We recently finished another set of stairs on the ninth tee box.  The old ones were made of railroad ties which were sinking and separating.  The last thing we want is an injury to a member or guest due to repairable problem like dangerous stairs.  The crew took no time at all ripping out the old ones and prepping the ground for framing.





The day of the pour was July 11th, the first closed Monday in nearly three months.  We made the most of it by fertilizing the greens and green surrounds, flushing with 2 hours of irrigation the previous night, contracting two tree crews for removal of dead and dying trees, and we aerified all the approaches.  All in all, it was a very productive day.



The rear set of stairs on the ninth tee are seldom used and will be removed in the very near future.  After that, we can check this project off the to-do list and move on to the next location.  The next set of stairs to rebuild is the corner stairs on the 4th tee box.  This will be accomplished in-house by a couple of our skilled crew members that are also accomplished carpenters.

Like most of our projects, we intend to find a long term solution for a temporary problem.  These new stairs will be around for a very long time and without needing any upkeep, unlike the old ones.

Hormigas are ants.  That is a new Spanish word for me, taught by my always helpful, bi-lingual staff.  Ants on the greens have been a minor problem for a full year.  The fourth green has definitely been the worst one with up to twenty small mounds built in clusters.  Each day they are mowed down and rolled over, but they are reconstructed to their former glory by mid-afternoon.  I teased some members that I hired these ants to perform some minor aerification, but they are now becoming a problem that is more difficult to control than I would have guessed.


We tried the common insecticides that we normally spray about two times a year for cutworms.  The ants were knocked back for a few days and then started at it just like before.  Recently, the number of mounds have been increasing and they are starting to show up on most of the greens, not just a couple isolated areas.  I tried spot spraying, but the surface sprays would only last for two days.


My search for a cure led me to Turfnet, as is often does, and I searched The Forum to see what I could find.  There has definitely been a superintendent who has seen and resolved this problem before me,so there is no need to reinvent the wheel.  Sure enough, others had the same problem and went through the same process to eradicate las hormigas.  I was pointed in the direction of a USGA funded study at the University of Kentucky, 'Nuisance Ants on Golf Courses' by Reid M. Maier and Daniel A. Potter.

The troublesome ants are now much fewer in number and no longer marking up the putting greens.  The turf that was thinned or scalped due to the mounding will heal up in a short time and look just like ball marks that were not repaired.  Thanks to golfer etiquette, we've been pretty good in that category for a few weeks now. During his daily setup duties, Bert will keep an eye on the ant mounds and treat them as soon as they appear.

Last Monday, our first closed day in months, we welcomed Stockton GCC Junior Champion, Anthony Madrid to play an incredible amount of golf.  Anthony completed 162 holes, or 9 full rounds for his golf-a-thon benefiting the Eddie Guardado Foundation in the fight for a cure for autism.


Anthony is a phenomenal 15-year-old player with more endurance than your average man.  On his 125 hole, our par 4 17th, Anthony's approach shot came to rest 4 feet from the hole.  Even after cresting his goal of 150, he was still enthusiastic about each shot, barking at the ball to get up, get down, or get in.


When Anthony and his uncle Keith, finished up their day there was not a ballmark to be found on any one of these greens.  I knew providing access to the course for this great cause would not do too much harm, but I didn't expect his 9 rounds to leave the greens in better shape than when they arrived.

Nice work and congratulations!!!