Tee Time Notifications

As most of you have seen, the July tee time schedule was changed to straight tee times off the A course to allow our maintenance crew enough time to get the B course ready for daily play. This format, however, pushed tee times on certain busy days into the 10:30 to 11:00 timeframe and beyond which exposed a lot of players to the extreme heat of the day.

In an effort to accommodate more member play in the morning block of tee times, we have adjusted the current July schedule. Starting July 8th, we will return to the AM crossover format with tee times each day starting at 7:30 a.m. on the A course and at 8:33 a.m. on the B course.

We see this as a fitting compromise to allow our maintenance crew enough time to get the courses ready for daily play. This action picks up extra tee times and gets all morning players off before 10:15 a.m.

Thanks for your cooperation and understanding,

Tim Harris

Head Golf Professional

Golf Course Irrigation

In recent weeks, we have had a few concerns regarding irrigating the golf course while it is raining. Below is an explanation of why the golf course irrigation might be running while it is actively raining. 

In the event of rain, certain requirements must be met before the system will shut down automatically. We are using the Rainbird Rain Watch Program and it is working. Shutdown requirements are still in the factory settings. We will not change these settings until we get into a more predictable rain pattern. Once we adjust off the factory setting, we will adjust to pause with less recorded rain. Adjusting these settings too soon can hinder the recovery of the course from a rather difficult drought season.

As of now, these are the requirements for auto shutdown to occur. The system will pause after a recorded .25” of rain. The system will then pause for 6 hours, waiting for additional rain. If the system records .5” of rain during this window, it will cancel the program and no more irrigation will occur. If the system does not record more than .5” during this 6-hour window, the system will un-pause and resume the irrigation schedule 24 hours later.

We now have 3 rain cans on property positioned in specific areas to encompass three different quadrants of the property. These cans are directly tied to the golf course irrigation computer. The location of these cans is: 6 River right on tees, 3 Lakes left of cart path at the green, and one at the GCM building. We positioned these cans in areas as to not record any irrigation water which provides bad data. Each rain can is programed to watch a certain area of the course (Not one gauge per nine, but one gauge per area of the course. One gauge may control parts of two courses).

We upgraded the rain cans to the most accurate cans offered from Rainbird/Texas Electronics. The rain cans we use are specifically designed to meet the requirements of the National Weather Service for rainfall measurements.

Pictured is the rain can on 3 Lakes. These are tipping bucket rain cans. Inside the device is a small tipping meter that is rotated by individual raindrops from the collection bowl above. Note the bird spike option attached at the top of the can which prevents birds from landing on the can and ultimately clogging the water passages. As noted above, these are highly accurate rain cans with two separate metering devices to provide the highest levels of accuracy.

Hopefully, by mid to late July we’ll adjust the shutdown parameters to be more inline with our local weather patterns. See you on the course!

Johnny Ingram

Golf Course Superintendent

The Pre-workout Warm-up

If you remember, last week I addressed warming up before your actual resistance workout. This is a continuation of that topic. I suggest choosing the piece of cardio equipment you enjoy the most, although most any will do the job. I prefer the elliptical since it mimics a running motion without the impact. Most elliptical machines like ours come with moving arms, so you now get the lower and upper body warming up together. However, feel free to use the treadmill, stair climber bicycle, etc.

The first 2-3 minutes you should ease into the warm-up, starting slowly. Every 3 minutes you can step up the pace a bit until you get to your target heart rate. You should aim to keep your heart rate at the lower end of your target heart range. You will get a warm-up, but not burn out. (Most cardio equipment now has heart rate monitors built in, so this should be easy to track). This would be around 60%-70% of your THR (target heart rate). Just take 220, subtract your age, and multiply by 60% or 70%. For example, if you are 60, you would take 220-60=160 x 70% = 112…so you’d aim for a THR of about 112. I’d do a minimum of 10-20 minutes in this zone. If you do, you’ll feel much more ready to tackle the workout you’re about to do. It works great, and you have done a world of good for your heart and for injury prevention.

Southeastern Wisconsin

Photo Submitted by:

Phil and Inge Holland

"Our boat house on Pleasant Lake in Southeastern Wisconsin."