Hello and welcome to The Greenkeeper! Today is Wednesday, December 21, 2022 and before the annual Christmas Balls tourney tees off I would like to wish each of you and your families happy holidays! Things have been quite hectic on the golf course since my last update, so let's cut to the chase then get you on the course. When we last met Golf Course Services (GCS) was on Hole 13, tree work was either happening or scheduled to happen, and a drainage project with Turf Drainage of America (TDA) was starting after Thanksgiving. I am happy to report today GCS is more than half-way complete on ..read more

Hello and welcome to The Greenkeeper!  Today is Thursday, November 10th and I want to share something with everyone that came from a conversation yesterday afternoon. A foursome was playing the 14th hole just as I was inspecting the renovation work in the back greenside bunker. The internal drainage had been exposed, which piqued their curiosity. Firstly, all 81 bunkers and all putting greens on property have an internal network of drain pipe and gravel installed during the 2008 restoration. Our contract on this bunker renovation calls for the removal of all drain pipe and gravel, pipe is ..read more

Hello and welcome to The Greenkeeper!  Today is Thursday, September 29th and our region awaits the arrival of Ian. Ian made landfall yesterday afternoon on the southwest coast of Florida as a strong Category 4 Hurricane. My thoughts and prayers go out to so many friends and peers in Ian's path! As of 11:00 pm last night Ian's remnants are expected to make their way across Florida then turn back inland and head for the Queen City as if running a post corner route. The good news is local meteorologists expect Ian, or what is left of Ian by the time it arrives to be mostly a rain event ..read more

Hello and welcome to "The Greenkeeper"!  Today is Thursday, September 8th and putting green aerification is in the books for 2022! We performed a hollow-core aerification with 1/2 inch diameter tines on a tight 1.5 x 1.3 inch spacing producing 73.8 holes per square foot. Considering we have 122,607 square feet of putting green surfaces, we created just over 9 million holes impacting just under ten percent (9.28%) of the surface area.  In other words, this aerification was designed to impart maximum impact as we enter into a busy fall event schedule. The holes were back filled with so ..read more

Hello and welcome to "The Greenkeeper"!  Today is Tuesday, August 16th and I am happy to report the Dog Days of Summer are officially in the rear-view mirror! I don't know about you, but this year's version was one of the steamiest I can remember and the data backs it up.  I know it's been a bit since my last post so let's take a look at a brief refresher then move forward from there. You may recall June was hot and dry. In my last post I mentioned June 2022 was the 16th warmest all-time, including our first official triple digit high temperature in seven years when the mer ..read more

Hello and welcome to "The Greenkeeper"!  Today is Thursday, July 14th and the 150th Open Championship is underway at The Old Course at St. Andrews! I don't know about you, but I have felt like a kid in a candy store all week trying to absorb all the content about the amazing history of the golf course and town. I'm hoping for a little magic on the course the next few days and a feel good story come Sunday afternoon. Hope you get an opportunity to take in as much golf as you like and enjoy the competition too. I wanted to recap the cultural practices performed on the course last week and t ..read more

Hello and welcome to "The Greenkeeper"!  Today is Tuesday, June 14th and I'm writing this as a strong thunderstorm is dropping much needed rain on Carolina Golf Club! Prior to this storm we had only received 1/4 inch of rain the entire month, and with temperatures reaching 98 degrees yesterday and establishing a new record you can see why I would welcome some natural rainfall. Ironically today's rain event was not forecast as temperatures were originally expected to climb north of 100 degrees later today. Will be interesting to see if that remains the case with this much needed reprieve ..read more

Hello and welcome to The Greenkeeper! Today is Tuesday, May 3rd, where does the time go? You might be looking at the title of this post and thinking it's a distress call, but not to worry, that is not the case. I had hoped to have this out on May 1 and was reminiscing about May Day festivities involving the Maypole and May Queen from elementary school days when I came up with the title. But I do believe some of you may be concerned about some areas of the golf course lagging behind, and we will discuss those soon. I also want to update you on an improvement project recently completed and talk ..read more

Hello and welcome to The Greenkeeper, today is Wednesday, February 16th. Growing up with my grandparents, I remember each spring we would spend several days taking down, cleaning, and putting away the winter drapes, clean all the windows and open them to air out the house, and wash all the plaster walls and heat registers with soap and water. Granted it might be a little too early for all that, but I think you see where I am going. Although meteorological spring is still twelve days away, and astronomical spring doesn't arrive until March 20th, this is an ideal time to be getting a head start ..read more

Hello and welcome to The Greenkeeper, today is Wednesday, March 30th and although there is still one more day to go this month, I wanted to provide you with a recap. Several years ago I stated how I believe March to be the least attractive month for the golf course March Madness, and I still feel that way. Having said that, I do believe this might be the best the course has looked this time of year, and I'm hopeful that is a sign of more good things to come this season. We only received 10.22 inches rainfall during meteorological winter (Dec-Feb) but we have already received more than hal ..read more