From a Golf Course Superintendent’s Eye

As a golf course superintendent, I have a unique perspective of a golf course which usually means looking down.

But over this past year, I found myself looking up and enjoying the interactions and pleasure that this game brings to so many.  Since golf was one of the only things you could do early in the reopening stages of 2020, we were a fortunate industry to be in.

I guess we’re lucky that golf is a game of social distancing, especially depending on how far you hook or slice it. With people wanting to do something, most turned to golf, rekindling the passion for many and shedding new light on the benefits it offers for one’s wellbeing.

The golf industry as a whole experienced a large uptick in golf rounds. We had weekend warriors become weekday warriors, many new to golf learned and continue to play and the groups that play every morning through the week which normally sneak out five minutes early began sneaking out 15 minutes early (I see you).

It was great to see people coming out, able to breathe fresh air, exercise, and enjoy the company of their fellow patrons, all while enjoying this wonderful game. For a moment people could forget about the craziness of everything else, get a sense of normalcy, and de-stress.

My hope is that more people continue to experience what golf has to offer and the game continues to grow.

If this means that our maintenance team and I are managing more divots, ball marks, and traffic patterns, then it is a welcomed task.

Through 2020 our maintenance team was able to take on some much-needed improvements while accomplishing our cultural practice plans and day-to-day maintenance.

During the shutdown, it allowed us the opportunity to put a drain in on #1 green Cascade. This area plagues us annually with poor health, due to standing water on the green.

We renovated more tee complexes by flattening and enlarging them, allowing a flatter tee stance and more teeing ground.  Our team also began rebuilding aging bunker faces to their original appearance.  We recently added 65 tons of sand to our bunkers on Olympic giving them a much-needed refreshing.

We designed new tee markers for the Cascade, flags, and sticks for both Olympic and Cascade, giving both courses a renewed look. We began replacing aging irrigation heads on the Cascade course with more efficient, newer ones.

One of our bigger feats was the design and renovation of our driving range tee and practice area, adding a 150ft hitting mat allowing golfers to practice all year long.

Here is a look back at some of the accomplishments of our team:

Stay safe and we look forward to seeing you on the course.

Abel Anderson
Golf Course Superintendent

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A Unique Year in Golf – COVID-19

2020 has brought us a multitude of things, good and bad (mostly bad), but was a year that the golf industry will never forget. Following the state lockdown, multiple recreational activities remained off-limits, while golf stood out as one of the safest activities where social distancing was possible and allowed those to get out of the house, stay active, and have fun.

Business at Gold Mountain saw a significant uptick due to this, and a sizeable increase in new golfers and lapsed golfers looking for lessons to improve their game.

Seeing as large group activities with people from separate households were generally frowned upon, the normal Gold Mountain instruction offerings (Junior camp, PGA Junior League, Spring clinics, etc.) were put on hold in 2020. We felt that this was in our best interest to be a responsible business in the current climate. This led to a big focus on individual instruction and certainly showed that people were interested in learning more about this great game.

With the light at the end of the tunnel going into 2021, group instruction offerings will be bolstered once again, and we are so excited to do so! Starting in the spring, our “Spring into the Golf Season” clinics will be returning, which will kick off our 2021 instructional offerings. Junior camp programs will be more abundant this season, and the same goes for adult clinics and programs.

As long as the health and safety of our students remains a focus (with a little help from this vaccine in the works), 2021 promises to be our biggest and best year of golf instruction in a long time. With the increase in demand, we saw this season, we expect a lot of golfers to be interested!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Travis Cary, PGA
Assistant Gold Professional and Teaching Instructor 

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The Best Time to Golf

Hole #16, Par 3

STRANGE times!

It is hard to believe we’re already in August! This has been, to say the least, a STRANGE year so far. With the shutdown due to the pandemic, and all the operational changes put in place once we did open, it has kept us pre-occupied and helped time fly by.

Looking back at the last five months it is easy to get caught up thinking about all the negatives and worrying about what is to come. I, however, would like to focus on a couple of positives from this experience.

