THE MAD POST

Submitted by Gary Ward, General Manager & C.O.O.

Project Update
I intended to provide a financial overview today but given the timing of receipt of invoices there’s nothing new to report. Once I receive the first invoice from Northgate Farms, which I had expected at the end of last week, I’ll provide a status update for you.
Last week was another busy week for both contractors and we achieved two important objectives;

1. To have Northgate Farms complete the bulk of the earthmoving and shaping work on #12, #17 and #6 by mid-August. #12 is ready to go already and #17 and #6 will both be ready within the next 7-10 days.
2. To have Atkinson Irrigation far enough along with mainline work on the back nine to be in position to install full irrigation to #12 by mid-August. #12 will start this week and irrigation around both #17 and #6 greens is planned for the next 7-10 days.

Getting irrigation to #12, #17 and #6 in August was the purpose of starting the project in July. The July start date heightened the odds of both contractors working in better weather, reducing the risk of the weather causing project delays. Thus far we’ve been fortunate and both teams are either slightly ahead of schedule or right on schedule.

Getting the project to this point in early August results in an earlier application of seed and sod. The earlier the seed and sod are applied, the better both will be established this summer and the sooner we open each work area next year.

Doug Carrick is back at the Club on Tuesday to flag out fairway and rough lines on #12 and make any further adjustments to shaping work in all three areas.

Submitted by Carl Penfold, Head Professional

The Civic Long Weekend has come and gone. It was great to see so many members continuing to enjoy the golf course…and the weather! Now that we are officially into the second half of the season, there is still lots for members to look forward to. This week alone, we have Ladies Member Member, Men’s Mad & Noisy, and the 9-Hole Divorce Open. To wrap up the month, we have added the Parent Junior on Sunday, August 24^th. Registration for this event is open, sign up through the event directory on the website. 

With the ongoing project, in this case, on hole #12, I wanted to remind members to use caution in the driveway, back shop area, and parking lot. We have increased traffic in this area as members re-route from #11, along the driveway, and back to #12. One member pointed out to me that they nearly hit a power cart that was driving too fast into the parking lot, before making the left turn to #12. It is important to remember that this is not normal, so please drive slower and pay attention.

I have also received some questions as to why there is a hose running from the clubhouse to the back shop building. This is a temporary solution while we wait for the irrigation to be turned on for hole #12. The old system is what provided the water to the back shop for cart cleaning, ball washing machine, etc. Once we have water restored, the hose will be removed.

This past weekend you may have been asked by a back shop employee to test a demo push cart. I picked up 3 different models from Kaddy-Lac last week. Kaddy-Lac is by far the most popular fleet cart on the market. If you have visited other private clubs, you have likely already used their Triton model. We have two versions of the Triton model at the club. One with black baskets, the other with green baskets. The only difference between these two carts is the handle height. For shorter players, or those that like a handle that sits lower, please ask to try the cart with the green basket. The model with the black baskets sits at the standard height. For those that test them, you will notice that the braking mechanism is much better than our current fleet cart. On top of all the great features, maybe the best part about the Kaddy-Lac, it is 100% Canadian made! If you do take a demo cart out, please send me an email, or stop by my office to provide feedback.

 
Submitted by Chad Vibert, Golf Course Superintendent

July has been extremely hot and dry, we have had under 10mm of rain for the entire month.  This summer season is reminiscent of the 2016 season which was also extremely dry, the only difference is this summer has been much hotter!! We would rather be on the drier side of things as we can always add more water, but cant take it away.  You will see some turf going off colour from time to time.  Keeping up with water requirements on the golf course has been difficult, but our team has been killing it, dragging hoses and sprinklers to keep up with the dry conditions!  It has made keeping up with sod almost impossible, we will likely lose some of the sod due to the extreme heat accompanied by the dry weather.

The driving range field will not be irrigated again until this weather pattern changes, we cannot keep up with its water requirements and simply must save the water for the golf course itself.  This along with the fact that many of the heads on the range just simply do not work anymore. 

This year is really showing the limitations of our old irrigation system, we are watering too much to try to irrigate dry areas, its very inefficient, causing us to use too much water nightly, and you can still see where we cannot reach with the poor irrigation coverage.  With our new system, we will be using much less water to irrigate specific areas.
​
This week is extremely important from a construction standpoint, we need to wrap up final shaping and greens construction, as we would like to get seed in the ground for next week, the earlier we can get seeded the better off we will be for next season.

Submitted by PA Irwin-Allen, Ladies Captain
 

Submitted by Colin Tyler, Men's Captain

With August officially underway, we are heading into a fantastic stretch of golf! While it feels like a lot has happened already, there is still plenty to look forward to over the next couple of months, starting with this week's Mad & Noisy!