News

By the time you read this article, the golf season will be under way!

In 2024, we opened one of the courses by February 27, and in 2025, one will be opening on March 14. Both dates are ahead of a normal course opening. By the looks of the forecast, we probably won't be playing golf everyday going forward but will be able to accommodate several play days. One week ago, I didn’t believe we’d be able to open this quickly due to the amount of snow on the ground and frost in the ground. It’s been amazing how fast everything is changing. Last week we could hardly drive on any turf areas due to them being soft and greasy. This week has been a new story. Certainly, the sunshine and wind made a huge difference—plus warmer temperatures.

The courses came through the winter in fine fashion. There are a few areas of snow mold and winter fungus on some fairways but it’s no big deal; the turf will grow out of that rather quickly. We have some mice damage on the 11th fairway of the Ridge course (at the far end of the landing zone down the right side of the fairway). The worst damage that hit over the winter is no. 1 Ridge green (some ice or low temperature injury). Hopefully as the soil warms up, most of the setback areas will recover without needing any sod work done. With freeze thaw cycles in the winter, it’s always a guess as to how all the playing turf areas are surviving. The main area of concern is always the greens because of the shorter turf and less thatch for protection. The sand greens also perform differently than the native soil tees and fairways.

You will see some bridge work that has been done over the winter months; this is not going to be totally tied in until we can get some black top paving completed. The bridges of note are no. 13 Valley and Ridge nos. 2 and 4, which each had a major overhaul done to them from the ground up to the top surface. Other bridges have just received a few new boards on the top decking area and will get a more extensive replacement in the near future. Another part of our golf course master plan is to upgrade all of the bridges—a project that’s about half way completed right now.

Another change you’ll notice is the large white oak tree on no. 4 Valley had to be cut down. If you’ve been watching this tree, it has been struggling for the past several years and we finally had to remove it as a safety precaution. We also lost a white oak on the right side of no. 18 Ridge fairway. This tree looked great a year ago, but by the end of last summer, it was totally dead. It had actually been treated a year ago for health purposes by Bartlett Tree Services to keep it healthy.

This coming fall, beginning at the end of September or start of October, the irrigation system replacement starts, with main lines being the first phase of the process. Most of this work will not interfere with normal golf and the contractor, Thielen Turf Irrigation Inc., will work into early winter or all winter if the snow is not too deep and the ground doesn't freeze. Normally, mother nature will chase them off of the property, but a mild winter could keep production moving forward. Wherever they leave off in the fall will then be the starting point again in the spring 2026, and they will be onsite all of summer 2026. This project most likely will not be completed until fall 2026, with some touch ups possible in spring 2027. This irrigation upgrade is going to be a huge step forward in being able to irrigate the golf courses better, in addition to playing fast and firm more consistently throughout the property.

Our turf team is looking forward to a great season and they are ready to open the courses for play! The winter team has accomplished several projects over recent months to get ready for golf.

It’s time to play golf at EVCC! See you on the courses.

Jeff Holmes, CGCS
Golf Course Manager