January/February 2006 E-News

2006 Call for Submissions!!!

We’d like to hear your favourite stories and/or memories of your Cordova Bay experience! Maybe it’s a hole-in-one, a lifetime handicap achievement, or just a special moment you would like to share with our readers - we want to hear about them! Please send your stories to:

info@cordovabaygolf.com

"A rough should have high grass. When you go bowling they don't give you anything for landing in the gutter, do they?"

Lee Trevino

One sunny day in October, Nellie and I were doing some work around the shop when we heard this horrible squawking. I automatically recognized it, since I hear it all the time at my house.

We have two Stellar's Jays that came most likely to rob the bird feeders and cause a bit of havoc around the course.

Stellar's Jays are part of the crow family and are recognized as one of the only crested Jays in Western Canada. The provincial bird of British Columbia, the Stellar's Jay has a black head and crest with a sooty black back and breast. Most have white streaks on the forehead and chin, while the body, wings and tail are a deep blue.

Females look the same as males, only slightly smaller, and once the nestlings get their feathers they look the same as the adults.

In my opinion, the Stellar's Jay is one of the prettiest birds around.

Stellar's Jays can be found in campgrounds and picnic areas, where they tend to act very boldly and try to steal food. They are most commonly found in coniferous forest, where they are not as bold. They are omnivorous, so they have a large, varied diet including: insects, pine seeds, acorns, fruit, other birds' eggs and nestlings, frogs and, sometimes, smaller songbirds. They will also rob bird feeds, mostly for black-oiled sunflowers. Caches of seeds and nuts are placed in areas for winter use.

Stellar's Jays often travel in pairs or in flocks of more than a dozen, which include family members.

They are monogamous and a solitary nester and, during courtship, the male feeds the female. Nests are mainly made in conifer trees and are comprised of pine needles, twigs, dry leaves, roots and grasses. The nest, which is cemented together with mud and lined with needles, is built by both sexes. The Stellar's Jay will have one brood per year and the eggs are a pale greenish blue with brown markings. When the nestlings hatch they are fed by both parents.

Since the sunny day in October, we have not seen or heard the Stellar's Jay, but they may be back to visit us since they know where we are now. Hopefully, they'll return so you all can witness the beauty.

(Nellie Harrington is pleased to bring you this month's feature flower/plant that is located here @ Cordova Bay with some tips and tricks on how to grow them.)

Aces high
on 'Holey' Sunday

Don't be stumped
by the stimp meter

What are they stimping today?

One of the most popular, but least understood topics surrounding golf course maintenance is the speed of golf course greens, as measured by a stimp meter.

The stimp meter was developed by Eddie Stimpson in 1937 as a useful tool to compare the speed of each green on any particular golf course. This information allows your golf course superintendent to fine tune management practices, where necessary, to provide as consistent a putting surface over the 18 greens as possible.

Unfortunately, over the years this tool has been misunderstood and is used by many to measure the speed of a green period.

This past summer, I had the pleasure of performing course setup at Pinehurst No. 2 for the U.S. Open. Every morning and evening, I was able to accompany the USGA during its selection of pin placements. This included measuring the speed of each green both morning and night for consistency, and if they varied more than three inches from one to another, adjustments were made to the maintenance practices on each green to keep them as consistent as possible for the tour players.

I enjoy fast greens as much as the next guy. However, I do get concerned when I hear people talking about greens that are stimping 11 at a particular course and why they can’t be that way at their own club. For one thing, each golf course is different, and when greens were built several decades ago much greater slopes were used when greens were much slower.

A few facts might provide a clearer picture of where green speeds have come from and where they may be headed. In 1937, the greens speed at the U.S. Open measured two feet, three inches and in 1963 they had increased by almost 20 per cent to three feet, two inches. Between 1976 and 1977, a survey of 1,500 greens in the U.S. produced average speeds of six feet, six inches and a pool table when measured rolls at an impressive 15-16 feet. With this fact in mind, I am fairly confident that unless greens are rebuilt to resemble the levelness of a pool table, our limitations for greens speed will probably end somewhere around the 12-foot speed.

At Cordova Bay, we use a stimp meter regularly for measuring greens consistency and to evaluate how the various cultural practices that we perform effect the speed of the green. Our goal from March 1 to Oct. 31 each year is to provide a greens speed that measures between nine feet, six inches and 10 feet, six inches on a day-to-day basis.

An important fact provided through research by the USGA concluded that lowering the height of cut on putting greens from 1/8 of an inch to 1/10 of an inch only increased the green speed by six inches. This research is very important in suggesting that the benefits of reducing the height of cutdown any lower than 1/8 of an inch does not pay. Other research conducted by the USGA showed that regular verticutting, sand topdressing applications and rolling were all very effective ways in providing a faster, more consistent putting surface. For these reasons, many of the golf courses on Vancouver Island have incorporated regular cultural practices into their greens maintenance programs, to provide desirable speeds while still maintaining a strong plant to hold up to the traffic and environmental conditions.

Spring information meeting, March 21, 6:30 p.m.
Ladies' Day Opening Game, Tuesday, April 4 and Saturday, April 8
Junior Girls' Fundraiser Golf Tournament at Cordova Bay, Sunday, April 30. Entry forms are in the locker room
First annual Fools Open Golf Tournament, Thursday, March 30. Entry forms are in the locker room. Benefits to Breast Cancer Vancouver Island
Senior Games qualifying rounds (age 50-plus) are May 17 at Cedar Hill. Contact Joani Cragg for more info: 656-4392 or e-mail imagolfer@shaw.ca. Actual games are in Abbotsford this year, Aug. 23-26

Happy spring, and see you on the course!

One bit of belated news: CONGRATULATIONS TO BARBARA MAIN, who scored a hole-in-one on Nov. 18 at Cordova Bay – WOW!