Dry Start to 2025

The wet weather that Northern California experienced in late December of 2024 has flipped to dry in 2025. Mornings have been a bit frigid with a frost delay here and there, but with the absence of rain and occasional gusts of wind, the golf course has dried out and is playing winter fast and firm in most areas. The long tree shadows of winter keep some areas shady and therefore wet from December's rain, but we are getting one those Januarys where cold mornings and sunny temperate afternoons create good conditions for winter golf. These conditions are good for getting things done on the golf course as well as turf is not growing and we are not having to irrigate so can easily allocate resources to projects from our GBGC Master Improvement Plan. 

On that note, the week of January 20th GCM plans to start a multi-week project on the right hand side of #2 cart path near the green. We need to replace the curbing in this area that was damaged during the 2021 renovation. Additionally we want to do some irrigation retrofitting and some sod work. When doing this work, we plan on occasionally re-routing Member cart traffic in front of the green to the left had side, then over to a forward position on #3 tee. This occasional detour will start Wednesday 1/22/25 after the MLK Holiday along with back nine starts with the hope of  creating less inconvenience to the Member during our activities in the area. We estimate this work will take us through the first part of February. 

Above shows the damaged curb and the area we plan to start working on the week of January 20th. 

The detour will be delineated by simple cart directional signs. Cart path will be coned off at this juncture and the detour will be pretty hard to miss.

The forward location of #3 tee wont be much different for the pebble tees (green) but clubs will be paired with the pebbles and Granite's and Tournaments will be paired as well at about 25 to 30 yards shorter then their normal placements. 

Granite and Tournament tee markers will again  occasionally be located around the 136 yard marker on #3 when we detour cart traffic around the left hand side of #2 green during some repair and retrofitting work on the right hand side of #2.

Recent Birds of Granite Bay Golf Club

Granite Bays resident bird expert, Michele McCormick was out on the course when we were closed on Tuesday 1/21/25 and shared that she has been sighting some rare birds for our property that are starting to make GBGC their home we hope. Below are some stunning examples of Michele's work right here at GBGC.

Bufflehead

Great Blue Heron

Kingfisher

GBGC's Mute Swan returning for a third season.

Ring Necked Duck

Brand New to GBGC American Wigeon

Fairway Aeration & Greens Spiking

We wanted to remind the membership of our upcoming Fairway Aeration and Topdressing that is rapidly approaching in July. More on the actual process as we get closer, but the main thing for you to remember is the golf course will be closed for an entire week. 

Golf Course Fairway Aeration 
Monday July 8th through Friday July 12th

Golf Course Closed

This past Monday we verticle mowed, spiked and topdressed all putting surfaces on the course sticking to our plan to do small non invasive cultural practices to the greens for as long as possible to keep disruption for the membership and keep poa annua invasion on our greens to a minimum. Below are pictures of the process for those who haven't see them before.

Step #1 - Vertical Mow the surfaces. Circular saw like blades positioned vertically on a shaft slightly penetrate the surface and remove grain and thin the leaf volume of the green. Less leaf volume equals less friction. Less friction equals better ball roll & speed. Theoretically. 

Good image of the verticle mower blades close up.

Another good image of the surface directly after the verticle mower went over the green.

Step #2 - Cleanup - All of that  removed leaf surface leaves a mess that we clean up with a mower and blowers. Mowing after verticle mowing also clips the lifted leaf blades of the verticle mowing process.

Step #3 - Deep Tine Spiking. We like to follow the verticle mowing process with spiking. The tines above are 5/16" in diameter and we spike to a depth of 7". Holes in the surface provide avenues for water and equally or more importantly, air to penetrate deep into the putting surfaces core. Air equals deeper roots. Deeper roots equals an healthier overall putting surface that can hold up to less frequent irrigation. Less frequent irrigation equals better ball roll and speed. Theoretically.

Good image of the spiking pattern. 5" X 3" pattern with holes that are 7" deep. 

