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Gold Mountain Introduces Team Member of the Quarter!

Gold Mountain’s Team Member of the Quarter recognizes a team member who brings forward all of our values.

Enthusiasm, respect, creativity, honesty, sincerity, and accountability.

This team member is voted for by the entire team in all departments, and is recognized at our all staff quarterly meeting.

This quarter Denise Garza was voted to become Gold Mountain’s very first Team Member of the Quarter!

Denise’s outstanding qualities and contributions to not only Gold Mountain, but to Columbia Hospitality as a whole, have caught the attention of every team member that has the privilege of working beside her.

Denise started working at one of the Columbia Hospitality properties in 2006, McCormick Woods Golf Club.

At McCormick Woods Denise was the leader of the Snack Shop, lead dining room assistant, banquet server, and housekeeper.

Denise has always risen to any challenge with great enthusiasm and positivity.

In 2016, Denise was promoted to Snack Shop Supervisor at Gold Mountain Golf Club.

Denise has very successfully lead the beverage cart and Snack Shop teams.

She has helped broaden the inventory available in the Snack Shop and on the beverage carts, as well as helping create a new Snack Shop on the Olympic Course known as “The Den.”

The addition of The Den helped lead Gold Mountain to records in our food and beverage department.

Denise is also part of the dining room assistant team and banquet team at Gold Mountain.

Most recently, Denise has been asked to join a third Columbia Hospitality property, Kitsap Conference Center as a banquet server and concierge.

Denise has exhibited continued and unwavering professionalism, dedication, and sincerity throughout her time at Gold Mountain Golf Club.

Her calling is truly hospitality and we are extremely grateful to have Denise on our team.

Her leadership, honesty, and creativity are contagious among guests and team members alike.

I am so proud of Denise Garza and grateful to be a part of her continued growth and success.

Tiffany Schenk
Area Director of Food and Beverage
Columbia Hospitality

 

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Contrary to Popular Belief

Aerification and topdressing are seen as negatives by most golfers but they are vital to maintaining healthy turf and creating the best possible playing conditions.

We will look at what it takes to achieve both of these practices as well as the benefits both provide to the turf.

Aerification can be a time-consuming practice, however, when done the right way we can achieve it with little to no interference with the golfers. We use two Toro Procore 648 machines to aerify our tees, approaches, and greens.

We aerify our tees and approaches once a year with half inch side eject hollow tines.

When aerifing our greens we use multiple sizes of tines depending on the time of year, weather, and what we are trying to accomplish.

In the fall, we use half inch side eject hollow tines as our goal is to remove organic matter from the profile and replace it with sand.

This also helps our greens drain well throughout the winter.

In the spring, we use either three eighths of an inch side eject hollow tines or quarter inch solid needle tines.

The benefit of the smaller tines in the spring is that they allow our greens to heal much quicker and therefore does not disrupt play for an extended period of time.

Throughout the golf season we will vent our greens every four to six weeks depending on weather and play with the quarter inch solid tines.

We follow this venting by rolling the disturbed greens so they are ready for play immediately.

It is necessary to vent the greens regularly to help promote a healthy turf and in return a better playing surface.

A few of the main reasons we aerify are to break up compaction, help with gas exchange, help with drainage, and remove organic matter and thatch from the profile.

Since purchasing our Procore aerifiers, we have noticed a significant improvement in the depth of our roots.

This is extremely important for many reasons, but mainly because now the plant can reach deeper for water.

This allows us to dry the greens out when we need them to be more firm.

Topdressing is often seen as a poor maintenance practice by golfers, as they feel as though it is not allowing them to play on the best possible putting surfaces.

However, this is a very common misconception.

Our fall aerification requires a heavier application of sand to help fill in the larger holes.

Whereas during the peak golf season we will apply a light dusting of sand to our greens every four weeks.

Following the sanding we brush the sand in, then brush mow, and use sand reels to clean everything up.

The benefits of topdressing are not just to fill in the areification holes but to provide a better playing surface for the duration of the year.

The sand will smooth out the playing surface allowing for a smoother roll and will help with consistent and desired green speeds.

So, next time you see our amazing maintenance team out venting or topdressing the greens, thank them for making your Gold Mountain Golf Club your favorite place to golf!

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How Did the Courses Handle the Weather?