The first being the spiked interest in the game of golf. Certainly, being one of the few activities approved as “safe” by our elected officials’ post-shutdown has helped.

We have seen our regulars playing more golf and an influx of new players which has led to rounds and business levels I have not seen in decades.

The second positive would be the condition of the courses. I know being shut down for almost six weeks during the start of the growing season helped, but the operational practices by our superintendent Abel Anderson and his team have been paramount.

We aerified both courses green’s once the shutdown started and was able to continue topdressing them with sand for the weeks to follow.

Divot filling, some new tee construction, applications of wetting agent, and general maintenance also occurred.

The result, once we were able to open back up, was near perfection! Both courses were in the best shape for that time of the year that I have ever seen.

And because they were both so healthy, they have been able to handle all the increased traffic.

General Manager,
Daryl Matheny

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Bring on the Rain

After one of the driest summers on record, the grounds staff is looking forward to the Washington rain coming our way.
However, I am sure come February we will be singing a different tune.
This season seemed to never want to end and it looks like it may not for a few more weeks.
The rain holding off for just a bit longer will be a benefit for our team, and allow us to prepare the golf courses for the winter.
Some of the majoy tasks you will see us working on before the rain finally does come are: aerification of tees, fairways, and approaches, repeating spring aerification on our greens, overseeding distressed areas form the season, and drainage projects.

Drainage is key to all golf courses across the nation, however most of them do not see 70+ inches of rain throughout the winter.
There are a few areas in need of drainage to improve playability not only in the winter but also in the summer.
Over seeding distressed areas sooner rather than later will make a great difference to our courses come spring.
If we wait too long into fall and winter, it will be difficult to get the seed to germinate and the seedlings to survive.
Giving the plant a chance now will pay off come April.

Aerification of tees, fairways, and approaches will help the golf course handle the rains this winter.
It should allow the property to drain better over the next few months allowing for better winter conditions.
This will also provide a healthier product for the following season.
Breaking up the compaction as well as removing organic matter from the profile should have lasting benefits on the golf courses.
Lastly, we hope to aerify October 9 and October 10 – weather dependent.
We will be repeating the process we had so much success with this spring, as we saw our greens respond better than every.
Hopefully by doing it this way, we will have a high-quality product during the winter that can also handle the feet of rain we anticipate.
So, before the rain does finally start pouring, we hop to get the course in the best shape possible to handle the Pacific Northwest fall.

Patrick McKenzie
Superintendent
Gold Mountain Golf Club

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A Little Taste of Behind the Scenes

Summer time is here and the entire team is on deck and ready to make Gold Mountain the best course for our golfers.

As a mechanic, this means I need to get the equipment ready for the intense labor done throughout the season.

I need to make sure the welder is dialed in, spare parts are on the shelf, and so much more that goes into making Gold Mountain Golf Club the amazing facility that it is.

A lot of prep work goes into ordering parts and being ready for the call to come fix equipment at a moment’s notice.

During the summer month my assistant and I focus on keeping the reels sharp and cutting well on all machinery.

Of course, it’s not always that easy seeing this is not the only thing we have to focus on.

With a full staff running around our 36-hole facility, we have our phones on and tools ready for the “I’m stuck” calls or the “My mower just stopped running” cries.

We have a lot of equipment that has been around for more than 20 years, and keeping it going is a task in-and-of itself.

There is always something happening to keep us busy, not to mention a golf course full of golfers.

Maintaining our equipment properly is a requirement to make sure we are not wasting precious time fixing something that could have been avoided, or leaving a team member stranded out on the course.

Regular services and making sure our team members inform us of any funny sounds can save us the embarrassment of that ugly turf repair or hydraulic burn on the course.

Don’t be fooled however, this is the reason we love our jobs as mechanics!

There is always something new, challenging, and unexpected happening here at Gold Mountain Golf Club.

Not many golfers know what goes into making their favorite course so amazing, and we are so proud of the product we are able to produce every day here in Bremerton, Washington.

