The staff is doing a wonderful job getting all of our work competed and the course prepped for the Member-Guest Tournament. The course will be in great shape come Thursday despite the challenges we face. One, hosting the M/G the week after the July 4th holiday is difficult. The course takes a beating because of all the play and we fall behind because we are limited on how much work can get done with so much golf. Second, play doesn't slow down the week of the M/G. We do our best to be courteous to golfers but this week we need to keep moving in order for you to have a golf course you can be most proud of. Overtime is critical and the entire staff is working long hours. I receive many complaints about starting too early in the morning and waking folks up. Simply put, I have no choice given the intense golf schedule we have at Highlands CC. At times, I have mowers starting as early as 4:00am. In order to meet the demand and 8:30am shotgun starts, in the case of the M/G, this is the reality. To put this into perspective: Highlands CC does 13,000 rounds of golf, give or take every year. However, this is all squeezed into a 5 month window for the most part. This is the equivalent of a course getting about 32,000 rounds per year. That is a lot of divots and ballmarks! Furthermore, HCC is a small piece of property with much of the wear and tear concentrated in given areas. Look at tees alone...the USGA recommendation is 100ft2 of tee per 1000 rounds of golf played. Most of our tees are in the range of 400-600 square feet when the USGA says a minimum of 1,300ft2 to avoid excess wear and tear. The range tee is also too small at barely 1/2 acre when we need a full acre to be able to do what we trying. HCC is a wonderful golf course but at times, under built for the amount of golf played. This is where golf etiquette is so critical!! Golfers need to abide by Club rules in order to keep the course in great shape for your fellow members. This means replacing divots, fixing ball marks, using the driving range effectively and following the day's cart rules.
There is also other damage we deal with. Last night, an individual played ball with their dog on the 10th fairway. The starting and stopping and quick directional changes by the dog created an obscene amount of damage on the fairway that may or may not heal in the next 2 weeks. I am potentially thinking of making the area ground under repair for the tournament. It wouldn't be fair for the golfer to hit a great shot in the fairway only to have a lie in a torn section of turf created by a dog.
In short, I have a wonderful staff up to any and all challenges. But, you can help me, help you by taking care of your Club! It comes back to you and your guests; a golf course you can be proud to come to!