next month through March. Using early order and payment saves us a decent chunk of money and allows us to stretch things next year. 

Enjoy the next couple of cold weeks while you can because winter WILL show up eventually. 

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 

7th hole Update and Drone Photos

The 7th hole is all but finished with 3 last loads of sod coming tomorrow morning, some cleanup work around the access roads and of course growing in the green. I'm waiting for the last few invoices to come in but my best estimate is that the project came in on budget and on time almost to the day.  Country Golf's main staff of Jim and Nick Deemer and I spent 12-15 hours a day for the last 3 weeks making sure we got things just right for what I think may be the best project we've done here at the club since I've been here. Rob McNeil's vision was spot on "Bass Rocks".  Thank you to the entire project team, my maintenance team, the Greens Committee and the Board Of Governors. 

We laid 3 truckloads of sod last week and the plugs we used for the green were spread on Friday. The heavy rains this weekend were perfect for both and we didn't have any significant washouts. The sod, plugs and seed will need to remain moist for the next few weeks. We've rolled the sod a few times in an effort to speed rooting and will be tending to the area regularly as you might assume.

Before I go any further, I realize its exciting but I would like to ask you ALL to stay off the sod and out of the area. It was a very frustrating day today with me having to ask at least 10 people to get off the sod. There are over 600 people that want to see what it looks like; not only is it wet and trying to root but you are wearing spikes. Now is not the time to walk past the signs and ignore the ropes; having to fix footprints and sod pieces that has been moved from walking on them shouldn't be necessary. 

Here are some pretty cool drone shots that we took on Friday and I've marked one  up with the location of the old green for reference

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7th hole Update

Here is just a few photos and renderings to update everyone on the progress with the 7th hole. As of this afternoon all of the greens drainage and bridging stone has been installed as well as all of the greens mix. The approach and surrounds drainage is almost complete with just a little remaining in the 3 bunker floors. Mound construction is almost done as well with just some plating and finishing left to put together. The cart path turnaround near the new tee for the 8th hole is still on the docket. 

We laid out the new irrigation heads and pipe routing this morning, those trenches will be dug tomorrow and the irrigation installation team from Tanto will be here on Saturday to install all valves, pipe and sprinkler heads. Once that is complete, we will be cleaning up the area, finishing up loam placement and do all of the finish work. Its still hard to say when each piece will happen after the weekend. Grassing, bunker sand installation will follow the finishing work.

Just a reminder that we will be harvesting cores from 15-18 and the chipping greens to plant the new green. This will require them to be closed for the greater portion of a day to be determined. Unfortunately, at this point we cannot tell you when that will happen but one thing is certain, it will be inconvenient for everyone. The September schedule leaves no room with outings, ladies days, member guests, men's day and of course Friday, Saturday and Sundays. We will be doing it on the first available day; you will know as soon as we know. Thanks again for your patience and most importantly your understanding.

I put together a couple of very rough renderings that depict what the hole will look like when completed. The new green makes the 7th hole play about 20 yards longer than the old hole and the new tee adds another 20 yards to 8 playing about 173 to the center of the 8th green. 

Aeration/7th hole

August 21, 2025

We started work on the 7th green on Monday and our "Fall" aeration of greens, tees and approaches is wrapping up today. We just finished applying sand to approaches, got another roll on greens and gave them their first mow this afternoon when the sand was dry. It has been a productive week for sure, even with the light misty rain we received yesterday totaling only 0.07". We are still continuing to miss the big hitting rain storm that we so greatly need while others around us even here on Cape Ann are getting a good drink; the deflector shields are real and they're up over the course. It happens to also be budget season so I'll be putting that together over the next few weeks for next year. August and September are probably the busiest time for our team as we also start to lose staff back to college and high school. 

Our college crew finished yesterday with us; special thanks to Aiden Doke, Drew Johnson and Jackson Colbert who will all be returning to their respective schools with an additional $400 from the Robert Porter Scholarship courtesy of the membership here at Bass Rocks. Thank you for supporting the team that we really rely on and best of luck to them this upcoming school season. 

