Greens & Grounds Newsletter
Posted on Aug 26, 2025 7:00 AM by Greens & Grounds
Written by: Bennett Samowich
Golf Course on the Road to Recovery
We've all been patient, watching and waiting as our greens and fairways get a much-needed makeover. It’s exciting to see the fantastic progress, and we're getting closer every day to having our course back in great condition.
Our new contractor, Jimmy's Turf, has hit the ground running! They've spent the last months working tirelessly on the course, and you can already see the results. The Greens & Grounds Committee recently conducted the first inspection under the new contract. The overall progress is impressive. The committee looks forward to the next inspection and even more progress.
New Life for the Greens:
The re-planting of the greens is well underway. In fact, on August 13th, the crew successfully completed the first mowing and rolling of the new greens. They are now moving on to the final steps to get them ready for play. This includes slowly reducing the mowing height along with regular rolling. These actions effectively help train the grass to be able to tolerate the aggressive mowing heights required for regulation play. During this phase, you will see the grass yellow a bit, because of the stress of the cutting, then the color will return. This process is repeated until the grass gets to the desired height. When this is complete, the grass will be healthy and strong enough to withstand chemical applications, which is the next step in the recovery process.
Focusing on the Fairways:
The weed and fertilization program has begun on the fairways, and tee boxes. Starting with the weeds, the spray has already started to brown the growth, which is a good thing. The critical part of the program is to follow the weed spraying with fertilization to promote good growth. Without it, the weeds would just return and continue to overtake the good grasses. The new approach this time includes focusing on just the fairway, or approach, areas and allowing the rough to be, well, “the rough.” This will be an ongoing process until the good grasses re-claim their space on the course, in which you will be able to visually see the progress as the fairways and approaches become more defined.
Tackling the Tee Boxes:
The tee boxes require a fair amount of work. Much of the tee grass has been lost to the previous neglect. However, many of the tees do still have some tee grass. For budgetary reasons the plan is to prioritize in the order of greens, fairways, and then tee boxes. The crew will attempt to naturally recover as many tee boxes as they can. The Greens & Grounds Committee plans on re-evaluating later in the season and taking a project-oriented approach in the event that the tee boxes were not able to sufficiently recover. Among the options being discussed are artificial vs natural grass, factoring in the costs (both short and long-term). Informal polling suggests that the community is pretty evenly split when it comes to favoring artificial vs natural. Ultimately it will come down to maintainability and costs.
Beyond the Greens:
It’s not just the course that has been getting attention. You will notice that the crew has even found time to tend to the landscaping around the course and waterfalls, which looks great. With just 2-3 crew members, they have completed an extraordinary amount of work.
To the Owners:
We know it hasn’t been easy to wait, but we're so grateful for your patience and understanding. We’ve already completed a lot of work and there is still more work to do. However, we are truly on our way to having our beautiful course back for all to enjoy.
Do you have questions about the recovery process? We'd love to hear from you. You can reach out to the Greens & Grounds Committee through the Signature Portal’s “Request” feature or by sending an email to the Property Manager.
