Club Car

Earlier this week we revived our 70 new Club Car Precedent cart fleet. The new carts have a 48 volt system making the carts able to handle up to 36 holes of golf a day. There are also some other great features such as a cooler, sand bottle holder, self draining top, greater handling and turning radius, one step battery filling system, 360 degree bumper and a open dash design. I am sure that the new carts will be well received from the members. They sure are sharp looking!

Looking sharp!

Just off the trailer

Audubon Certification

Last year about this time we revived our certificate in Environmental planning from Audubon International. Since then we have been gathering valuable data to become an official Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary for Golf courses. Over the last year we have compiled important data on wildlife and habitat management, water conservation and water quality & management. Over the next months we will attempt to complete outreach and education and chemical use reduction and safety. When all of the criteria has been met we will receive our final certification. The entire process has been a labor of love. It is interesting to see how many practices we had in place to protect the environment before we started this journey with Audubon International. We just had to put all of our standard record keeping and documentation into one binder.

Here are just some of the items we have gathered or started...

- Pictures (wildlife and natural areas)

- Continuing with organic fertilizers

- Water tests

- Maps of vegetation

- Maps of habitat

- Wildlife lists

- Water conservation methods

- Irrigation records

- Increasing wildlife habitat

- Natural areas around lake body's

- No mow areas

- Low impact native areas

- Planting native plant material

Finally a Good Snow

Finally we received a decent snow here at the Pinery. The last 5 months we have seen above average temps and below average precipitation because of La Nina. Just last night we received 8 inches of snow. A much welcome snow storm because with out it we would of been out winter watering off our frost free system this week. Here is a little re-cap of the last few snow storms at the Pinery.

- Our last snow from last winter was on May 12th 2010 we received 3 inches

- Our first snow was on November 10th we received 3 inches

- December 30th we received 4 inches

- And today January 10th we received 8 inches.

I am hoping that this snow will stick around a little and keep the course covered.

Here is a detailed year in review from NOAA

DENVER`S 2010 WAS NOT A VERY EXCITING WEATHER YEAR AS FAR AS STATISTICS GO. SEASONAL SNOWFALL FROM JULY THROUGH DECEMBER WAS VERY DISMAL WITH ONLY 4.8 INCHES OF SNOWFALL RECORDED AT THE DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (DIA). THIS WAS THE SECOND LEAST HALF A SNOW SEASON TOTAL BEHIND THE LEAST HALF SEASON SNOWIEST OF 3.8 INCHES RECORD IN 1888 (JULY-DECEMBER). THE MOST HALF SEASON SNOWFALL OCCURRED IN 1913 WITH A WHOPPING 72.8 INCHES OF SNOWFALL. THAT WAS NOT A TYPO. FOR ANNUAL SNOWFALL (JANUARY - DECEMBER)...2010 FINISHED WITH ONLY 27.8 INCHES. THIS YEAR SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER HAD NO SNOWFALL AND THE FIRST MEASURABLE SNOWFALL OCCURRED ON NOVEMBER 15TH WITH 1.5 INCHES. THEN THE YEAR FINISHED WITH THE NEXT AND FINAL SNOWFALL ON DECEMBER 29TH AND 30TH WITH A COMBINED TOTAL OF 3.3 INCHES WHICH CAME OUT TO THE TOTAL HALF SEASON TOTAL OF ONLY 4.8 INCHES. THE SNOWIEST FULL SEASON WAS 118.7 INCHES IN 1908-09 WHILE THE LEAST FULL SNOWIEST SEASON WAS 20.8 INCHES IN THE 1888-89 SEASON. IN THE PRECIPITATION CATEGORY...12.86 INCHES WAS TOTALED AT DIA WHICH IS 2.95 INCHES BELOW THE ANNUAL NORMAL OF 15.81 INCHES. THE 2010 PRECIPITATION TOTAL DID NOT GET INTO ANY OF THE TOP 10 CATEGORIES. THE 1OTH DRIEST DENVER WAS 9.10 INCHES SET IN 1901 WHILE THE WETTEST DENVER WAS 23.31 INCHES SET IN 1967. THE WETTEST MONTH THIS YEAR WAS JULY WITH 3.70 INCHES WHICH DID NOT GET INTO THE TOP 10 WETTEST JULYS BY ONLY 0.01 INCH. THE DRIEST MONTH WAS 0.06 INCH IN SEPTEMBER WHICH TIED AS 5TH DRIEST SEPTEMBER SINCE 1872. DURING JANUARY...ONLY .07 INCH OF LIQUID WAS TOTALED WHICH TIED AS 6TH DRIEST JANUARY. THERE WERE 71 DAYS WITH MEASURABLE MOISTURE WHICH IS 0.01 INCH OR GREATER. THIS IS 18 DAYS BELOW THE NORMAL OF 89 DAYS. THERE WERE 24 DAYS WITH 0.1 INCH OR MORE...9 DAYS WITH 0.5 INCH OR MORE AND 3 DAYS WITH 1.00 INCH OR MORE.