Step #4 - Sand topdressing. Sand topdressing on putting surfaces is considered a BMP by all turf managers and academics throughout the industry. The amounts and type of sand topdressing vary but in general turf managers like to use sand that is not too course or too fine. We like to lightly and frequently topdress greens at an amount of 1.0 to 1.5 cubic foot of sand topdressing per application targeting a total of 25 to 35 cubic feet of topdressing sand per 1000 square feet per year. Above illustrates a application of 1.6 cubic foot per 1000 square feet.
 Light and Frequent Topdressing dilutes the organic matter that putting surfaces make that if allowed to become excessive can lead to some real problems that is easiest remedied by core aeration which we are trying to avoid at least for a few years. 

Step #5 - Brushing in the topdressing. This image is from earlier this season when we Dry-Jected the Putting Surfaces and applied more sand then what is depicted in step #4. It is the same process where we slowly brush the greens with soft brushes attached to a Greens Groomer Brush. Brushing works the sand topdressing into the small  spiking holes, the grooves that the verticle mower left and the turf canopy and is a primary contributor to the smoothness and firmness of a putting surface. 

Step #6 - Two days out  finished product. Day one after the above chronicled process we rolled and blew off remnants of sand with back pack blowers. Day two (today 5/30/24) we mowed and rolled and blew the greens again and above is the product you are putting on today. 

Above is a closeup. A little bit of visible sand and you can see the verticle mowing lines slightly. 

Above picture was taken Tuesday 5/28/24 down one Cygnet since Friday 5/24/24. On Wednesday 5/29/24 in the morning we were down to 5 Cygnets. Michele McCormick Granite Bay's own bird expert says a 50% survival rate is pretty typical. Lets keep our fingers crossed. 

Summer is Coming

It is only 27 days until the official start of Summer marked by the Summer Solstice on Thursday June 20th. This begins the 94 day period leading to the  Fall Equinox on Sunday September 22nd where the hours of daylight equal the hours of night. The Summer season has traditionally been the hardest season on this golf course and most of our preparations and efforts throughout the year are aimed at surviving it. 

Our 2021 renovation / turf conversion addressed in part our summer issues by converting our fairways to warm season hybrid bermuda, however the golf course is still 60% cool season turf in the rough which is susceptible to these Sacramento summers. We have been adding Tall Fescue to the rough because of its superior heat tolerance to ryegrass, but it is still a cool season variety and therefore doesn't thrive when it gets hot.  As a reminder, hybrid bermuda does not do well in the shade and with our tree lined Parkland Style Golf Course and its associated shade, the best options for the rough are the cool season varieties of turf. 

So summer is coming but we feel good about our preparations and the condition of the golf course going into this stressful period. First, we are not worried about 40% of the golf course, specifically the fairways as they will thrive in the summer heat. Secondly, we have a strong population of the hardier Tall Fescue that has been established over the last three years and thirdly we successfully core aerated all of the rough in the early spring and we are counting on big dividends from that process.

How you can help is minimizing cart traffic in the rough during the summer. Utilize cart paths when you can and enter golf holes through the gates then drive on the durable fairway turf until you exit the hole through the exit gates. Currently we do not have any holes designated cart path only but anticipate closing a couple holes at a time in the summer to mitigate the wear and tear of cart traffic, so respecting those closures when we do have them is also helpful. 

Thank you in advance for your help with this matter. We all want the same thing, a golf course that we can be proud of year-round. Below are some pictures of recent progress on the golf course.

Last week we finally got to fixing a nagging low spot that was left over from the 2021 renovation to the left of the new forward tee on #2. Prior to us starting to sod this area it was a lovely puddle of mud.

We decided to do a sump drain because our normal recourse of tapping into existing drainage was a much larger job then we wanted to tackle at the time. A sump drain is a big hole filled with rock. The vertical drainpipe in the picture will serve as an inspection hole where we can monitor the depth of the drainage water at any given time. Additionally, the pipe will be helpful during rainy weather as the area is still low and might need to be pumped. 

Above is the finished product. No more mud hole.

We recently purchased a large fairway drag brush that we have been using ahead of fairway mowers to remove the grain in our Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda fairways. This brushing has really tightened these fairways up. 

This week we started repairing some of the bad areas along cart paths primarily. The process is strip the area of what bad sod is left then rototill sand and compost into existing native soil conditioning the soil so it has a fighting chance of supporting new sod. 

