Thanks to the members of the 2023 Greens Committee for their service: Club Member Volunteers; Ryan Theriault, Sue Conrad, Anne MacKinnon, Lance Bullock, Joe Wilkie, and Board Liaison, Steve Foote; Staff; General Manager Eric Tobin, Golf Course Superintendent Kevin Moores, Associate Superintendent Geoff Hay, and Golf Professional Blehr MacKinley.
2023 was a challenging year for our golf course and maintenance staff. We had a little bit of everything and a lot of one thing – rain. Starting with drought like conditions in April, May, and early June that saw over one million gallons of water applied through our irrigation system in May alone, followed by Province wide wildfires and biblical amounts of rain through the summer.
The course played hard and fast in May and early June and then played under water until September. We were hit by a major hurricane that shut down operations and further saturated the course. Despite moderating weather in September and October, our rough never fully recovered from the summer rains. The rough was borderline unplayable for most of the summer and remained a challenge through the fall. The fairways suffered extensive damage due to oxygen depletion from standing water. Bunkers, cart paths, and other areas of the course were damaged by wash outs and flooding. On top of these conditions we were in the midst of extensive course renovations – new green side bunkers on holes 1, 2, and 4, redesign and rebuild of hole 4, removal of fairway bunkers on holes 7 and 8, new fairway bunkers on 12 and the replacement of the green side bunker complex with large chipping area, removal of fairway bunker complex on 18 and addition of a large fairway bunker, new 25,000 sq. ft. practice tee deck, and new practice synthetic hitting mats.
The combination of a large renovation project and extreme weather overloaded our system and maintenance team. We were constantly playing catch up. The focus had to be on protecting the golf course and keeping it open as much as possible for member play. Weather closures this year were 25 days which would have been much higher without the commitment of management and hard work of our maintenance team to keep the course open as much as possible. Unfortunately, this prevented us from getting a lot of things done that needed attention and should have been done, including completion of some of the renovation work, clean up around the course, and attention to some of the little things that impact member experience.
The Greens Committees mandate is “to advise and assist the Board of Directors on all matters pertaining to the grounds of the golf course and to maintain and enhance the quality of the golf course for the benefit of the members.” The committee takes its role seriously and will be working with management to ensure our members expectations for course conditions, playability, and daily setup are communicated and will act as a direct line to the decision-making process with the Board of Directors. Members have come to expect a high standard of course maintenance and our committee and dedicated grounds crew is committed to meeting these expectations.
As a committee, we will work closely with management in 2024 to enhance the member experience and the quality of our golf course. An important part of what our members want is communication, and we will assist in the development of a fresh new website that will better inform our members on daily standards, current projects, and the work the committee does to make sure your concerns are passed through the appropriate channels. We will also include a link to our virtual suggestion box. This website should be available in the coming weeks.
While 2023 brought us unprecedented bad weather and challenges, it also shone a light on two positive outcomes of our efforts over the past few years and the focus of our renovations. Our greens held up exceptionally well throughout 2023, a result of our maintenance teams aggressive cultural practices over the recent years. And our new bunkers weathered the storms with minimal if any wash outs which bodes well for reducing future maintenance costs and improving playability.
For 2024, Kevin and his team will be focused on completing on-going projects including Phase 1 renovations, clean-up of tree removal areas, repair of residual water damage around the course, and taking care of the details we were not able to address in 2023.
On behalf of your Greens Committee thank you for support and feedback.
Robert Hawkins Chairperson
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