As the standard “peak” golf season comes closer to an end on the Kitsap Peninsula, let’s look back at course conditions during this pas season.

This will include green speed, water usage, and overall playability of the Olympic Course and the Cascade Course.

Green speed is always a hot topic when talking about golf courses and there are various factors that affect the speed of a green.

When we watch major golf championships, we hear the commentators discussing the speed of the greens being 12.5 or 13+ on the stimpmeter (a device used to measure the speed of a green).

A USGA official uses a Stimpmeter to measure the speed of a green at Oakmont. Courtesy of PGA.com.

Keep in mind, those greens are being played by the best golfers in the world, and even they struggle with them!

From personal experience working at U.S. Open Championship, those speeds are far too fast for the average golfer.

However, those courses only keep those speeds up for the tournament they are hosting and then everything slows back down after said tournament.

We at Gold Mountain, try to keep our green speed right around a 10.5 on the stimpmeter, we have found this to be a player-friendly pace, while still challenging for our golfers.

Along with that, making sure all our greens are rolling consistently and smoothly is a top priority.

For big tournaments, and when requested for certain events, we can easily get green speeds up to a 12 on the stimpmeter, then our golfers will really be getting a taste of what the professionals experience week in and week out.

This golf season has seen a pretty remarkable drought of over 50 days in a row with no precipitation and over 70 days with moisture accumulations only reaching 0.10 inches.

We have a weather station at our maintenance shop that measures a number of different things, but one key measurement it gives us in our evapotranspiration (ETs), which is the amount of water lost by a plant every day.

The weather station then relays the ET information to our irrigation system, which then calibrates how long each sprinkler head on the course needs to run each night.

We also can go in and manually adjust run times for certain areas of each golf course.

Watering, however, is like walking a tight rope.

It we over water, the course becomes saturated and playing conditions are not optimized.

If we under water we can lose turf, and if not treated, those desiccated areas are likely to fill in the next season with weeds.

No irrigation system gives perfect coverage, only nature can take care of that; however, we are very fortunate that our irrigation system can keep up with our ever-changing climate.

Considering the record rainfall, snow, and ice we had this last winter, and then the record drought we are still having this summer, both courses are performing very well.

Gold Mountain Golf Club

We had several greens buried under ice for up to six weeks last winter and have had extremely good success recovering them back to championship conditions in a relatively brief period of time.

Then add on all the heat from this summer…needless to say we have invested a lot of time into trying to keep the course firm and fast by hand watering hot spots, or localized dry spots (LDS).

This allows us to not over water or under water in certain areas, while still providing a championship caliber product.

Overall, all areas of both courses are handling the crazy Pacific Northwest weather well.

Our fairways are very firm, allowing golf balls to bounce and roll out nicely, giving you those extra few yards off the tea.

Our greens are also firm, and provide a bit of a challenge with the way they receive and hold a ball on an approach shot.

Both the Cascade Course and the Olympic Course are in great shape and will continue to be in this condition, now we just wait for some much-needed rain to liven up the courses!

Ed Faulk
Gold Mountain Golf Club Superintendent

 

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Gold Mountain Taco Truck

We had the pleasure of showcasing our portable “Taco Truck” stand in August at our beautiful sister property, Kitsap Conference Center.

It was a picturesque day at the Bremerton Harborside Marina, with the sun shining and over 700 guests in attendance.

The fountains added the perfect backdrop to our booth.

Guests enjoyed many different local wineries as well as a few local breweries.

Live music from The Tones kept the vibe fun and exciting!

Almost every guest had one of our chorizo taco’s in hand as they made their way through the crowd.

Executive Chef Jon Forcier, prepped our spicy chorizo, cotija cheese, pickled peppers, onions and cilantro; enough to fulfill the demand of 1,000 tacos.

Cook, Chris Mitchell, along with Restaurant Supervisor, Jennifer Couch, fed the hungry guests for over four hours.

Taco Tuesdays at Gold Mountain

The line to our booth was never less than 15 guests deep.

Jennifer and I had a great time conversing with the lively crowd, inviting them to come try our street tacos, and handing out coupons for those who wanted to come join us outside of the festival.

The chatter over our “Taco Tuesday” promotion could be heard amongst the guests waiting in line, and was quite exciting to hear.

Every Tuesday from 11am to close we offer a rack of five chorizo street tacos for $8, as well as margaritas and bottled corona for just $3.

