By Brian Duthu
Pro Shops
Golf rounds for May were flat compared to prior year; however Green Fee revenues increased slightly. Resident and Guest play account for 95% of the rounds played year-to-date. For the year 248,789 rounds have been played on our courses.
For those that may not be aware After 5:00 cards are available for purchase by RCSC card holders. The cards allow residents to play after pro shops are closed for the day. Cards are sold for $44.00 to RCSC cardholders and sold for $12.00 to RCSC card holders that purchase the surcharge pass on an annual basis. Please remember to carry your After 5:00 card during your round, they serve as your receipt should a Ranger be on duty. Irrigation start times vary by the efficiency of each course’s irrigation system, this time of year they are set for as late a start as possible.
We have recently begun including upcoming events, tee sheet start types, etc., as part of a weekly email. The emails include information for the upcoming week in which it is sent, as well as the following week. We are hopeful this will prove to be a useful tool for planning of tee times.
Snack Shops
Due to increased costs, menu pricing in the snack shops has recently been adjusted. New menu pricing can be found online at, www.sunaz.com or in the snack shops. We have recently added a new menu item as a trial, Mike’s Hard Lemonade. We continue to thank everyone for their support of the snack shops.
Courses
Aerification of fairways and tees using a 3/4 inch tines is complete and the annual rye grass used for overseeding has checked out. During this period of transition, we remind everyone that playing conditions will not be ideal. Conditions will vary depending on the efficiency of the golf course’s irrigation system. Watering a “hot spot” to recover turf coverage, often leads to overwatering otherwise healthy areas. The overwatering will lead to saturated wet spots. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we move through transition.
In conjunction with watering; practice tees, fairways and roughs have been fertilized with ammonium sulfate to promote bermuda growth.
Green aerification will begin July 7th at Willowbrook and continue through August 1st at Lakes West, the full schedule can be found at www.sunaz.com, under golf.
North is coming along well with grassing being completed on holes 1-13 and the practice green. A key factor in watching sprigs grow in is patience as the first 30 days is very slow, and then there is a lot of rolling, fertilizing, mowing and filling over the next 60 to 90 days. They are on target to be ready for opening day, so please keep this mind. As reminded in a recent email, we implore everyone to refrain from touring the course during this critical time, thank you.
Renovation to the Quail Bunkers began June 23rd. This small project is designed to make the bunkers more accessible and more playable. Though the design concept is different, the bunkers will be built with the method of the North bunkers.