Moles and other varmits

This will be redundant for those who read our most recent member newsletter, but this is so cool I just had to tell everyone about it. At one time or another you've all seen mole damage, either at Lake Valley, another golf course, or even your own yard. Unless your name is Alex, and you can catch them barehanded, you know that getting rid of moles is a difficult and daunting task. Generally speaking, the best way to get rid of moles is to get rid of their food source, which is usually larvae.

BUT....now comes on the scene a new product, at least, new to me. When you have a minute check out www.rodenator.com, or go to YouTube and search for "rodenator". The videos will blow you away! :)

Tree Trimming

Tree trimming continues today as part of our winter course maintenance. Today Alex, Bo, Kevin, and Kelly are using the bucket truck to trim limbs on #12 that overhang the fairway. Limbs are being trimmed back so that they don't hang out into the fairway, which will hopefully provide a more "fair" opportunity on your #12 tee shot. Unfortunately, the bucket truck only lets Alex reach so high, so some of the upper limbs may still overhang a bit, but this should be a nice improvement in the playability of this hole.

Projects of this nature are continuing around the course as weather conditions allow. Cold temperatures and frozen ground allow us to move equipment onto the course without damaging the turf.

SNOW & COLD

Wow - it's been brutally cold and snowy here for the past several days. Daytime highs have been in single-digits or low teens, and overnight lows have gone well into minus figures. Add about 5" of snow on top of that and there hasn't been much work done outside lately. The ponds are frozen solid, too, as you can see in the picture above. That's #17 green with part of the frozen pond in front of it and the clubhouse in the distance. Click the picture to see a larger version.

Even though nothing has happened outdoors in the past week or so, the guys have been busy painting all of the tee markers (minimum 18 holes x 4 sets x 2 each = 144 tee markers), broken tee cups, and trash containers. Gene has all of the mowers sharpened, serviced, cleaned and ready for another season.

The Big Tree on #3

We took down what remained of the big tree near #3 green today. After lots of discussion and reviewing the possible options it was decided that the best thing to do was to take the remaining part of the tree down and get started with the recovery process. You may recall that this large tree was "topped" during the storm of June 19-20, 2009.

After finally getting the trunk to the ground, Alex took a couple minutes to do a quick ring count to get an age estimate. According to his count, the tree is (was) between 140 and 150 years old! If you use 150 as the age, that would mean the tree was a sapling around 1860 and a young tree during the Civil War! It's certainly a shame that such a tree was lost, but in the end Mother Nature pretty much too care of it for us during the June storm.

In a related note, in this picture you can see two young trees that have been planted along #3 to replace this lost giant. It will take many years before they mature enough to have much affect on the hole, but as they say, the trees planted by one generation provide shade to the next generation.

In the picture above, Alex is holding his saw to give a size comparison. The saw uses an 18" bar.

More Progress on Road Bank Clearing

Tuesday 12/22/09 you can see how much the bank has been cleared of brush and undergrowth. There is still lots of work to be done, including using the bucket truck to trim the trees in the area immediately around the tee boxes.

For more pictures visit the Grounds section of our web site.

Progress on Road Bank Clean Up

Clean up on the Hwy 54 road bank along hole #14 has continued and is making a huge difference in the look of the hole, as well as increasing visibility of the golf course from the highway. The panorama picture above shows a large section of the bank has been mostly cleared. Only two or three more days of clean up and we should be open from the ladies tee all the way to the green.

Click here to see more pictures of the work.

Memorial Walk

A volunteer crew of Dale and Sara McElwee, Dar Martin, and Harold Treese recently put the finishing touches on our Memorial Pavers Walk. The dirt is yet to be delivered to the flower beds, but the walls and walkway are completed. This should be an especially nice addition next spring when it is full of blooming flowers.

Memorial pavers can be purchased to honor your loved ones by contacting Dan or Priscilla in the office. A minimum donation of $100 is required.

For more pictures click here or select the Grounds link on the http://www.lakevalleygolf.com/ web site.