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| Jerry rolling #18 green |
Sandpines hosted its annual Clam Bake pro-am tournament on Wednesday and Thursday. The two day tournament has been held around the middle of February for the last three years. In terms of weather, the tournament has seen a little bit of everything over the years. This year was no exception. It was mostly dry and chilly, but we did get some rain, and a hail storm suspended play on Wednesday for about an hour. The hail was mostly melted when played resumed, but Jerry and I blew hail off some of the most hail covered greens with backpack blowers. That was a first for both of us, but it actually worked pretty well once the hail was mostly melted. I would have loved to post a picture of the hail blowing, but unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me. We have received positive feedback about the condition of the golf course despite receiving about 2.1 inches of rain in the four days prior to the tournament. Chris Polski and Scott Erdmann tied for the top spot for the professionals, while Todd Erwin, Sam Barrick, Derek Barron, and Tom Brown took top honors for the team portion of the competition.
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| Homemade directional arrow |
After the success of our in house ground under repair signs, I wanted to experiment with an idea I had for making some directional arrow signs. I wanted an arrow that could be used to point in any direction. Some signs read "carts go left" or "carts go right" but it seems like you always need the one you don't have with you, or you need more of one than the other. For now we are in the experimental stages of using the directional arrows without them reading "carts". It's hard to give an exact cost for these signs due to the fact we had all of the supplies to make the directional arrow signs on hand. We used some old salvaged Trex bender board we had left over from a bunker project to make the arrows. The stakes were made from 1/8 inch stainless steel rod that was donated by Jerry Waite. The arrows were painted with spray paint we use to paint tee markers. In addition to being cheap, they are also recycled, which makes them green friendly.
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| Freshly painted tee markers |
If you have played Sandpines recently you may have noticed some freshly painted tee markers out on the course. If you look carefully, you may have also noticed some tee markers aren't freshly painted. Why is that? It's not an over sight. We try to work on projects like sandblasting and repainting tee markers during frost delays or busy afternoons, when getting out on the course is more difficult. Additionally, it takes a while to sandblast and paint 160 tee markers for the golf course, plus you need a few extra in case of theft and vandalism (sad, but true). We generally start some time in December with the markers that are in the worst shape. This year, it was the red followed by the the blue. We are currently working on the white, and ran out of paint (see directional arrows above, oops), so you might also see a few new gold markers out there as well. Another factor is the amount of tee markers we have to work on while still providing markers for play. We have about 15 markers in addition to those on the course, which is not quite a full set. So, now you know the mystery of the tee markers, they are not over-looked, just a work in progress.
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| Certificate of Appreciation |
We were recently awarded a certificate of appreciation for our involvement in the Transition Program at Camp Florence. The program involves providing mentoring and training opportunities to youth who are being transitioned back into the community. William was the most recent person we worked with. He did a fantastic job for us at Sandpines. He took instruction well, was self motivated, and very polite. He was a great help to Dean in the maintenance shop. He kept the shop neat, tidy, and organized during his time at Sandpines. He also helped us out on the golf course with various maintenance tasks. He always met or exceeded out expectations. William got along well with the entire maintenance staff. He was truly a pleasure to have around. If you are ever approached to participate in this program, I would encourage you to embrace the opportunity.