Golfers keep your eyes open for our Gold Mountain Taco Truck to be added as a menu option for on course food stations during golf tournaments in 2018!

Our robust menu is still an exciting feature here at Gold Mountain and we welcome all to come join us in our public restaurant seven days a week.

Thank you for being a part of our culinary excellence!

Tiffany Schenk
Director of Food and Beverage

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Can it Really Be August Already?

It is hard to believe that we have already raced into the month of August, considering how long it took the weather to make it to spring!

Our guests and members have made it a priority to get in as much golf as possible to make up for the lost time earlier in the year.

Tee times will continue to be available to book 30 days in advance, so take advantage of the best golfing conditions in the Northwest and book your tee time online now.

Book your tee time directly on the website!

We have seen tremendous results with our online booking engine and automatic green fee discounts at check-in, and we will continue that practice throughout August.

When you reserve your tee time online, you can see exactly what we see in the Golf Shop, showing our guests tournaments, large groups, and how busy the course is in general.

This function helps our golfers decide the best possible tee time and day to play to fit their schedule.

As we move from the long days of summer to the crisper mornings of the early fall, keep a look out for our group specials on our website.

Foursome fun on the Olympic Course.

These specials have been enormously popular and we look forward to making them available to everyone again this year!

With the start of fall comes our annual Dave Williams Best Ball Tournament, Saturday, September 30 and Sunday, October 1.

This is one of the most enjoyable tournaments of the year and signup sheets will be available in the Golf Shop beginning this month.

Following the first round we will have College Football playing on our large projector so that our tournament players can cheer on their alma mater as they enjoy our complimentary post-round meal.

On Sunday, as everyone is watching the scoreboard to see who places in the money, our large screen projector will be displaying NFL Football (usually the Seahawks)!

And for those wishing to see how the PGA Tour is finishing up, our flat screens in the bar will be showing the 2017 Presidents Cup.

Finally, I would like to share exciting news as Gold Mountain will be hosting the Mountain West Conference Championship next April!

We are beginning the process of gathering tournament volunteers and captains for this fun event, so please keep your eye out for signup sheets or swing by the Golf Shop to inquire with myself or our General Manager, Daryl Matheny.

We would love to hear from you and get you on our team!

We can’t wait to see you at the course for the final stretch of summer!

All of us at Gold Mountain Golf Club want to thank you for coming out this year and making 2017 a great success after what can modestly be described as the most challenging winter and spring for golf.

John Sitton
Golf Operations Manager
Gold Mountain Golf Club

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Exciting New Changes at Gold Mountain

Spring has sprung at Gold Mountain Golf Club, even if the weather is a little late to the game.

We are full steam ahead for our busy months and have full confidence that the rain is behind us and sunny days are to come!

In the anticipation of spring, Gold Mountain has undergone a bit of a face lift.

The clubhouse and Olympic room look incredible and feel brand new having just received a fresh coat of stain!

The improvements aren’t just inside the building, we are currently in the process of updating out Grand Patio!

Our new items are not in quite yet but keep your eyes peeled for beautiful new patio furniture.

Couple with the beautiful blossoming flowers around the property, Gold Mountain is a sight to be seen.

The golf course has also seen a notable change on our Cascade Course!

The par four fifth hole has been transformed into a par five and continues to be the hardest hole on the course.

Visit the new website at www.goldmountaingolf.com

Our maintenance staff has done a fabulous job with the transition and continue to uphold the quality of our golf courses each day.

We have also seen a change in our technology world at Gold Mountain.

We are very excited to introduce our new website, and along with that an entire new point of sale system.

This new system allows our guests to book their tee times online, directly with

the course, and they are guaranteed the lowest rates available!

With this new technology, we now have the capability to check guests in outside of the Golf Shop, so not more waiting in lines trying to get to your tee time.

Once you check-in once the system retains your information and your preferences in our system, this makes your return visits to Gold Mountain easier each time.

The system even extends to our snack shop and beverage carts!

We want to continuously improve your experience at Gold Mountain and everything we do is for the enjoyment and ease of our guests.

Our goal is to make Gold Mountain Golf Club your number one golf destination!

Make a tee time online or call the restaurant at 360.415.6895 to make a reservation today.

Jesse McGee
Sales and Planning Manager

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