Assistant Volunteers at Quail

Senior Assistant Superintendent at The Peninsula Club, Nick McLennan, volunteered at The Wells Fargo Championship 2019. He was able to assist Quail Hollow’s Golf Course Maintenance Department in preparing for the PGA tournament by walk mowing greens as well as maintaining the amazing, Fazio Bunkers.

Volunteers mostly came from the Southeast region of the United States, but others flew in from across the nation. One individual traveled by car from Ohio, never having worked on a golf course in his life, just to be a part of such a great event. Opportunities like this help The Peninsula Club management team learn new ways of improving our own cultural practices.

The Quail Hollow GCM team and the volunteers were able to turn out one of the best overall course conditions in the history of the tournament.

How to Put a Golf Course Out of Business

A short article on what golf courses can do to drive up costs of maintenance.

"How to Put a Golf Course out of Business"

April 2018 USGA Green Section Staff

"Sustainability is a term that gets used in the golf world a lot, but often without a clear meaning. Are we talking about environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, or both? What do these concepts really mean, and how are golf courses supposed to achieve them? While it may not always be easy to identify a clear path to achieve sustainability, it is easy to find examples of unsustainable practices that will ultimately lead most golf facilities down the road to ruin.
As golfers, we need to ask ourselves whether some of the playing conditions and amenities being offered are really necessary, especially when asking for them could push our favorite course into a slow spiral of steady decline. Here are a few examples from the highly dubious to-do list for making a golf course unsustainable:

• Strive to have the f astest greens possible for daily play. This will increase costs and make the game less fun for many players, but just think of the bragging rights.
• Post a Stimpmeter reading prominently near the first tee every day to reinforce the misconception that green speed is the one and only factor that determines putting green quality.
• Ignore the invisible. Only a fool spends good money for something and then buries it. If drainage and irrigation were really that important, they would be on prominent display like a new fountain in a pond.
• Always prioritize clubhouse improvements over golf course improvements. Never replace any maintenance equipment that still starts when the key is turned. Remember, golfers who foot the bill sit on barstools not rough mowers.
• Add flowers and course accessories to every available location. The view of an intricate course logo comprised of multi-colored annual flowers will always make golfers forget soft, bumpy greens. Who needs mowed roughs when you have a bench, trash can, ball washer, club cleaner, shoe cleaner and a solid oak chest of ice-cold water bottles next to each and every tee?
• Start a tree planting program and focus on areas near greens, tees and fairways. Pay no heed to any adverse effects tree roots or shade have on turf quality because bare ground and clogged drainage are a small price to pay
• Spend as much for bunker maintenance as putting green maintenance. Why should an area that players are trying to avoid have anything less than a perfect lie?  

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Perhaps the road to golf facility failure is paved with unsustainable practices and policies?"

Rain Continues...

Another day, another batch of rain. The incredible rain pattern from 2018 continues into 2019.

So far,year to date, the golf course has received over 23 inches of rain. For those of you keeping track that is 5 more inches than where we were last year at this time.

On a positive note the golf course is handling the transition very well and is greening up extremely fast. The staff is doing a great job getting the course prepped out in between rain events.

Thank You Nick!

Nick McLennan just completed his 5th year at The Peninsula Club. Nick has been the Senior Assistant Superintendent since 2015. We are thrilled to have Nick leading the team day in and day out. He is a great leader as well as a great team mate that the managers and staff respect. We are fortunate to have you.

Nick received his Bachelors degree from Purdue University and has worked at a range of prestigious clubs such as Long Cove, The Ford Plantation and Colleton River.

Thank you for all of your hard work!

Rain. Rain. Go Away...

As we move from winter to spring I am hopeful but guarded about what this unrelenting weather will bring.

In 2018, we received 60 inches of rainfall over 108 days; this year is not starting out much better. So far in 2019, we have had 21 days of rainfall totaling just under 14 inches. For those of you keeping track, Cornelius receives on average of 43 inches of rainfall per year.  From September 1, 2018 - February 28, 2019, (meteorological autumn and winter) the golf course has received over 33 inches of rainfall. According to Brad Panovich, WCNC Chief Meteorologist, no one alive has seen that much rainfall in Charlotte.  

This means the golf course has been saturated for the majority of the fall and winter months when the bermudagrass and zoysia are at their weakest state. As temperatures begin to warm up and the grass wakes up we will begin to see if these over-saturated conditions have increased our chances of winter kill or increased our spring disease pressure. Shaded areas, extremely wet areas and trafficked areas will be most susceptible to winterkill. 

#17 has seen its fair share of puddles this winter

Please obey all cart rules

We are asking all members to please follow all cart rules during this transition time especially with how wet we have been. As the grass awakens from its dormant state it is extremely susceptible to cart damage.

On a positive note, even with these wet days the GCM department have been busy, applying pre-emergent herbicides, installing drainage, updating irrigation heads with yardages to greens, spring application of fertilizer and chemicals to our specimen oak trees, updating many landscape beds on the course and around the clubhouse and continuing irrigation repairs.

Jared Nemitz