Father's Day weekend activities 2016

Saturday of Father's Day weekend is the day that we play the Glendale version of the US Open. It's the one day per year where we set up the course as long as it can play with very difficult (but fair) hole locations. Green speed depends a lot on the previous week's weather and we've had rain two days this week so we'll do everything we can to make them speedy fast. We don't let the rough grow tall because we always have other events in the days following and it would take us until the middle of next week to get it knocked down again. I'll go out with Kenney our head pro and decide on the hole placements. We usually come up with some locations that would "test" even the best golfers so make sure you're here to have the most "enjoyable" round of the year.

 It's time to load up the kids and grand kids and come out to Glendale for our annual Father's Day brunch and fishing derby this Sunday, June 19th. Bring your pole and favorite lure or use one of the 14 poles we have ready for action. There will also be bait provided that will almost guarantee a catch. We stocked the pond two weeks ago with 400 rainbow Trout; 200 9-10", and 200 12". There are also some "lunkers" that are holdovers from last year which are in the 17-18" range. The fish shown below looks to me like it's over 12" so the anglers should have a great time fishing.  

I've seen fish fly at the Pike Place Fish Market, but never like the flying fish in the photo above. Just make sure that you tell your kids to hold on tight to their pole because if they hook one of the big ones, their pole could go for a swim!

Steve Kealy

Golf Course Superintendent

New Bridge at #11

The bridge over Kelsey Creek on the 11th hole at Glendale was recently rebuilt and opened for use. It had several pieces of decking that were rotted and needed replacing. We wanted to build it in the style of those on #6 and #8 but the cost was too high for us to do at this time. We spoke to Kenney Alhadeff (who had donated the funds to build the bridge at #8) and he was interested in making a large donation to rebuild the bridge and name it after his father.

The work began in mid November with our crew tearing off the old bridge decking.

Once the decking was off we made sure the supports were in good shape. 

New decking was lifted into place with our mini excavator.

The new  4"X 12" X 24' beams were set in place and bolted to the supports. 

The stone masons went to work to construct the four pillars located on each corner of the bridge. It's the same stone used at #1 tee and the bridges on #6 and #8. 

Next came the railing. It was designed by Tom Jergens and installed by one of his skilled craftsmen who did the work on the other two bridges. Next time you're on the bridge check out the fit and finish of the timbers used for the railing. The installation work is as good as it gets. 

The last step was to install the mat. We laid down two 6 foot wide strips to give a 12 foot wide total area across the bridge. This will make it easy for golfers to safely walk several abreast without fear of falling on the slippery surface. It will also protect the decking from cart traffic wear.

Special thanks to Kenny Alhadeff for the generous donation to make project possible and to Tom Jergens for design and overseeing the stone and railing installations. 

Steve Kealy

Golf Course Superintendent

#10 Fairway Drainage Project

Over the past two years the left side of #10 fairway has become unplayable during all but the summer months. Early last month we had several days of dry weather so we put together a plan and went to work.

The area needing drainage work is on the left side of #10 fairway from the 100 yard marker down to within 20 yards of the green. This photo shows sod removed where the drain lines will be installed. 

Here is a good shot of the trencher at work. 

Along the way we found several old drain lines that were cut during the 1993 irrigation system installation. It took 20 years for those cut lines to stop flowing and cause wet spots.

The cut lines were located, flushed out, and tied into the new drain lines. 

Once the trenching was complete we installed several inches of pea gravel in the bottom of the trench and laid the new drain line. Three inches of gravel went over the drain line then sand was filled to the top of the trench. Sod was put back in place and today it looks like nothing was ever done. 

Later this coming spring when the area is dried out we can move the fairway about 10 yards out further to the left.