June 19, 2010

I thought that I'd share some pictures of the staff preparing the course for the 2010 Member Guest Tournament! Here goes!


Our mechanic, Don is probably the most important person in our department. It is his art and skill that keeps the equipment running, enabling us to care for the course. Here Don has a fairway mower on the lift, checking height of cut and adjusting the reels.


In this picture, Edgar paints the Greate Bay logo on the 1st tee.


It takes a lot of teamwork and communication behind the scenes to make things work so well! Bucky and I and our staffs are in constant communication, coordinating, and setting up the course.


The "little things" are the "biggest things"! Paying attention to detail is important! Here before the sunrise John gets ready to fill divots and check the greens for any unhealed ball marks.


Another detail is hand raking the green side bunkers. Here Denia rakes the bunker on 10.


On Saturday we triple cut the greens to increase the speed. Here four persons - Baldemero, Isabella, Edgar, and Max - converge on the 18th green to get it finished before play. Once again,its a lot of good teamwork that gets everything done!


After the greens are cut, they are rolled. Here Isidro rolls the 13th green.


Assistant Chris Lare paints the cup on #1 green. Weeks before the tournament, Bucky and Chris determine pin locations, and Chris supervises the staff so that these areas are "saved" for the tournament.


Chris uses a USGA stimpmeter to determine the consistency of the greens.


As soon as we can after the days last tee time, we begin mowing the tees, approaches, collars and fairways to prepare them for the next days play!


The fairway traps are also raked in the evening. Doing all this work in the evening allows the crew to concentrate wholly on preparing the greens in the morning.


Once again, its the "little things" that are the "big things". Here Isabella cools down a hot spot in the 5th rough. In the evening, three persons went hole by hole with hoses to care for the wilt, rather than turning on heads and softening up the course.


Although Ryan is not on our turf staff, he is part of our whole staff. I am always impressed with how he cares for the details...

I hope everyone had a GREATE Member / Guest Tournament! I know that our staff had a GREATE time preparing the course for everyone!