As I mentioned, aeration is wrapping up; we utilized 3/4 inch solid tines on the greens and collars again this application with a solid dose of 1mm sand that was brushed in and rolled. Tees and approaches were cored or solid tined depending on the need for either and sand has been applied as necessary. I fertilized the greens on the Saturday morning of the Burke with 0.3 lb/1000 ft² of a soluble nitrogen product to get the turf growing vigorously this week. This will help the holes heal up faster and allow the grass to grow through any excess sand. This, and us raising heights to 1/8 of an inch will temporarily slow ball roll for roughly the next 10 days as they recover. Heights will be brought back down to our regular height once the sand has firmly settled into the turf canopy. You will notice that we did not aerate the chipping green or any of the greens in the meadows. Those greens are the ones we will be utilizing to plant the new 7th green; it didn't make sense to me to do them all 2 times in the same month with such an aggressive process so you'll enjoy those for the next few weeks until the green is ready to plant. Once 7 is ready we will need to harvest the plugs along with seed to start the grow in process. Unfortunately, I cannot give you a date for that as I don't exactly know when the green will be completed for planting.

So far the 7th green hasn't given me any surprises; everything under the surface, as of this morning is what I had expected and hoped for. We are encountering some boulders and some very cool ledge outcroppings that will make for a really interesting and challenging new green complex. Please resist the urge to enter the construction area for your safety and that of the contractors. People walking around are not only a distraction and a safety hazard but will also slow the process down. As expected, we are massaging the original plan, moving mounding, adding and subtracting bunkers and working with visual cues to place features in their proper places. The hole was laid out on Monday with our team which includes the architect Robert McNeil, myself and Jim Deemer, the incredibly talented shaper for Country Golf . We reconvened yesterday to assess our progress, make a few changes and rough in some more features. I expect we will do the same again on Friday as things really start to take shape and we get to the left side of the work area. I'll also be meeting with the irrigation team to lay that out on Friday and assess those costs. We harvested the sprinklers, valves and boxes for reuse from the old green and disconnected it from the irrigation system first thing this past Monday morning prior to ripping things up. I'm expecting the actual green construction process to start early next week with the drainage and gravel layers being the first order of business. The materials will be trucked into the sand bin storage area and hauled on site a small load at a time. Please realize there will be MANY loads of materials coming down the 12th and 3rd holes, behind the 11th green to the construction site. The construction team will have priority so please don't tee off of 3 or 12 when they are coming through. Also, be cognizant of them while you are putting on 11; this might be a great time to practice our putting with noise and distractions. As always, thank you for your patience and understanding. 

Things will really start to take shape and become more apparent in the next 3 days. Right now there are lots of stockpiled materials as we rough in features like bunkers, cart paths and obviously the green . Here are a few photos that won't mean much but might peak your interest. I may create another post after the weekend as the "piles" of dirt make it to their final destinations and the entire area has some form. It will still be difficult as its just a mass of brown but you'll start to get the idea.

June 27... Summertime!

Well this week officially made it summer on the calendar and with the weather. Last Friday gave us 84° with 36 mph winds that dried the place down to dust. The following days through Wednesday this week were highs of 83°, 91°, 85°, 99° and finally 88° on Wednesday. Tuesday was the most uncomfortable I've ever been on a golf course in 35 years; I think even Satan himself was hot. Kudos to all of the ladies and guests that roughed that weather to play in the member guest.

So much for a wet stretch. This really goes to show that a bunch of rainy days only provide so much to the course and all of that excess water doesn't do much for us when the ponds are full. We haven't had rain since Saturday June 14, and 13 days is a long time to go without it. We've been watering like mad especially with the heat and high evapotranspiration rates but its nearly impossible to keep up with that. I'm hoping for something this weekend to give us some help. You can see the wells are running and we are already pumping down the pond on 1. We lost about 3 inches of moisture to the wind, heat and plants in the last 13 days. In order to replace that we would need to use 4,000,000 gallons of water which is obviously MUCH more that what we even have in our ponds. It would be impossible to keep up with those temperatures regardless of the fact that we had a tournament going on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday this past week. As you can imagine, the turf needs a little drink in the form of at least a syringe and a big drink in spots that heat up to the unsafe temperatures. We will have to stay on them with hoses, rehydrate plants and give them a few days to recover from the stresses of heat, mowing, rolling and of course foot traffic from golfers.

We are, as always, being very stingy with our water as we need to make it through the rest of the season. Each heavy rainstorm is a blessing, especially for us with our limited resources. In the end, we are trying to give you a firm and fast playing golf course so some brown spots where rocks are less than an inch below the surface are going to burn out. If you want lush and green, Bass Rocks isn't the place for you unless its spring or fall. You'll see the maintenance team out with hoses conserving water and handwatering surrounds, fairway spots and obviously green areas trying to add to areas that need extra.

