Thursday, December 31, 2009

Changes Over Time

In my tenure here at CCCP over the last 15 years I have seen a lot of change for the good and some not so good. The golf course has matured nicely over time with the growth of the Ponderosa Pines and Scrub Oak. The real estate component of the development has also moved along nicely until the last few years. It has always been known that the construction of home sites adjacent to the golf course was the plan all along, but some of these sites will have a lasting effect on both the aesthetics and agronomic health of the golf course.

As the trees have grown over the years they have helped with screening some of the homes that are adjacent to the golf course property. This is good, but a problem that is beginning to show up now is the fact that some of these trees are now causing shade issues on the course. This effects us in two different ways, the first being additional frost delays in the fall and secondly shadows causing prolonged snow cover to areas on the golf course.

In years past prior to home development we were able to trim and even remove some of the trees the were causing problems on the golf course. This is no longer the case and we have begun making changes to our winter snow removal based on this developing problem.

Previously we would routinely remove snow from five of our green complexes and now we will be adding at least one more to the mix. After all is said and done we could be removing snow from as many as half of our greens throughout the winter. This is a lot of effort to go to, but it is well worth it come spring time when the greens come out in better condition than if nothing was done at all.

0 comments: