Update from the Grounds Committee Good day members!We wanted to give you an update as we head towards spring and opening day. With such a mild winter we were hoping for an early opening, however it seems that winter is holding on. Rex thinks we may be able to open the back nine first, conditions permitting. We will keep you informed, of course. Here are the changes we are working on and will continue as the season progresses:: Hole #1:It is official that hole number one will play as a par three. With the selling of the property that hole number one sits on, we are unsure when the developer will start construction. We have decided to vacate the tee box and fairway on this hole all together. We will start the season on artificial turf for the tee box until a more permanent tee boxe can be established. Hole #12:Rex and his team will be primarily focused on constructing hole number one as a par three as well as completing the green on hole number 12 that was started last season. The sodding of the new green will take the entire greenskeeping staff plus six volunteers. We will continue to play hole number 12 as a par four to the temporary green until Rex is satisfied we can start using the new green. Driving Range:Unfortunately the driving range will be closed this season. We plan to offer a smaller footprint practice facility in the future where the existing driving range is now. This will not happen until we can properly allocate time for the project. In the interim, and time permitting, a small bucket of balls will be offered on the simulators at a nominal cost to warm up before your round. General Maintenance:When the golf course cleared of snow at the end of February Rex and his team were able to spray the greens with a second application of Posterity and Daconil to help control fungus. With it being such a mild winter the team managed to clean up the fallen timber on the side of hole number 17. As in past years we hope to have the course fully open by the second or third week in April. Feel free to contact your grounds committee if you have any questions or concerns. See you out there soon!Granite Pointe Grounds Committee |
Update from the Grounds CommitteeNow that the snow has fallen and Rex and his team have officially moved to winter operations at Granite Pointe, an update is in order. We will continue to offer an 18-hole course experience As mentioned at the town hall meeting at the end of October, hole number one has sold and the new owner has taken possession and dug pits for geotechnical purposes for their new development. The pits have since been filled in and leveled. Rex and his team’s plan is to play hole number one as a par four for as long as possible. It is unknown when the development will begin as they are still in early planning stages and do not have development permits at this time. Hole number one will have some areas of “ground under repair” due to the test holes, but will play as it has in other years. In the meantime we have devised a plan to play hole number one as a par three when we are required to fully move off the developer’s property on this hole. The bunker on the right side of hole one has been filled and the mound on the right side has been reduced. This is to accommodate the green to play as a par three. The new tee box for hole one will be placed on the right side of the driving range and play from the back about 150 yards. A shortened range may be available in the future once this is a par three, but this is still to be determined. Irrigation: As a result of the sale Rex and team had to move our main water irrigation line off of the purchased property and back on to Granite Pointe property and reroute it thru the driving range. Rex initially estimated the move at 60k but came well under budget at 25k. Rex and his team had to move their attention from green number twelve to the re-routing of the irrigation line at the end of the season, but were still able to complete the sub grade on the green. The back of the green on number twelve has been softened to be more accepting and it won’t have the sharp edge we have been accustomed to playing. The irrigation and sod will be completed in the early spring. Rex is confident we will be putting on the new twelfth green by June. In the meantime we will continue to play twelve as a par four to the interim green. Miscellaneous items:: • Most of the dangerous trees have been removed on number 14 and near the maintenance building to ensure the safety of the membership. As the ground freezes this winter Rex will start to remove the trees that had been felled from the year before, for example on hole number seventeen. • Rex and the team are also working on a plan to restore the tee boxes on numbers fifteen, seventeen and ladies’ nine. • Also new this year, Granite Pointe has purchased a genset and power auger to alleviate some of our more complicated drainage issues. • Once number twelve green is completed and hole number one is altered there are no other required changes to be made to the golf course for several years. • The board of directors would like to take this opportunity to publicly express thanks to new board member Lance Gotzy and his wife Angle for the incredible renovation of the washroom on hole number six. Many thanks Lance and Angle, fantastic job! • The board realizes that the changes come with some challenges and would like to thank the members in advance for their patience and understanding during this transition time. All in all, it has been a very busy fall and is shaping up to be an extremely busy spring for Rex and his grounds team. Respectfully, The grounds committee Scott Ferguson Dan Bayoff |
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2022 SEASON SUMMARY
As we approach the wind up of another golf season the Staff and Board wanted to reach out and say thank – you for your support through a year that saw many changes as we try to grow forward through our challenges. We wanted to share with you some of the challenges we have faced in the background this year so you are aware of the work done to prepare us for an even better year next year. It goes without saying that this was a most challenging weather year from the relentless rain in spring to the unending 30 degree plus days we battled in the summer. Both of these conditions created serious issues for our grounds crew, but at the same time exposed opportunities to get some changes made that will pay off in the future. These may not be the most glamorous on course changes, but all were necessary once they exposed themselves. To keep you informed here is some of the projects undertaken this year, and with these done we feel we are in a position to focus on more improvements on the course next year.
