by Brian Duthu
Pro Shops
Once again this year we will be participating in Patriot Golf Day. Patriot Golf Day was organized with the help of PGA of America to raise funds for the Folds of Honor Foundation. The money raised is used to fund scholarships for spouses and children of military service men and women killed or disabled while serving our Country. Starters will be collecting donations through the pro shops from September 1 through September 6. In addition to our normal fundraising efforts, we will be hosting a skins game on September 1, open to all golfers, proceeds from the event will be added to our fundraising efforts. The event will begin at 7:00 a.m., at Riverview Golf Course, with a shotgun start.
A note of congratulations to Pat Stanley, who holds the position of Golf Shop Worker at Riverview. Pat recently completed 10 years of service to RCSC. We thank Pat for her continued service and hope she decides to give us many more!
Golf Courses
Fairway aerification on all courses is complete, with the exception of Riverview, we made the decision to postpone fairway aerification to allow the required amount of time to prep areas that were sodded. Once a date is chosen we will notify golfers via email.
Greens aerification is currently underway on all courses and is scheduled to be completed August 8 on Willowbrook. All courses are using hollow tines and pulling plugs, with the exception of Riverview. Due to the young age of the greens we opted to use solid tines. Solid tines help to open the greens to air but do not remove any organic matter, which was not necessary for the Riverview greens.
The next major process for the courses will be overseeding beginning October 9. In order to provide the best opportunity for success, we have scheduled a five day overlap, during which all courses will be closed. The full overseeding schedule can be found the RCSC golf page under Course Maintenance. We understand this decision is not universally popular, please remember it is made to provide good playing conditions throughout the entirety of the winter/spring season.
On July 15, the Sun City area experienced a microburst, resulting in a great deal of tree damage to our courses. Each course sustained a certain amount of damage, with Willowcreek taking the brunt, due to the proximity of the microburst.
Willowcreek lost a total of 24 trees. Several trees were taken down completely by the storm, the remainder had to be removed due to extensive damage or safety concerns. Tree count for the remaining courses was, Riverview (6), North (3) and South (1), Lakes West and Quail did not sustain any total loss of trees. The majority of cleanup was completed as of July 24.
Snack Shops
We invite all of our residents to try our snack shops for breakfast or lunch. The snack shops open daily at 6:00 a.m. and are open for lunch through 1:00 p.m. for the summer months.
Lawn Bowl/Grounds
The greens at Lakeview were lowered by crews from Turf Equipment Source on July 21. The greens were lowered by removing the top layer of turf and thatch using a Combinator, essentially peeling away the top layer. Following the lowering process RCSC crews applied top dressing, to within ½” of the top of plinth boards. Turf Equipment Source is scheduled to laser level the top dressing material on July 25 and to recheck six weeks after. In the meantime the greens will be fertilized and watered heavily to promote growth through the top dressing material.
The centers were not spared from the July 15 microburst. A total of six trees were lost, the majority at Lakeview Center, including three large pines. As with the golf courses, not all were downed completely by the storm, several had to be removed due to damage sustained and future safety concerns. The monsoon season is always a busy time for the grounds crew and this event has put added pressure on the crew.
We have recently changed out all the irrigation nozzles on the Softball field. The nozzles were changed to make up for reduced water pressure to the field. The new nozzles put out a finer mist and we once again have full head to head coverage for the field.