After to soil preparation, grading and tamping, we add some fertilizer, re-sod with fresh sod from our nursery then irrigate and rope off  to cart traffic so new sod can establish. We addressed areas near #3 green, #16 green & #6 green this week.

This picture was taken Friday 5/24/24. All seven Cygnets still flourishing at about 5 weeks old. The Family move regularly from pond to pond now, and one of the parents has been spotted on multiple occasions flying around low and looking for I don't know what.

A postcard image taken by Meredith of the same Swans and Cygnets this morning, Friday 5/24/24. 

Spring Mini Update

Spring is a great time of the year that is always associated with incredible business on a golf course. Everything starts to grow at once and then we fertilize and make it grow more. If you stop mowing because of spring showers, the grass will get out of control so you just mow, mow, mow even when it is a little wet. Then only a few days after the  rain stops, you have to start irrigating, then it rains again. Then the wind blows and topples some more trees and blows countless truckloads of debris out of the ones left standing. Its nothing new, always busy and incredibly beautiful. Enjoy some spring time pictures from one of the coolest places on earth, GBGC!

Our 2023 pair of Swans are back and have already hatched seven cygnets. Babies represented above are a couple of weeks old and are hanging out at the upper pond of #3.

Turtles are all over this year. 

Including their offspring crawling across the greens

#16 in May. Course is showing and playin good as it should in May. 

We are starting refreshing process with the bunkers, adding new sand to the ones that need it first, then a little bit in all of them. Presidents rock bunker on #18 just refreshed this week. 

On Monday 5/6/24 we added supplemental irrigation to the fescue banks below the driving range teaching center and bank in front of the grass tee. These type of little additions to the golf course infrastructure are under ground and out of sight but make huge differences to the quality of turf they effect. 

Upcoming 

Memorial Day Monday 5/27/24 - Club Open

Tuesday 5/28/24 - Club Closed

Eureka School Foundation Monday 6/3/24

Mackenzie Cup - Thursday 6/13/24 through Saturday 6/15/24

USGA Amateur Qualifier - Monday 7/1/24

GBGC Fairway Aeration & Topdressing Week - Monday 7/8/24 - Friday 7/12/24 

Club Closed for the Week

The Dog Days of Summer 2023

 

Here we are again, The Dog Days of Summer at Granite Bay. The "Dog Days", as the ancient Romans called this period of time, was not about the weather being unfit for a dog, but an astrological event where the Sirius "Dog Star" and associated constellation rises with the sun for 40 day's in early July through mid August. The ancients believed the extra heat experienced during this stretch was the combination  of  heat produced by The Dog Star and The Sun's close proximity. But science tells us the dog days are the result of the earths tilt in the Northern Hemisphere related to the sun, where the angle of the suns rays hit our part of the world more directly,  and for a longer period of time. 

The Dog Days and summer in general have always taken its toll on GBGC, but if one is to be fair and search ones memory of past summers here, you would have to come to the conclusion that we are better in the summer now since we converted fairways to Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda. However since our cool season rough encompasses more of the golf course then our new warm season fairways, we are still susceptible to summer heat and 2023 is no exception. 

Collar Sod Replacement

One of the areas on the course that did take a hit this summer was some of our collar sod. Whether it struggled, thinned and in some cases died from any combination of heat, bad soil, lack of moisture, too much moisture, vehicle and foot traffic, bad luck, it ended up dead. And no amount of seeding will bring it back quick enough, so we are in process of re-sodding portions of the collars.

GCM staff re-sodding walk-up collar on #3.

There are some challenges with re-sodding parts of  our collars. During 2021 construction, a tall fescue blend of sod was chosen as the collar sod to hold back the encroaching Santa Anna into the newly seeded greens which was a real issue at the time. Tall Fescue was chosen for its heat tolerance, and it is, despite our current losses,  more heat tolerant then other choices such as ryegrass. However tall fescue sod  is not commercially produced at the lower heights of cut that we maintain our collars at, so we have to install the taller sod 1/2" deep and sand topdress the difference so when we eventually mow the sod down to match our current collar's level, we dont mow the Turfgrass Crown of the individual grass plants that make up the new sod and kill them. Therefore we have to slowly  bring the height of cut down as the new sod roots into the soil  as well as continue to topdress the aforementioned 1/2" gap. This will take some time so the new sodded areas will be painted as GUR so golfers can get relief from the taller replaced collar sod.

Completed collar replacement will be marked GUR for awhile as it roots down and establishes. 

Recent Drainage Installation

Our recent fairway aeration and topdressing in late July exposed some fairway drainage work, that although we knew existed, we believed  necessary to repair sooner rather then later. Therefore shortly after aeration we installed 100' of surface drainage in #15 in one location  and almost 500' on three separate locations on #9. We still have more topdressing to do to smooth these areas out and will continue to do so until the areas blend with existing fairway turf. 

GCM staff installing surface drainage on #9 FW.

Shortly after installation. The work is serving its purpose moving water off of a low areas in the fairway. Subsequent topdressing's and sod establishment will rapidly make tis go away at this time of the year as hybrid bermuda loves the heat.

Minks Getting Established

Mink sightings on the course are becoming more and more numerous. Michele McCormick, frequents the course on closed Mondays capturing nature through her spectacular photography. On a recent Monday she got the below shot of a Mink swimming in the pond between #1 and #9. Recent sightings by GCM staff included a small family of four minks sticking their heads up through the rocks in front of #3 green as well as numerous sightings of them running along those rocks, and another chasing a goose off of #10 fairway early in the morning. They could have had something to do with our missing baby swans and perhaps are another reason why geese are not overnighting on our ponds. Additionally, and this is just an anecdotal observation on my part, but I dont notice as many ground squirrels around. As is all things related to nature, be carful what you wish for, but if the Minks establishment help keep the geese and ground squirrels in check, we might have a good thing going.

Great capture of a Mink swimming in #1 & #9 ponds.

Another great shot of a Hawk and a Lizard

Canada Geese

We all know that GBGC is a magnet for the pesky Canada Geese, and despite some early season successes in humanely chasing them off the course, we have had a resurgence in what we believe are regionally migratory geese, who are moving around the area.  We speculate this because they do not overnight on our ponds thanks to the Away With Geese lighting we have placed on the golf course ponds that disrupt the sleeping pattern of the geese, forcing them to slumber somewhere else. My guess is Folsom Reservoir, which as the Goose Fly's is just over a mile.

Folsom Reservoir is a almost nothing flight for a Canada Goose.

The Away With Geese Lights do exactly what they are designed to do, keep geese populations from getting really comfortable by overnighting on our ponds. These simple solar powered flashing lights do keep them away at night.

How do we know these geese are not overnighting? GCM starts each and every day in the dark, and the lights are flashing and the geese are not here. What we are observing are these  regional migratory flocks arriving later in the day to feed as food sources are far and few few between this time of the year. They seem to like eating the cool season rough grass lining the fairways in the #9, #8 & #5 areas predominantly, but they are foraging and leaving behind their mess all over the course.

What are we doing about the problem? We have been stepping up our dog chasing  efforts which historically has kept the Geese populations in check.at this property. Granite Bay has been using  Dog & Whistle Goose Control to chase and harass Geese since 2009. Dog & Whistle adopt and train rescue Border Collies, a natural herding breed with a "supernatural amount of energy and stamina". They are trained to get into the water which is a must for hazing Geese as the birds first instinct when being chased on land is to go into the water. When the pressure continues from land into water over and over again they will go else where to find a food source. 

Timing on the flocks arrival varies day to day  so GCM is using our large fairways blowers to harass and blow off Goose droppings at the same time in the early afternoon using two blowers, one on each side of the pond on #9. Since the blowers cant go into the water, we are trying some remote control boats to chase them once they have landed there. After GCM goes home, Dog & whistle comes out and applies more pressure with the Border Collies. Hopefully this multi-faceted approach will keep this regional group in check until rice harvest, only a month away and another desirable food source.