1. Complete waterway project at the upper dam site, install 2 large valves and piping allowing us
to divert water entering the property as we choose whether for irrigation or down the natural
watercourse down 16 or both.
2. Rebuild bunker in front of 16 green re-establish drainage and install fresh sand
3. Rebuild fairway bunker hole 6 excavate deleterious materials re-establish drainage and install
fresh sand
4. Re pour cement in pumphouse floor and install new compressor for irrigation system. Install
cooling fan and re insulate bldg.
5. Install 2 new pressure reduction valves on hole 10 and 15 reducing pressures on the lower end
of golf course resulting in fewer irrigation breaks and flooding
6. Excavate and install fresh drainage tiles replacing plugged one on the left side of hole 1 helping
to let the fairways drain a little better and dry up swampy area in the left rough.
7. Build a 7500 sq ft greens nursery between holes 9 and 10. Remove overburden, till base, install
sand growing medium, install (modern)automated irrigation
PROJECTED FOR 2023
While we cannot commit to a timeline we would like the members to know that the completion of the turf nursery this fall allows us to look forward to our 2023 projects and at the top of that list will be the relocation and construction of a new green for #12, an improvement long overdue. This project will be in addition to the start of our tee box rejuvenation plan, a 5 year ongoing plan. Of course as the property development progresses, further changes will be involved starting with the completion of the first of the new uphill holes.
PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT UPDATE
The sale of the property will hopefully close with a purchaser in the month of October 2022 agreements are being drafted currently. It has been challenging to finalize this sale as the property is still in use by the society and will take time for the society to be able to move off the property in full but developers need to begin to use the land at the same time. Nominal leases of portions of the property have been negotiated as part of the sale and the board is currently working with the City and surveyors to finalize the property line adjustments needed to provide the Society with the lands necessary to adjust the golf course as laid out by the golf course architects. We hope to be able to complete the sale very soon which would pay the debts off of the society and provide funding to start to complete what is needed to move off of for the first stages of development but again we have negotiated to continue to use other areas as needed if development is not planned in these areas immediately.
OPERATIONS UPDATE
We have managed to have a successful 2022 despite the weather challenges we encountered this year. We would like to thank our members and other clients for their support of our new food and beverage model and hope that the levels of service and our value menu selections served to make your experiences positive this season. We would like to thank the staff for their seemingly unending positivity this season as they were all asked to adapt to a system that placed many new challenges for all of them, they answered the bell and we all benefitted from their enthusiasm. We introduced a number of new events this year and you will see on our 2023 calendar that we are looking forward to a season next year where these events will continue to improve, thanks to our sponsors and organizers. As we move into the SIMULATOR SEASON our plan is to keep the snack bar open on a limited basis basically the same as last year, we will communicate details in the near future.
VOLUNTEERS
To our volunteers we extend a large thank you, from the construction needed at the new pumphouse, to the flowers and gardens around the clubhouse, to the fairways crew keeping the shortgrass playable we acknowledge your valuable contributions to our course, we needed you and you stepped up. Thank you.
LOOKING FORWARD TO 2023
We are so lucky to have this course in our back yard at a time when recreation facilities are being abandoned at an ever increasing rate, and we owe a debt of gratitude to the tireless volunteers over the decades that have given their time and expertise as board members and caretakers to keep this course alive since the early 1900s. The current board and staff are again excited to welcome you all back next year for another season of “trying to get better” at a game that never loses, just as the board and staff welcomed their members back 50 years ago. So take advantage of our EARLY BIRD MEMBERSHIPS before the end of October and start looking forward to Spring 2023.