Andrew Goodell
Equipment Manager
Gold Mountain Golf Club

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Practice, Get Better, Have Fun!

Practice makes perfect.

You’ve heard the phrase a million times.

Gold Mountain Golf Club is known for having two of the best public golf courses in the state of Washington, but did you know we also have an amazing practice facility?

The addition of range targets is very exciting and give golfers a new focus while practicing.

In the lower, short game bowl the range targets will help golfers dial in their short wedge distances more effectively.

The best part is, now you can bring your friends out and have some friendly competition on the range!

Our practice facility also has a multitude of chipping and putting greens that will allow golfers to further practice their short game.

With new mowing patterns around our short game facilities golfers are able to work on tight lies, various distances, and more to get them ready for the golf course.

Perhaps you’re having trouble hitting your wedges.

Getting your ball on line with the putter.

Finding the fairway with your driver.

Well, you’re in luck!

Gold Mountain Golf Club has a variety of group clinics and golf instructors available to help you improve your game.

Learn more about group and private lessons online, and find the instructor that fits your style and budget best.

Remember, practice makes perfect!

Let our golf instructors improve your game and allow you to have more fun on the course!

See you soon!

Travis Cary, PGA
Assistant Golf Professional
503.798.1122

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“And The Putter Went…PING”

I just picked up the book And The Putter Went…PING by Jeffery Ellis and it is heavy…literally.

The book tells the true American success story that began in the garage of Karsten Solheim, as he invented the PING putter in 1959.

Why is there so much to be said and chronicled in huge color photos and print about PING?

I recently spoke to the Pacific Northwest PING Sales Manager, George Houlihan, about what makes PING different from other club companies and he said it comes down to principles and design.

“It all boils down to engineering principles and design.
PING is a family run company, who is now in its third generation of engineers.
They never put a product in to the market place unless it is better than its predecessor.
Testing the current product, learning how to make it better, and then integrating those designs and engineering principles into their new product, that is what sets them apart.”

All that engineering and design is to the benefit of you and I, making a more enjoyable, forgiving, and better performing product.

That’s why the Gold Mountain Operations Manager, John Sitton, is on staff with PING.

“I love their putters and irons, specifically their player irons.
Right now I’m playing the iblade, five through pitching wedge, and the i200, three and four irons.
My putter is the Sigma G, Tyne.
The PING G driver is the straightest drive I’ve ever hit.”

It is the color coding system that was invented by PING in 1972, that distinguishes the lie angle of the club, and is recognizable and memorable by the golfer who plays PING.

John Sitton identifies with the old color charts yellow, which translates into the green on the current color chart.

So even with the new color chart out, it is still easy to remember his lie angle.

Scott Alexander’s PING clubs fit in the Maroon color code.

Scott, who was the Director of Golf at Gold Mountain Golf Club for 27 years, has been playing PING clubs for about 25 years.

He was also PING’s 2007 fitter of the year!

“What stood out to me about PING back when I started selling them was that they were the original “fitters” of the golf club.
Fit is important to me because I am 6’5″ tall and need a five degree upright club.
Because PING offers these options in their fitting process, they make my clubs’ balance and feel, better than anyone else.”

So, I’ve learned a lot about PING in my brief exploration of its history, club design, engineering, and their effect on the players who play them.

Nearly everyone I spoke to said that people who have bought PING, become PING customers for life.

That is the exact reason why Gold Mountain Golf Club continues to bring our guests the best selection of PING clubs.

We have over 30 PING demo options to try and over 75 clubs in stock to sell today, not to mention professional fitting is available and custom ordering is quick.

Do you know your PING color code?

Come see us today to find out!

Suzanne Mehlert
Gold Mountain Golf Club
Buyer

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Staying In the Moment

I played a round of golf recently with some friends, and it dawned on my about halfway through the round that I was actually “staying in the moment!”

I hear this catch phrase time and time again but never really gave it much thought, or event tired to put it to use.

I guess this particular round was different for me mentally because I wasn’t thinking about my last shot, my last hole, or my last bogey.

