Holiday Greetings from your Golf Course Maintenance team at Country Clubs in Phoenix

It’s hard to believe that it’s already December considering the above-average temperatures that we have been experiencing at Country Clubs in Phoenix  The overseeded turf grass is responding well as expected with higher water usage over the last couple of months compared to the last 2 years due to unseasonably warmer weather and no rainfall.  As I sit here writing this today, we are approaching 9 months without any measurable rainfall in Scottsdale. The wall-to-wall overseed is being received well by the Country Clubs in Phoenix membership. The non-overseeded Tif-Eagle greens are still growing and holding up to the abundant amount of rounds played. As we move into the 3 coldest months of the year, it is a very critical time that we are taking all precautions to preserve the density and consistency, and overall health of our greens.  In the event that there is frost, we have put protocols in place to minimize any risk of turf damage at the  Scottsdale golf courses 

This month we will also be doing our follow-up pre-emergent application for the control of Poa Annua in all turf areas on the Scottsdale golf courses  This will be the third year of doing these applications in which we have seen significant progress with the elimination of this nuisance weed. 

We hope you enjoy your holiday season and do want to offer these reminders for continued enjoyable and playable course conditions:

Please repair ballmarks.

Please enter and exit at low areas of bunkers.

Please fill divots on the course with sand and seed.

Please drive on fairways instead of rough.

Please keep pushcarts in designated areas.

Thank you for all your help and see you on the golf course in Scottsdale!

Scottsdale golf courses Prepare for Winter Season

We are off and running as we head into the Winter albeit much differently than we have in year’s past. It is hard to believe we are entering the final part of  2020 here at Scottsdale golf courses but it is so great to see all that is going on here at the Ranch despite our operations being modified. On opening weekend we were able to have over 500 players enjoy the freshly over seeded golf course and despite the fact that our opening looked a bit different than in year’s past I would call our opening week a success with all of the golf, tennis, fitness and dining offerings receiving great feedback and support. During the weekend, Chef Lenny and his team rolled out new lunch and dinner menus at the main Clubhouse and Ranch House Cantina which have all been positively welcomed. It has been great to see the support of our members and the positive feedback that we received throughout the weekend as our management team has worked long and hard over the past few months to further enhance the member experience at Scottsdale golf courses.

As we sent to the membership this past week I wanted to share a few of our COVID-19 precautions so that everyone clearly understands our approach as we aim to keep everyone as safe as possible at Scottsdale golf courses this coming winter season. As with our approach throughout this pandemic, we have followed the guidelines from the CDC and the Arizona Department of Health Services. It is our goal to remain open in a safe manner for you and our employees this season and we will need your help throughout the coming months to do so. 

As a reminder, we expect members to wear their masks when entering the Clubhouse at ALL times as well as when you cannot maintain proper social distancing, which is for the benefit of you, your fellow members, and our team. Please do not take offense when asked to put on your mask by a team member, as they are instructed to help us all remember when and where you will need to wear a mask. We just ask that everyone be respectful of these guidelines so that our members, staff, and guests feel as comfortable as possible here at the country clubs in Phoenix. The  Golf course in Scottsdale will continue doing our part with staff wearing masks as well as the continued additional sanitation practices that are taking place in all areas of the Club for everyone’s benefit. It is because of these practices that the country clubs in Phoenix remains open in all areas with the 50% max occupancy in the Clubhouse and up to 25% occupancy in the fitness center, which are both in place per the Arizona Department of Health Services. As mentioned previously, we were able to enhance our outdoor spaces this summer which have been in high demand these past few months and will continue to be through the winter which gives us much more seating capacity. In order to properly manage traffic through the Clubhouse, we ask that you make reservations so that we can avoid not being able to take care of you and your guests. It is important that if you are experiencing any symptoms of Covid-19 or just are not feeling well that you stay away from the crowd.

We recently met with the Board of Directors at the Golf course in Scottsdale and one of the topics which drew a fair amount of discussion was the amount of golf rounds being played.  The focus of the conversation was the continuation of an increased level of activity on both the course and practice facility and how we will be able to manage this from both a player and agronomic standpoint moving forward.

 I can first share with you that all the respected Golf course in Scottsdale in the valley are experiencing the same amount of rounds by numbers as we are to date, and we all expect this trend to continue through this season.  Many players have more time to play and are enjoying it on the golf course as golfing is seen as a safe way to pass time despite the ongoing COVID pandemic.  For example, we forecasted in the month of November we would play 3600 rounds and when the final play counts are tabulated, we will be closer to 4600.  We know your preferred tee time might be difficult to get, but rest assured we are doing our best to get players out as best we can.  We recently went back to a double tee start on the Golf course in Scottsdale  Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for multiple reasons, many prefer a morning time year-round and it enables us to get the maximum 18 hole rounds played when we have limited daylight at the end of the day.