Turf Talk

BY SHAWN GILL | GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENT

As your new Superintendent, I would first like to thank Lentz Wheeler for inviting me to join the team here at SGCC. The last two years have been a couple of the best in my 35 year career. Secondly, I would like to thank the membership for their warm welcome. I can’t imagine a more supportive atmosphere, and I look forward to helping you all realize your dreams for the course.

For those of you whom I have not had the pleasure of getting personally acquainted, I’ll be out on the course every day, trying to get to know everyone.

I’ve often said that the best part of my job is seeing the sunrise and sunset, on the golf course, quite often on the same day. At SGCC, we have some absolutely amazing from which to admire our course. If you haven’t witnessed the sun breaking over the horizon from the clubhouse patio, it is worth setting an early alarm and stopping by one morning.

As we near spring and the start of the golf season, I am thrilled about how ready the golf course is. Thank you, everyone, for being mindful of your impact by observing the cart path rules during the time when turf does not have the ability to grow out of damage. Your efforts will be rewarded by having a better course throughout the rest of the year.

Mild weather and regular rain have created optimal conditions for the sod on the renovated areas to root in. We recently pulled the covers off of the new tee surfaces on hole #3 and gave the turf its first mowing. The hole looks beautiful, and the newly constructed tees will give players of all levels a great blend of challenge and fairness, regardless of your playing ability. The tree work scheduled in Phase II of course improvements is nearly complete and will result in better turf conditions as well as a showcase of the healthy, mature trees that will guide you along each hole.

Hopefully spring will continue to bring nice weather, and one thing I know it will bring is many more people out enjoying the course. With this comes the challenge of overcoming the wear and tear that all the traffic brings while continuing to provide an enjoyable experience. To that end, you can be of great help.

One of the ideas that I try to instill in my employees is that of “taking the road less traveled.” Driving golf carts and walking to your ball over healthy, good-looking grass, rather than the obvious trail that many have used before you, will go a long way toward keeping the conditions good. SGCC has some of the best greens in the D.C. area! They are smooth and true. The number one culprit in balls veering offline is unfixed and improperly repaired ball marks. Let’s keep the greens a “bragging point” by making it look as if your ball never hit the green. Finally, please do not enter or exit bunkers by walking on the steep faces. Not only does it take a lot of time to fix the deep footprints, but, more importantly, the sand becomes uncompacted, making it much more likely that balls will plug.

To say I’m excited about the upcoming year would be a huge understatement. We have a real gem of a course here. I’ve had the good fortune to have had the opportunity to play some of the finest golf courses in the world and one thing they all have in common with SGCC is that every hole is distinct. One prerequisite for my accepting any turf management position is that I enjoy playing the golf course, and that is most definitely true here. I entered this profession for two reasons: I LOVE making golf courses as perfect as possible and then I love to play on them and reap the rewards of my efforts.

I look forward to spending time playing with some of you this season and hearing what you love about your course and what your vision of it is for the future. In closing, have a great spring, hit ‘em long and straight, and have fun getting the ball into the hole on the 12th green! 