Swan Update

After the appearance in February of  a pair of visiting Mute Swans on our #1 & #9 pond we all were hoping they would consider taking up permanent residency here at GBGC. Their added novelty & beauty, along with the potential hazing possibilities of their distant cousins, the pesky pooping  Canada Geese, would make them a welcome addition to the Granite Bay ponds. We started to get a little worried that perhaps a predator got to one of the pair a few weeks ago, as only one had been spotted in recent weeks. We are happy to report that that is not the case and they will be here awhile longer as they are nesting in a secluded little bay near the #1 green.

We don't know how many eggs they are sitting on right now, but will report back when we have more photographic evidence. However it looks like we will be observing a family soon, and maybe have at least a pair around for some time after that. 

I gleaned from the Wikipedia linked article above that:

"Mute swans nest on large mounds that they build with waterside vegetation in shallow water on islands in the middle or at the very edge of a lake. They are monogamous and often reuse the same nest each year, restoring or rebuilding it as needed. Male and female swans share the care of the nest, and once the cygnets are fledged it is not uncommon to see whole families looking for food. They feed on a wide range of vegetation, both submerged aquatic plants which they reach with their long necks, and by grazing on land. The food commonly includes agricultural crop plants such as oilseed rape and wheat, and feeding flocks in the winter may cause significant crop damage, often as much through trampling with their large webbed feet, as through direct consumption.^[24] It will also feed on small proportions of aquatic insects, fish and frogs.^[25]"

"Mute swans lay from 4 to 10 eggs. The female broods for around 36 days, with cygnets normally hatching between the months of May and July.^[46] The young swans do not achieve the ability to fly before about 120 to 150 days old. This limits the distribution of the species at the northern edge of its range as the cygnets need to learn to fly before the ponds and lakes freeze over."

"The Swan is known around the world for its beauty, elegance, and grace.

The swan is a genus of waterfowl that has the ability to swim and fly with incredible speed and agility. This bird is also very intelligent, devoted to its mate, and highly aggressive about defending its young. They are a common sight in temperate and colder climates around the globe." (az ANIMALS)

Spring Has Finally Sprung

2023 has so far  been a unusual year for weather here at Granite Bay Golf Club. By now we all are likely aware of California's record breaking snow & rainfall accumulation's in 2023. And although GBGC's rainfall amounts were not record breaking, we recorded to date 32.68" of rain which is the 3rd highest in 18 years. Additionally spring weather has been cooler then normal which hinders the awakening of our new hybrid bermuda fairways. All of this is in the rear view mirror now as we are now experiencing temperatures in the 80's,  with plenty of sun and almost 14 hour days. Summer will be here before you know it.

The week of April 17th we finished aeration and topdressing of the back nine fairways. Weather was cooler then we would have liked for recovery but we are getting the temp's now, so recovery will be rapid. Additionally we have diversified our   Canadian Geese Hazing or harassments efforts by employing  additional pressure from Dog & Whistle Goose Control as well as adding some solar lighting on the water that will irritate floating sleeping geese. See pictures below.

You might have noticed some floating foreign objects in the ponds recently. These objects look like lights because they are. The devices are a flashing solar  light from Away With Geese  that activates flashing lights with a photocell, and that add additional harassment to Geese who like to sleep on the water. Our geese population numbers are tracked weekly by Dog & Whistle, and with the addition of the lights and added dog hazing pressure has brought our Geese numbers down significantly.

Early morning picture of the lights flashing. We have used these lights many years ago with limited success, but not in conjunction with the dog hazing. A shout out and thank you is warranted for Jim Beckmeyer & Keith Benfield who conducted allot of research on solutions to our Goose  problem.

More from the GBGC Animal Kingdom

Last Friday 4/21/22 we had a escaped visitor trucking around the course pictured here with our own Michael Nicoletti. 

Here he is, taking a stroll along the cart path before crossing into the native area.

Here he is again, looking really good in that freshly mowed fescue. He was obviously someone's pet and after a short incarceration for trespassing, he was reunited with his local family. 

If the above pictures of our visitor are not enough to remind us of what a special place GBGC is to be a part of , here is another reminder. A recent sunrise captured by our own GBGC GCM employee partner Amanda Bergstrum.