This week is also the optimal time for white grub control applications so if you are doing that at home the time is now through the July15th for preventative applications. The most common product on the market for homeowners and professionals is Merit (imidacloprid) which is also marketed under different branding. Look at the active ingredient on the label if you are buying it as GrubEx or something else; follow the label and put down the correct rate. Also pay attention to the watering requirements after your application and be cognizant of any restrictions like applying near water bodies. The label is the law.

This coming week is the 4th of July; that used to mean the course would be extra busy. These days EVERY day is like the old 4th of July or Memorial Day. The course is full of golfers on a regular basis. This means extra wear, more divots, ballmarks and bunker shots. We fill divots every single day first thing in the morning by a well trained, highly skilled and thorough professional (my son Charlie).  Ballmarks that are immediately repaired on the green will heal within 24 hours; an unrepaired ballmark will take 2 weeks to heal especially in the heat of the summer. Please fix your ballmarks, your playing partners ballmarks and remind your fellow members that this is basic golf etiquette. Raking your bunker after play is the same. We all know the old adage of "fix your ballmark and one other". Its all for the benefit of the course and those playing behind you. This is not just here at Bass Rocks, but it is getting worse everywhere and becoming a problem at almost every course. A superintendent's lament is when every golfer tells you they repair ballmarks yet there are 20 per green every single morning. Thanks for your help in this department. 

I wish you all a great weekend and upcoming week for the 4th of July holiday. God Bless America

Mid May

It has been raining and raining and I'm guessing the new drought monitor that comes out this week has us out of drought, at least here in Eastern Massachusetts but time will tell. The spring is usually a great time to grow grass, set yourself up for success for the season and try and recover from any issues you experienced last year or in the winter. Sometimes, especially here on Cape Ann, it can be a challenge. Gloucester sticks out into that cold ocean which keeps us much cooler than everywhere else; even a half a mile makes a big difference. This year has been nice though; its been in the 60s and even 70s a few times which is very atypical and much appreciated.

Regular rains have allowed us to get some banged up areas filled in. Areas like the rough get minimal fertilizer but spring is one of the times we feed them a good bit of nitrogen. We utilize a polymer coated, slow release product that gives us a little quick shot of nitrogen and a long slow feed that is released based on water and temperature. This allow us to give the turf a steady diet of what it needs through the summer months. The nitrogen provides the plant with the nutrients it needs to grow roots and shoots in preparation for the stresses of summer when roots shrink significantly and shoot growth is less. 

The negative side of all that growth, at least if you aren't a professional golfer, is that the rough is THICK and lush. The best tip I can give to any golfer playing in the spring is "hit it straight and keep it in the short grass". Its like this everywhere right now. The staff has gone around this week knocking back the fescue mounding to more reasonable lengths and has made a few cutline adjustments most notable is the mounding on the 17th hole. 

This past Monday we were closed for the entire day which allowed us to get some very small coring tines into the greens, remove a tiny bit of thatch, get some air in to help dry them out after last week's deluge and put a light dusting of sand. We also got a ton of grass cut, a couple sprays out and other odds and ends. We followed up with a light verticut on approaches to remove some thatch and will follow that up with some sand as well. The purpose of this cultural practice is to firm up the surfaces in front of the greens to allow balls to better feed onto the putting surfaces. We played around with the settings on the 14th hole which ended up being slightly more aggressive than I wanted. I also noticed that slicing side to side may grab your club a little so we adjusted to a different direction that is with the line of play to improve playability. 

We are working on creating a temporary green to be utilized for the 7th hole while the new is being constructed and is out of play. It will be circled in white and should be considered Ground Under Repair.  Please take a drop from this area. It will be continuously aerated and topdressed throughout the season to help it firm up before the height is slowly lowered. It won't be exactly like a green by any stretch of the imagination but we want to give you something better than just putting on fairway turf. 

The annual flowers will be going in the ground next week and I'm hoping the tennis patio will wrap up soon as well. We pulled out the old, unruly variety of hydrangeas that were planted in front of the ladies locker room and Cheryl installed a few different varieties along with some grasses that should neaten that area up. 

Our seasonal staff which is mostly comprised of college students and a couple of high schoolers are trickling in this week and next with the high schoolers helping out just on weekends right now. We are happy to have Jackson Colbert, Brooks Slingluff and Aiden Doke back from their first year of college. They look no worse for the wear and are ready to get back at it. We also have a couple new staff members in Chris Esposito and your own Drew Johnson. Please have patience as the greenheads learn the rules and protocols.