Storm Cleanup

The staff will spent most of the day today putting the course back in order after Saturday night's storm.  The blowers are out windrowing the leaves for the vacuum sweeper to pick them up.  Bunkers are having to be blown out and the sides pushed up as usual during heavy rain events.  Even though the construction work will be difficult, it will be GREAT to have new bunkers this fall so we can spend time on other areas of the course! 

Blowing twigs and leaves from bunkers.  The faces all must be pushed up with the bunker rake and then hand raked smooth for play.

Tom operating the leaf vacuum.  The area to the right was swept clean.  Time for the mower to get out there before the next rain comes in.

Storm update

The rolling of the greens helped smooth out most of the damage we experienced from last night's storm.  There are a few spots that left a smaller ball mark but overall we escaped a bullet from what I saw on the news last night.  Hail that can break through sky lights and car windows would have severely damaged our greens.  I think we will see some slight browning from the tips being damaged from the mark but no worse than normal ball marks.  After a few days of mowing and growing, the marks should go away.  We might have to spend some time repairing a few of the larger marks over the next couple of days.

The leaves had to have been raining down like confetti all over the golf course during the storm.  Should create no problems for the trees.  Most of them were fully leafed out so they should recover without any issues.  Very little damage from high wind.  Just a limb here and there.  Hopefully the rain will stay away long enough for us to  get the fairways blown off and some windrows leaves that were knocked off the trees.  We will mulch them with mowers as well as pick them up with our leaf vacuum.

Another 1.81" of rain from yesterday's three separate rain events.  Bunkers area a disaster again but were all pumped out today by about 1:30 p.m. for those adventuring out on the course.  #14 bunkers look great.  Just a very slight bit of erosion on the top side of the bunkers but overall in good shape.

You can see some of the marks on green #3 before they were rolled.  For the most part, the rolling smoothed over most of the damage from the hail.

Looking back toward #18 tee. Just a sample of some of the our leaf issues.  If you have trees in your yard and experienced some of the hail, you can look out onto your yard and imagine how many leaves were knocked off of the 1,000 or so trees we have between the fences on the property.  

Hail storm

We had a significant hail storm at Glen Echo on Saturday evening. Most of it appeared to be pea sized but some dime to nickel sized. Looks like 6 strikes per sq. ft. Over 600k strikes total. They will show some bruising over the next few days but overall will be okay.
Joe Wachter
Sent from my LG phonezve

Marvin Pierson Memorial Plaza Flame and Water Feature are operational

On Wednesday and Thursday, the Water and Fire Feature were installed as a part of the Marvin Pierson Memorial Plaza.  The fountain pool was filled and the fire was lit just before Mrs. Alberici completed her round.

We are nearly completed with the work in the ornamental beds which is the final piece in the puzzle.  Becky should complete this work next week.

A few views of the new feature.

 

13 blue tee and surrounding area

Last season #13 blue tee was rebuilt.  During the process the center to back of the tee was very soft and would not compact.  Due to time constraints, we had to lay the sod and proceed with opening the tee.  Over the last 9 months, the middle to rear of the tee settled a couple of inches.  The staff removed the sod yesterday, added additional soil and placed sod back on the tee.  In the interim, the tees will remain on the front of the teeing ground until the sod becomes fully rooted.  Also, the new Mickey Mouse bed has been completed, old walkway and ornamental bed was leveled and sodded with fescue.

Blue tee after some additional leveling.  The tee will be rolled early next week after the weekend rain.

The old ornamental bed at 13 tee after it was sodded.

Cool season tees core aerated

The cool season tees were core aerated yesterday.  The tees make up parts of holes 2, 3, 10, 11, 14 and 17.  Cool season tees from what I can tell have been used at times here at Glen Echo because of shade conditions.  Zoysia/bermuda do not grow well under low light conditions.  Cool season tees cost us more money to maintain because pest pressure and renovation including seeding must be ongoing during throughout the season.  The solution for this problem is to remove trees which is practical in some situations and not as practical in other situations.  

Once the aeration was complete, the tees were topdressed with sand and the sand was brushed into the holes.  We need to add some additional sand to fill the holes but overall the process went well.  The core aeration improves water penetration as well as water retention near the top few inches in the root zone.  Water moves away from the surface but will also sit in the aeration hole and slowly move down through the root zone profile.  It also improves gas exchange with O2 entering the soil and CO2 leaving the soil.  The sand topdressing gives an improved environment for root health in the holes and will improve surface drainage as we continue to place more sand on the surface and raise the level of the tee.  It also softens the surface allowing a tee to be placed into the ground with ease.  We core aerate tees in the spring and fall.

Tom Lewis aerating #10 tee.  We went to a depth of 3-3 1/2" in depth with a 1/2" tine. 

The drag attached to the aerator so it can drag the cores to the end of the tee .

Piles of plugs at the end of the tee ready for removal.

 

'Glen Echo Forever' Bunker Fundraiser a Success

We have met our goal of $ 162,000 for our Bunker Restoration Project.  Thanks to our membership for your cash donations, participation in the golf tournament, dinner/auction and the many items that were donated for the auctions.  Individuals who have not donated to the fund can still make a pledge by contracting Mary Martin.  If there is money left over after the bunker project is completed in the fall, the money will be utilized for additional improvements to the infrastructure of the golf course.

Thanks to our fundraising committee for their work as well as a special thanks to Rob Stewart COO for pulling everything together.  Thanks to Kevin and Adam for a fun day of golf, Chef Rob, Terry, Vince and the rest of the kitchen staff for a great meal and Reid and all of our wait staff for their efforts in taking care of everyone at the event.  Can't forget our administrative staff, Mary Martin Controller for helping to keep our money straight.  Also, Kim, Roland and our setup staff who had the house looking great!

WE HAVE A MOST GENEROUS MEMBERSHIP!!  

PGA Tour Professional Jay Williamson giving a clinic before the start of the tournament.

Jay explaining a swing thought.

From left right, Mr Jack Powers, Mr. Bob Goalby, and Mr. Jay Randolph reminiscing before the dinner auction about our great club and golf in general.