THE YEAR FINISHED WITH A NEAR NORMAL ANNUAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 51.2 DEGREES WHICH IS ONLY 1.1 DEGREES ABOVE THE NORMAL 50.1 DEGREES. TEMPERATURES RANGED FROM A RECORD SETTING 102 DEGREES ON JULY 17TH DOWN TO A NON-RECORD -16 DEGREES ON JANUARY 7TH. THE ANNUAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE DID NOT GET INTO EITHER TOP 10 CATEGORY. THE WARMEST YEAR WAS 54.8 AVERAGE DEGREES IN 1934 WHILE THE COLDEST YEAR WAS 47.6 DEGREES IN 1911. THE AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE THIS YEAR WAS 65.3 DEGREES WHICH WAS 1.1 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL WHILE THE AVERAGE LOW MERCURY READING WAS 37.0 DEGREES...1.2 DEGREES ALSO ABOVE NORMAL. THERE WERE 49 NINETY DEGREE DAYS...16 ABOVE NORMAL AND 158 DAYS WITH THE LOW TEMPERATURE DROPPING TO FREEZING OR BELOW WHICH IS ONLY 2 ABOVE NORMAL.

48 THUNDERSTORMS WERE OBSERVED AT DIA WHICH WAS 7 ABOVE NORMAL. ONE THUNDERSTORM WAS ACCOMPANIED WITH HAIL AND ONE FUNNEL/TORNADO SIGHTED. 29 DAYS HAD DENSE FOG WHICH IS 19 ABOVE NORMAL. THE AVERAGE WIND SPEED AT THE AIRPORT WAS 9.6 MPH WHILE THE PEAK GUST FOR THE YEAR WAS 64 MPH...A NEW DENVER MAY RECORD...FROM A SOUTHWESTERLY DIRECTION. ANOTHER WIND GUST RECORD WAS SET IN NOVEMBER WITH A 55 MPH GUST FROM A NORTHWESTERLY DIRECTION.

THERE WERE ONLY 14 NEW RECORDS EITHER BROKEN OR TIED: 9 RECORD HIGHS WERE SET OR TIED, 3 HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WERE SET OR TIED, ONE 24 HOUR RECORD PRECIPITATION RECORD SET AND 2 MAXIMUM WIND GUSTS RECORDS ESTABLISHED.

Geese Deterrent

Last winter we had some areas on the course that were devastated by geese. Even though we patrolled the course where they frequently visited more has to be done. This year we are trying a new goose deterrent mylar flags. Throughout previous winters we usually shoot off noise makers and have our dogs scare the geese away but the problem is we are not always out when the geese are. So what to do ? After a little research we found that mylar flags in conjunction with our current practices could do the trick. Funny though mylar is difficult to find they do not stock it at your local hardware store or fabric shop. But with some luck we found that the emergency camping blankets are made of mylar. These blankets are also cheaper and tougher than the mylar you can buy in rolls . We basically made a flag with 4 to 5 2 inch wide strips 36 inches long and attached them to a old flag stick placing the mylar flag about 6 feet off the ground. It's to early to tell if these flags will work but the mylar sure is reflective and very noisy at the same time even with a mild breeze.