CLUB UPDATE A NOTE FROM ROBERT LAMBERT YOUR CLUB MANAGER We ended 2021 with a bang, the New Year’s Eve Party was a great success. The Rhondels kept everyone on the dancefloor all night. 2022 is off to a great start with Meet Your Neighborhood, the Sweetheart Dance, and the Super Bowl Party. I would like to thank everyone who attended our events and for your continued support of our club. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of warmer weather! It’s been a cold winter! The staff and I are excited to get the season started and look forward to seeing everyone here at the club. Our golf events are now on the calendar, and we are busy working on our calendar of events for the Spring and Summer. Be sure to check out the calendar of events. Please note, that Daylight savings is March3, be sure to change your clocks 1 hour forward. Here's to a great start to 2022! Looking forward to seeing you at the club soon. SAVE THE DATE - Mark you calendar for May 7th for Derby Night. We will have a hat contest, games and great food. We hope that you will join us. Footprints on the Green Initiative: Water’s Edge is looking to build an exploratory committee of member volunteers for a Water’s Edge “Friends of the Horses/Stables”. This committee of volunteers will work with Sam & me to research, support and explore the possibility of expanding our stable offerings over the next three years to incorporate programming for various kinds of special needs; like equestrian therapy. Starting with non-mounted equine assisted activities and therapies. In the spirit of the McConnell Golf Footprints on the Green, the committee will also explore ways to share program offerings with members in the local community who may also benefit from such niche programming. First meeting is March 12th at the clubhouse at 11:30 am.
A NOTE FROM JEFF SNYDER YOUR GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENT Spring is around the corner, and we are looking forward to a great golfing season. The bad weather stretch we had gave us the opportunity to work on equipment and prepare for the upcoming season. We “freshened” up tee markers, trash cans, etc. New Logoed tee markers have been ordered and will look fantastic. The supply chain has lengthened the production, however, should be in sometime this spring. Costs are through the roof on everything from fertilizers to fuel. Not to mention payroll. Difficult times ahead but will do our best to deliver a great product while being efficient. Looking to bring on some new equipment as well, but the delivery of about anything is 6 months+. We are currently about 75% completion of installing quick couplers in fairways. This will give us hand watering abilities in strategic areas throughout the course we never had. Very time consuming and costly, but end results will give us better playing conditions. We did get fairways top dressed before the big snowfall. We also plan to do more “light” topdressings throughout the seasons to aide in the firmness we’re looking for. The Willow tree behind the white tee on 11 is gone. It took a lightning strike, was dying and dangerous. Really makes the view coming down 10 much better. After completion of the quick couplers, we’ll be working on sod. A lot of weak areas to address and we plan on using the bent behind 13 green. It will shorten up that “bail out” but will re sod that area in rough and won’t be missed. We are adjusting our spring aerification schedule to have completed earlier than years past. Plan is to punch MARCH 14 &15.
With our green grass variety being A1A4, this could be tricky. These grasses need soil temperatures to really get going. Looking for Mother Nature to help us out in March to aide in the healing over. Please help us throughout the season with divots and ball marks. Kindly remind our southern brothers, we replace divots and only sand the balance if needed. Bermuda courses only sand divots. Also, as we work towards firmer greens, ball marks become harder to find and fix. However, if we fix ours and one other, our conditions will only improve!! I trust all had a fantastic winter and we look forward to a fantastic 2022!! Fall greens aerification scheduled September 5 & 6
A NOTE FROM JOHN GUTHMANN YOUR HEAD TENNIS PROFESSIONAL Spring is near and we are planning a busy 2022 tennis and pickleball season. Pickleball enthusiasts should plan to participate in the “Spring Kick-off” social on the evening of Saturday, April 9th.Regular pickleball takes place on Monday and Friday at 9 a.m. and is tentatively scheduled to begin in late March or early April. Watch for more specifics in Weekly Happenings as we get closer to those dates. The hard courts are all set for both regular tennis and pickleball. Two new pickleball nets on wheels should be arriving soon, bringing the total to four. Please remember to place the nets next to the fence between the courts when done playing so that they are protected from wind damage. The soft courts are targeted to be ready for tennis in mid-April when our M-W-F mixed doubles will commence. Play starts at 9 a.m. with warm-ups at 8:45 a.m. - you don’t need a partner. Our Grand Slam events launch on Memorial Day, May 30th with a French Open “Champagne, Strawberries and Crème” day. A mixed doubles tennis social will be planned for May. The day and time to be announced. If you are a Water’s Edge “weekender”, then plan to join us on June 11th and 25th when we initiate Saturday morning mixed doubles. This summer we are introducing tennis clinics for kids. The first is scheduled for Tuesday, June 21st at 9 a.m. for ages 5 to 9, and at 10 a.m. for ages 10 and over. Clinics are limited to 4 participants. I’ll put a sign-up sheet in the tennis room in May. A tennis component is also included in our annual “Waters Edge Kids Camp”, which returns July 12-14th. The Navigator will have more details as spring progresses. As always, I am available for private lessons or racquet restringing; you may contact me directly at: 434-927-5039. I look forward to seeing you on court soon.
THE NAVIGATOR
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