Storm Clean Up Vol. 1

We finally were able to dig ourselves out to the golf course today.  With nearly a foot of snow on the golf course we were restricted to just our four wheel drive trucks.  My daughter and I took a tour of the golf course last weekend to see the extent of the damage, but with the amount of snow, I could not see the extent of the damage.

The crew jumped right in (no pun intended) and started cleaning up the course.  We had several large washouts that traveled across rough and fairways.  With the amount of water traveling across the grass had left behind a considerable amount of decomposed granite from the surrounding areas.  Some drains had been clogged and standing water was present.  The crew was able to quickly free the drains of debris and get the water draining well.

We have also have had trouble getting the geese to stay off of the course.  With limited access we could chase the geese off during the day but they are coming back in the evening.  Since we cannot get our equipment out on the course the geese have made quite a mess as you can imagine.  We will be on top of this issue and as soon as we can comfortably get the larger equipment on the course we will clean the fairways off.  Since the snow is slow to melt the geese congregate in small areas leaving a large mess in a small area.

The crew also took care of the trees that were victim to the storm.  We had one tree fall on the 16th hole, left hand side, across the path in the native.  The other tree that fell from the storm was on the left hand side of the 9th hole.  Both trees were blocking the cartpath.  The crew did a nice job today clearing the paths of snow and debris making the course accessible for cart traffic if anyone would like to tour the course and see not only the clean up we have done but also the snow covered fairways and green,

If you have any questions about the status of the golf course, feel free to contact me.

Justin C. Ruiz,

justinr@therimgolfclub.org

Golf Course Industry Cover Photo Shoot: Part 2

It is fair to say, without a great membership none of this would have been possible.  They used the members' divot and ballmark repair party as an example in this issue.  I can never say enough about our membership here at The Rim Golf Club.  This is why The Rim Community is ranked as one of the top residential communities in America. 

Storm Update Vol. 4

The storm has passed and we are left with nearly a foot of snow on the golf course. Before all the snow we had torrential rainfall that spread decomposed granite across some of the course. Once the snow melts we will have our work cut out for us with clean up. I have yet to see the bunkers and the status on how much erosion they have suffered. After the first day of the storm we had a couple wash outs but nothing major.

Road conditions on Rim Club drive are reasonable with the immediate plowing that took place. Our staff will clean the parking lot at the clubhouse and spa today. In the mornings the roads can still be icy from the melt off the evening before. It is still dropping to the low twenties at night.

I will keep you posted on the clean up progress, the upcoming storm and the course status. The forecast is calling for rain/snow on Wednesday this week. Be safe when traveling for the next few days. Sometimes that ice is hard to see. If you have any questions about the status of the course or our clean up efforts please contact me.

Justin C. Ruiz, CGCS
justinr@therimgolfclub.org

Storm Update Vol. 3

It is Saturday morning and everyone has woke up to 8-10" of snow.  What does this mean for the golf course?  We will be closed for a few days for sure.  It looks like rain or snow today and then clearing up next week.  Clear weather also means low temperatures overnight freezing any melted snow.

Here is the local weather camera:

WEATHER CAMERA

Here is the storm update:

STORM UPDATE

If you have any questions about the course or the storm you can contact me.

Justin C. Ruiz, CGCS
justinr@therimgolfclub.org

Storm Update Vol. 2

Overnight we have had some snow.  Here is the latest update for this massive winter storm.  Might want to think twice if you are planning on going anywhere this weekend.

STORM UPDATE

Here is the weather camera located in Payson.

WEATHER CAMERA

Storm Update Vol. 1

The storm that has hit the South West has proven to be large.  Rain and wind have been persistent and surface water runoff is huge.  When I was on the course this morning the rains had just begun.  Our drainage efforts were holding up and the course had little damage.  Looking at 60' trees swaying in the wind over my flooded backyard has made me come to the realization that we will have our work cut out for us when this storm finally ends.

Here is the local storm update.

STORM UPDATE Thursday 1/21/10

Large Storm Coming to The Rim Golf Club

I am sure you have seen the news about the storm prediction that will be in Payson tomorrow.  I have heard that they are calling for 6-9 inches of rain in Payson and in the higher elevations up to 6 feet of snow.  It is pretty amazing to hear such predictions but our staff is going to take proper precautions if we do indeed sustain the heavy rains they are forecasting.

We will make sure all the drainage on the golf course is clear of debris and working properly.  We are going to check the culverts that move water under the golf course from outlying areas to make sure they are clear and able to accept water properly. Large amounts of rain in a short period of time will cause run off issues.  Depending on the severity of rain we will be diligent on cleaning the property up quickly after any washouts take place.  We are also going to check our perimeter fence after the storm to ensure we have not had any damage to the fence.

In the three years I have been in The Rim Country and the five years I have been in the Valley this is by far the largest storm that I have seen forecasted.  The moisture is definitely a plus for our state.  After a dry year the reservoirs may begin to fill up.

If you have any questions about the upcoming storm and how we are preparing the golf course please contact me.

Justin C. Ruiz, CGCS
justinr@therimgolfclub.org

GreenGolfUSA

The IPM tool that Green Golf USA offers is free to anyone who would like to try it. The website is quick and easy to navigate and in a short time you are up and running and ready to create a custom IPM program for your course. The IPM tool is constantly getting updated and soon to be an option on the tool is anticipating pests using growing degree days. I would recommend that you try this tool out if your are interested in impressing the members at your next greens committee meeting and helping you to better manage your property.

I did a quick run through and entered the information onto the Green Golf USA template. It took me around an hour and a half to enter all the info. I was surprised at how easy the tool used drop down menus to select information. I created my own IPM program a few years ago and the amount of time I spent collecting information and writing the program took weeks. The best part of the program is that it takes into account all aspects of golf course maintenance. I focused on mainly pests when I did it on my own while the tool covered the details about the maintenance building, wash area, chemical storage and clubhouse.

The program was simple to follow and I enjoyed the fact that you could pick from a list of insects, diseases, weeds that were important for your course. I felt that this made the process very quick and easy to produce a report that was custom to our course. A program like this is perfect timing for the green revolution. It will make a great tool for superintendents that may be overwhelmed when thinking about creating a program for their course.

I could not believe that after I did minimal data entry the tool produced a professional 40 page report. The report included all the filler explaining IPM and the golf course areas, usually the busy work involved and used the critical data that I entered when needed. I was quickly contacted after completion of the report by Tom and he was very receptive to any comments and offered any additional information from our program could be incorporated for a small fee for the data entry. The cost of a consultant to create a professional IPM program like I created on Green Golf USA could cost thousands and take valuable time, but I was able to create it for free and it took a minimal amount of time.

I look forward to working with the BMP generator next for our water conservation program. It is very relieving to see that something has finally been made to make IPM more attainable to the superintendent and invoke more responsible management practices.

If you have any comments please contact me.

Justin C. Ruiz, CGCS
justinr@therimgolfclub.org