THE HLR GOLF CLUB GREENS COMMITTEE JUNE  REPORT 2007

Cart-Path
Time flies when you are having fun and July is upon us.   Last year the “B” board enacted a cart-path rule that called for restrictions to be lifted July 1st to allow all players to ride and use a 90-degree rule on all days of play.  The only exception to that is if weather conditions cause a cart-path-only ruling for that day.  Any time there is a restriction, it will be announced by the pro staff as they assign holes for our shotgun start. 
Thank You!

A tip of the hat goes to four volunteers who saw something that needed done and without a whole lot of talk they just did it.  The bridge on hole #4 got a major overhaul last year.  On Monday, June 11,  Tommy Dodd, Bill Brown, BC Fairchild and Jerry Cuvelier put a fresh coat of paint on it.  That bridge adds a lot of charm to our course. Gentlemen, it looks great and we appreciate your hard work.
 

Carl Worley-Head Pro
In order to help all of us keep up to date with golfing events, Carl is going to be posting a list of upcoming events near the door of the pro shop.  This will include tournaments, clinics, sales, and so on.  Please, double-check it often so you don’t miss out on any of the golfing fun. 
 

After discussion it was decided that with the amount of drainage through the area, the ditch to the left of hole #10 should be played as ground under repair. Carl reports that as of June 8th  he has given out 77 gold stickers to those 70+ years of age to allow them to ride on Sunday and Monday doing a 90-degree.
 

MGA
The Men’s Golf Association has a number of things they are exploring.  At this time one of their projects is to upgrade or retool the ball picker used on our practice range.  Another is a plan that can allow us to swap out the balls used on the practice range more often.   President Bob Thomas reports the MGA Club Champs Tourney was a success and enjoyed by a number of members.  He also said the format for the Member-Guest on August 25-26 has been changed to the Stableford system. 
WGA 9 and WGA 18
 

July 4th is a holiday and falls on a Wednesday.  The WGA 9 and WGA 18 are giving up their regularly scheduled play day so the course will be open for all to play. WGA 9 President Vanette Ball reports all is going well. WGA 18  President Joyce McConnell is  encouraging all members  to participate in their 2-day President’s Cup on Saturday and Sunday, June 23 and 24. 
 

Clayton Woods –Course Superintendent
 

We loved the rain and it has helped our grass grow….but…it created other challenges.  Clayton and his staff are working on a number of holes that have experienced erosion.  They are too numerous to list all of them but rest assured they are getting attention.  One hole in particular is #9.   

 

The erosion we are experiencing is on the left side of the fairway.  They are going to replace the mound that was leveled and redirect the water down the left side taking it off of the fairway.   The area around the #3/#5 restroom has now been smoothed out.  New tanks were recently installed, and the area needed to settle before smoothing it out. Thanks for your patience during the aerofication processes.  The fairways and now the greens have been completed.   They are still working on fairy ring and other foreign grasses on some of the greens but are getting the upper hand on it. 

 

Clayton reports that our lakes on the course will rise and fall slightly during the course of the year.  That can be due to a number of things including rainfall, the amount of pumping,  normal leakage and heat.  They monitor the lakes constantly.  You can see, also, that Clayton’s crew is spraying the weeds at the edges of the lakes.  In order to avoid harming the water in the lakes, only a portion of each is sprayed at any one time.  Too much spray can harm the oxygen level of the lake. 

 

New flags for the holes will soon be ordered.  The dark blue flags will be replaced with a lighter shade of blue to make them more visible and easier to see.
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Don’t forget the Suggestion Box.
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[NOTE:  The issue concerning the policy on “volunteerism” was discussed at the Greens Committee meeting.  Rob James explained some of the concerns legal counsel had about this issue.  Mr. James relayed these same concerns to the A & B Board early in 2007.  At that time, those concerns focused on residents’ use of equipment and machinery used by the HLR Maintenance Department and the golf superintendent for Golf Course Maintenance Department.  The B Board and the GM thought these were the areas of greatest concern because this type of equipment and machinery has the greatest potential to inflict serious injury and in an extreme case like an overturned tractor, death.
 
A member of the Greens Committee asked Mr. James about the possibility of having volunteers sign a waiver that would release HLRA from any liability if a person was injured while operating HLRA equipment.  The lawyer told Rob, “It is only as good as the paper it is written on.”  For that reason, legal counsel is hesitant to prepare such a document.  (The idea of using a legal document, such as a “waiver,” was also presented at the Open B Board Meeting held in May.)
 
Due to the issues addressed by the lawyer, as relayed by Rob James, the B Board and the Administration have initiated a policy to not allow volunteers to operate HLRA equipment or machinery.   To hopefully clarify the matter further, the following addition to the policy is as follows:  Residents are welcome to use their own equipment and machinery for projects on HLR, but at their own risk.  Any organization is welcome to help make HLR a better and more beautiful place, be it the Garden Club, Woodcarving Club, WGA, MGA etc.  Residents can ask to use HLRA equipment that is needed by volunteers to complete a project; however, a HLR employee must operate the equipment.  For example, in the past volunteers have had a “sand day” where they replaced divots on the golf course.  If residents need a HLRA vehicle to pull a trailer with sand for this project, they can ask golf maintenance to furnish a driver and vehicles.

 

There will always be certain “scenarios” that one can create, but hopefully, this will encourage people to continue their great work of volunteering for so many projects here at HLR.]