All I was thinking about was the shot in front of me and trying to play the best shot I could.

I was asked a couple of time throughout the round how I stood to par and I honestly didn’t know!

All I was doing was trying to hit the best shot I could with the lie I was given.

In the end, I scored well but better yet I enjoyed the round so much more!

I guess I never through about how much energy I wasted thinking about the bad shots or the bad holes through the round, staying in the moment actually works.

So the next round you have, try staying in the moment and see how it works for you.

And if you need a little help getting there our private and group lessons are perfect at helping golfers get out of their own head and focusing on the FUNdamentals of the game of golf.

Learn more about Gold Mountain private and group lessons online.

Daryl Matheny,
General Manager
Gold Mountain Golf Club

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Spring Aerification

We all know that aerification is a sensitive subject for golfers but, I feel with the proper information and education there can be a better understanding of why we do it and how it benefits the playing experience throughout the season.
This year, we tried something different at Gold Mountain.
In the past, we would punch a few small holes and then topdress the greens with a light layer of sand about a week later.
This season the whole process changed and we have seen great results.
We started with a heavy layer of sand, about as much as we typically use in the fall.
Followed then by punch the greens with 60 3/8″ solid tines, which is twice as many tines as normal.
After the punch, we waited for the sand to dry, which is a lot like watching paint dry.
It is essential to make sure the sand is completely dry, otherwise when we drag the greens the sand will seal off the holes and we won’t get sand into the profile.
Now is when the race begins.

First, we send a steel drag mat out to do an initial once over drag.
After that, we send our verticutting units set at 1/8″ to help work the sand into the profile.
Next, the brush drag mats make two or three laps around each green, which helps move even more sand into the profile.
Lastly, we take our heavy greens roller over them to smooth out any lumps or imperfections.
After this process is done the greens are ready for play.
They are not in mid-season form directly following this process, however they are in great shape considering everything we put them through over the day.

One day removed from aerification, I would say our greens are at least at 85% and should be back to 100% roughly seven to 10 days following.
This process is very important to producing the best possible playing conditions throughout the season.
It will allow us to provide fast, firm, fair, and true greens because it allows for gas exchange and water movement within our greens.
So, when you look back at the week following aerification when you are playing in July and the greens are perfect, remember to say thanks for punching them in May!

Patrick McKenzie
Superintendent
Gold Mountain Golf Club

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A Great Season for Junior Golf

Hi Everyone,

Travis Cary here, Assistant PGA Golf Professional at Gold Mountain Golf Club.

One of my primary responsibilities as Assistant Golf Professional is to teach and grow the game of golf.

The sun is starting to come out and summer time is right around the corner, which means Gold Mountain Junior Camps will be underway in the next few months.

There have never been more junior golf opportunities available at Gold Mountain, which makes it the perfect time to get your junior golfer started in golf.

PGA Junior League is an exciting program that we now have available at Gold Mountain beginning May 1 and will run through the month of June.

These juniors will get hands-on instruction from myself, and also get a fun and relaxing introduction to competitive golf.

The best part is, PGA Junior League is perfect for all skill levels!

The kids will receive numbered jerseys and other gear, all included in their entry fee.

In addition to PGA Junior League we will be hosting our annual Junior Camp in summer 2018!

The camp will be held at Gold Mountain Monday, July 9 through Friday, July 13, from 8am to 12pm Monday through Thursday and tee times beginning at 5pm on Friday, our Cascade Course, to allow the kids to take their new skills on the course.

This camp is open to juniors ages six to 17, we have equipment available for your junior to use while in camp if necessary, and we want to welcome every level of golfer.

If you are interested in getting your junior golfer a set of clubs to take on the season US Kids Golf is a great company that designs clubs made specifically for kids.

Beginning in 2018, I am offering free club fittings for any junior looking for a new set of clubs at Gold Mountain.

Visit US Kids Golf to view all of their great products and contact me via email to set up an appointment.

Happy Golfing!

Travis Cary
Assistant PGA Golf Professional
Gold Mountain Golf Club

 

 

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