A Friend Goes to Congress and Another Accepts a new Position

Wednesday, April 18, 2012 Environmental Efforts

Today is National Golf Day and our industry is presenting the values and improtance of golf to Congress in Washington DC.  Peter McDonough is a friend, colleague, and leader in environmental stewardship.  The Golf Course Superintendent at the Keswick Club in Charlottesville, Peter has a passion for the profession of the Golf Course Superintendent and has advocated the profession for many years.  Today, Peter represents our national association, the Golf Course Superintendent's Association of America, in front of Congress for National Golf Day.  Peter has led the charge nationally and especially in Virginia to grow the game of golf and to promote the environmental stewardship that our profession is so proud of.  Peter chaired the committee that created the 214 page book, Environmental Best Management Practices for Virginia's Golf Courses.  This book summarizes best management practices (BMPs) and provides details in accompanying recommendations specifically adapted for golf courses in Virginia with an emphasis on the protection of water quality.  Our industry is very proud to be represented by Peter in Washington for National Golf Day.

From left to right, Peter McDonough, Donna Johnson, President of the Virginia Agribusiness Council, Governor McDonnell, and Jeff Berg, Superintendent at Goose Creek Golf Club.  This picture was taken during the presentation of the Environmental Best Management Practices.

Another friend and colleague, Abby Bomboske, Director of Catering and Special Events, will be leaving Willow Oaks to pursue a new career with Capital One in McLean, Virginia.  Abby's last day was today and the club surprised her with a going away party.  Abby will be very hard to replace but in the interim, Edmund Mielck, the Clubhouse Manager, will be assuming the responsibilities of the position.  Please join us in wishing Abby Bomboske the best of luck with her new career.

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Birdhouses, Root Depths, and the Start of Spring

Saturday, March 03, 2012 Environmental Efforts, Putting Greens, River, Tree Work

I am coming back from a few days at our national conference and trade show.  16 Hours of Education and 8 hours of trade show make a guy long for home but I am grateful for the experience and education.  After touring the course today, it is obvious that the staff has been busy taking down the remaining trees involved in our 2012 course improvement projects.  This work will be completed on Monday.

I took some root zone depths on the greens and am pleased with the results.  Our current root depth is between 3 and 4 inches.  This is great all things considered and will no doubt improve over the next few months.  The greens are accepting balls well and putting conditions should improve over the next few weeks.  A golf ball is about 1.7 inches in diameter so the roots in this picture are almost 3.5 inches in depth.

You can see the roots coming out of the bottom of this profile.

We are always weary of flooding especially when channel 12 is advertising flood warnings.  The river has crested at 13.17 feet and is falling.  The golf course is in not current danger but pray for limited rainfall over the next week.

Click the graph for updated river information from NOAA.

You should notice some new and improved bluebird houses on the golf course.  These houses have been placed to not affect golf.  However, if you find yourself behind one, just like an irrigation satellite, please take relief.  The houses have been moved from trees to prevent predatory attacks on the bird nests.  You will notice the extra efforts taken to prevent predators from gaining access.  Some houses are still on trees to promote a variety of habitats.  Bat houses and Purple Martin houses are also in place to help with mosquitoes.  You should not notice the bat houses as they are well beyond the boundaries of the golf course.  Duck boxes will also be installed to promote a habitat for the Mallard ducks on the property.  Remember, ducks are great, geese are terrible.  Our assistant superintendent, Kevin Mark has done a great job, reformatting and championing our environmental effort of encouraging wildlife on the golf course.  Please contact Kevin at kmark@willowoakscc.org if you are interested in participating in a bird house monitoring program.

The ground underneath the Purple Martin boxes has been cleared of structure to encourage the birds to find the houses.  Purple Martin scouts should be out to find habitat.  These birds help with our mosquito population.

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Environmental Efforts and our Nutrient Management Plan

Wednesday, October 27, 2010 Environmental Efforts, Fertility

This year we created a Nutrient Management Plan (NMP) to help guide our fertility use and lower our impact on the environment and the Chesapeake Watershed in particular. Nutrient management planning is defined by the USDA as, “Managing the amount, source, placement, form and timing of the application of nutrients and soil amendments.”  Through the VT Extension service and a state grant, our NMP was completed by a certified planner for free.  A few of the steps that we took to become better stewards of our NMP were the more frequent use of organic fertilizers as well as fertilizer extenders and enhancers.  The organic products are all natural and provide a safe, efficient fertilizer source while also raising the organic matter in our soils.  Organic fertilizers naturally breakdown in the soil for a slow feed which reduces runoff as well as provide a constant boost of growth for our turf.  Better soils means better turf and more natural products will help reduce our footprint.  We have borrowed the fertility extender and enhancement products from our farming neighbors in agronomy.  These products have been reducing fertility inputs and runoff into bodies of water while increasing yields in farming for some time.  We utilized the fertility extension and enhancement products this year to provide great growing conditions while reducing the use of both Nitrogen and Phosphorus by 65%.  With our Nutrient Management Plan and these products we have been able to save money, improve turf quality, and reduce our environmental impact. 

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