Closed

By now you more than likely have heard that the playing field is closed due to the "stay at home" order given by Gov. Inslee.  You are allowed to walk the grounds and get some fresh air, but for everyone's safety we have removed most of the objects that can be touched and may spread the virus (i.e. bunker rakes, flagsticks, sand and seed bottles etc.).  The order is effective for a minimum of 2 weeks, and as we wait to see what happens next, I thought I'd update you on what this means for our maintenance operations.  

Fortunately we were given 48 hours notice before the order took effect and during that time we scrambled to lay 12,000 sqft of sod to finish off some of our projects like the new fine turf wrap around the putter.......

and the removal of the cart path on 7 tee.

We also closed up the area of disturbance by the new buffer near the 8th green..........

and behind the 9th green.  Yes, the new sod is a little off color, but this turf came from a farm on the east side near Moses Lake and over there it's quite a bit colder so the plants are slightly dormant.  In a week or two the new sod should green up. 

I'm excited to report that we were also able to aerify greens before the "stay at home" order went into effect.

This is very good news.  By the time we re-open, the greens will be healed up and in pristine condition considering they will have 14 days of rest.  So during this "stay at home" order we are allowed to maintain the golf course, but in a manner that is considered the minimum level of maintenance to ensure the property retains its value.  We have reduced the staff's schedule so that there are only a few individuals here each day.  This means we can keep the grass mowed and apply disease control products when necessary.  

We will also be applying some virus control products.  This bottle of bleach solution is our new friend, and we are spraying down everything at the maintenance facility in order to keep things disinfected.  This is another reason we are keeping a minimum number of staff on site each day.  The fewer people we have moving around at the shop the easier it is to keep things clean and maintain social distancing.