This week, I had a nice email exchange with one of our members who was asking some questions about the course. The conversation evolved to the seasonal nature of the Club and the changes that occur each year. While most of the changes are minor, when combined, they can change the feel and quality of the golf course for the better. Also members, who are gone 3-4 months of the year don't always recall the way the course used to look or play like someone like me, who can recall all of the projects that I was involved in since I live, breathe and eat HCC! I wanted to share part of that conversation:
The following are excerpts from an email:
It's fun riding members around and pointing out changes; where things used to
be. Things like rain shelters, trees (of course), old cart paths etc. Once a
project is about 2 years old, it's accepted by members as, "it's always been
that way."
In the 16 years I've worked at the Club, we've done a lot of
work! Lots and lots of great improvements that they're hard to keep track of. I
sometimes wish I could travel back in time to 2000 and ride around the golf
course to be able to see the changes from another perspective.
Imagine the
changes since 1928. Granted, not much in the way of projects in those early days as maintenance was
minimal given the season- resort nature of the club back then. Imagine returning
in spring 1962 and suddenly having tee to green cart paths! Or the late 1970s
when the golf course was given closer mowed defined fairways. Prior to that, fairways and roughs we mowed all one height. Pretty amazing to think about. Can you imagine HCC prior to
cart paths!!?? Sure, they had to be ugly at first but once the golf cart became
commonplace, the course had to have been a sloppy mess with golfers getting
stuck. I think about all the drainage improvements we've had over the years and
the rainforest in which we live; it would be a nightmare today without cart
paths. How would you drive down #5 tee hill without pavement? Cart paths are
certainly ugly but we are one of those environments that I don't think you could
survive without them.
A couple changes that really stick out to me since I've
been here that most don't remember are:
1. The drainage on #1 and #12.
Those holes used to not be playable when we got over 1" of rain. On the 1st hole, the three
difference makers in improving the drainage on that hole were:
a. Were piping the condo gutter drains under the fwy rather than
spewing out onto the turf.
b. Replacing a 12" culvert in the center of the fwy that
was crushed...allowing about 3" of space for water to escape.
c. Finally, and you
may not believe this, plumbing the condos to town sewer, rather than the 1st fwy
being the septic drain field, made a HUGE difference. That has gone from the
worst fwys to one of the better Fairways. On both Fairways, if you hit a high
shot, your ball would plug as much as 6" into the earth.
Also, on #1, when the sewer line was tied into the condos, digging commenced at the green and worked towards Dillard road where it is tied into the town sewer line, 5' under ground on the right side of the road as you travel southwest on Dillard Rd. As you
play the hole, you will see a series of manholes up the left side rough at the
top of the hill. That sewer line runs directly underneath them (connect the
dots). The sewer line a
10" pipe that is gravity fed from the green to the roadside of Dillard
Road. There are no booster bumps involved! Think about the topography for a minute on #1. When we
installed that, the pipe is 3' deep at the green and is about 25-30' deep at the
ladies tee...it needed to be in order to get the estimated 2% fall to the road. Needless
to say, it was a heck of a mess of a project, but one I learned a lot from and one that certainly benefited the golf course.
2. Most don't
believe me when I tell them where the old cart path was on #13 was prior to 2010! It
is pretty shocking to visualize it now. There is a rock in the location of where the culvert was. It was shifted 20' or more to the right. The path went over top of the huge rock that is exposed behind the ladies tee. Of course, then, it was buried.
3. On #14, when driving down the
cart path, you could reach out and touch tree limbs on the left. Also, you could barely see
15 fairway from the cart path on 14. That's how dense the trees and limbs
were. In 2001, we removed about 20 giant white pines that were infected with Southern Pine Beetle. The trees were burned on site in order to kill the insects.
We keep moving forward, which is rare in this business post the
2008 economic downturn. It's fun being part of it! As long as this team is in place and we are led by the current committee, we will always be better than the year before. After all, that's the goal!
