This past week we had the honor of hosting the 63rd Annual SunTrust Tennessee State Open Championship. The tournament is one of the biggest if not the biggest the State holds. We had 156 players from all over the state come and compete for 3 days and the course was up to the challenge. The winner shot -13 and while that is impressive, I like to look at the facts. Only 10 players finished under par for the week. If you throw out the winning score, the next best score was -5 for 3 days. To me, that says our course can hold up under the best players and gives us something to be proud of. We will be able to build on the momentum of last week and should be able to host more events in the future. Some other interesting facts were that hole #1 played the most difficult for the week. Playing to a stroke average of 4.535. The average score for all 3 days was 74.076. That is 4 over par as the course played to a par 70 for the championship. Hole #3 played as a par 4 and was the 4th most difficult hole for the week. Playing to a 4.403 stroke average. It would have been the easiest hole on the course had it played as a par 5. Notice it played easier as a par 4 than hole #1, 12 and 14. All in all the course was equal to the challenge. The weather was perfect and we received nothing but positive comments about the course, especially the greens.
It was a pleasure to host the State Open and I look forward to hosting future TGA events. It is a positive for us and gives the club great publicity. I know Johnny and I would have liked to have played better but our main focus was making sure the tournament was a success and that BCC showed proudly and that everyone had a great experience. I think we were able to make that happen.



 ONE YEAR AGO..... May Flood of 2010..

Some photos...

Remembering last year and the destruction that we faced and the work that was ahead of us..

#1 Green

Cart Path Damage

Bunker Damage

#1 Bridge Damage

We recovered from the destruction and had one of the best years on the golf course. We made improvements to the course for the long term. We had 2 months of work that nobody expected but we came through it with and now we look to the future. The course continues to get better and the improvements made as a result of the flood were a positive. We were able to turn a huge negative for the club and our members into a positive that will help us going forward.

2011 is shaping up to be a good year and hopefully we can continue to improve on the momentum we have establised and the course continues to mature and get better. We have a goal of being the best maintained course around and we never want to lose focus on that... 















Covering the Greens



Uncovering #11 Green

 Covering the greens is a much needed practice when managing Ultradwarf Bermuda greens. Protection from the harsh winter weather and temperatures is essential to the long term health of the greens. We take every precaution to make certain that the greens are protected should bad weather arise. The process of covering the greens is not long. It takes about 2-3 hours to cover the greens and about 1-2 hours to uncover. The temperature at which we look at covering is 25 degrees. If the nighttime temperature is going to be below 25 degrees and the following days highs are in the 30's, then we will be covering the greens. We try and minimize the exposure to temperature at or below freezing and the tarps main function is to warm the soil causing the ground under the greens to remain unfrozen. This allows the greens to handle the colder temperatures and will sustain turf health throughout the winter. The spring green-up is earlier for the greens because of the use of covers. We start seeing them green up in mid to late February while the rest of the course is nearly a month behind. The covers are a valuable tool and although they cause some disruption to the golfers through course closures or being movable objects around the greens, they are our insurance policy.


Storing Cover to the side of green out of play.



Wooden pegs used for holding tarps in place

BRUSHING the GREENS.

Putting Green



There are several maintnenace practices that superintendents use to make the turf better. From a playability standpoint, we want the greens to roll like a pool table top, smooth ,with no bumpiness, and with a consistent speed. Brushing is not a new idea but it has changed over the years. New technology allows us to utilize brushing the greens in a whole new way.

Brushing the greens is the practice of using a brush to stand the leaf blade up before cutting the leaf. This results in a much cleaner cut and smoother surface. By brushing more frequently, we can have the greens much more smooth and the ball will roll much more like a pool table, which is the goal. The brushes are on the mower so all of this happens at the same time. The brushes sit out in front of the reel and it makes for a very nice and clean cut.
The by product of the brushing is some nice stripping which you can see in the photos. One of the main reasons for brushing our greens is to control the grain of the 'Champion' bermuda grass. The grain is always an issue with bermuda but with the ultradwarf varieties it isn't as big a problem because of there dense canopy. The quality of cut is more difficult to acheive and thus using the brushes will provide us with the best cut we can achieve. We will use the brushes throughout the year. I believe we will see an even better putting surface at BCC in 2011 and for the years' to come.



Putting Green



Course Update

Well it has been awhile since my last post but not much has changed. The weather this winter has been snowy to say the least. The greens have been covered more this winter than anytime I can remember. They are doing good though and we are excited about the warmer weather that is predicted and getting back out on the golf course. The course is in excellent shape considering the amounts of precipitation that we have had this winter. If we catch a good day, come on out. We are looking forward to this season. You may be aware but this year we are hosting the Tennessee State Open. This is one of if not the biggest golf tournament in the state of Tennessee. It is an honor to host the tournament and the many great golfers that will be playing from all over the state. The tournament is being held in May and the course should just be coming into its own. I look forward to preparing the course for this event and showcasing our course to so many. I am sure you will here more about it as it gets closer to tournament time.

I hope you are having a great winter and things start improving weather wise. We would like to see some golfers out here. I look forward to seeing you all on the course and meeting some new faces this year as well. Have a great round and I will see you on the course.

Golf Course Conditions

Hello and Welcome to the Brentwood Country Club Golf Course Maintenance Blog. I hope you will find this site useful and informational. Please sign up to follow us so you can keep up to date on what's going on on the course and current course conditions.

The winter has been an interesting one to say the least. We have experienced the most number of days the greens have been covered since the conversion in 2004 and we are only half way through the winter. The greens are doing well and in reality the greens being covered is not a bad thing. We have been able to do most of our necessary inside work. We repaint all the hazard stakes and repair and/or remake another 200-300 more. All the tee markers need to be painted as well as the cooler stands. We repair and paint all the ballwashers. The benches need to be restained and sealed. The shop gets cleaned and organized and we have done that several times this year. On the course, the cart paths are being edged and some tree trimming has taken place. We are mulching and cleaning the tree wells and landscape beds. We still have many other items that need attention and hopefully we will catch a break with the weather. The spring will be here for we know it and I can't wait. Have a good weekend and try to stay warm. If you are watching the Super Bowl, who are you pulling for? I am looking for the Packers to win this year but it should be a great game.

See you next time.