Last month I told you the fairways would probably be green by the time you got your Acorn.  Boy, was I wrong.  While they have continued to get better, they still are not as thick as they normally are this time of year.  It takes a combination of the right amount of water along with the right temperatures to make Bermuda thrive.  Every year there seems to be a lot of discussion as to what we can do to help our fairways during the winter and early spring months.  I think there will be another article in the Acorn explaining our situation, but this is my understanding:

We are on the northernmost geographical border, climate wise, for Bermuda to be successful.  However, with the watering system we have, we can not support alternative grass types, even if we raised the money to change turfs.  As far as over seeding with something such as rye in the fall, it seems it would be even harder for our Bermuda fairways to come back in the spring leaving us with a messy combination of the two. The amount of water and sun in each specific area of the    fairways would determine which would be where.  While this gets technical and hard to understand, I think the best example lies in the fact that at our last meeting nobody on the Board of Directors, or any Club staff in attendance, knew of any courses in our geographic region that over seeds.

The most help we could give our Bermuda fairways during the winter months would be to keep cart traffic completely off of them.  The cart tires not only break down what cushion remains after the fairways go dormant, but retards spring recovery as well.  I know the problem is over for this year, but if we want to try to help our situation next year we need to decide what to try soon.   

Last month I made a plea for suggestions to help with attendance at club events.  While we received very little response, (two suggestions) there was a good discussion at last month’s Board meeting with multiple ideas presented.  I think we will have new ideas ready to present and implement after next months meeting, but it is not too late to have your ideas considered.

Memorial Day weekend marked the official 2008 opening of the swimming pool.  While the weather was not overly cooperative there was still a good turnout.  It is not too early to begin planning to attend events at the pool this summer. June 20 is the first of the monthly Family Swim nights this summer and July has special pool events almost every week including the Fourth of July Celebration, the annual Campout and the second Family Swim night.  Check your calendar and plan to be there.

The 2008 Mulligan Cup is a promotion to encourage involvement in club golfing events.  Playing and placing enhances your chances of being in the top 30 party and playoff at the end of the season.  The rules and awards were published in the April Acorn, but copies are available at the Pro Shop and the Club Office if anyone besides me is confused about it.