The Craig, Colo. club spent the summer aggressively aerifying its greens and also top-dressing, fertilizing, and plugging and re-seeding to overcome thatch buildup and patchiness caused by the extended winter conditions in the northwest part of the state. Golfers who “hadn’t played here for several months were pleasantly surprised, because they weren’t expecting things to change that much until next year,” says Scott Ballif, the club’s new golf pro.
Though the early season was a rough one for the Yampa Valley Golf Club (YVCG) in Craig, Colo. staff efforts throughout the summer have improved conditions at its golf course, the Steamboat Pilot & Today of Steamboat Springs, Colo. reported.
When Scott Ballif came to work as YVGC’s new golf pro in June, he could tell course conditions needed some work, based on the damage done by late-winter weather earlier in 2019, the Pilot & Today reported.
Ballif worked at golf clubs in Nevada and Utah—including Conestoga Golf Club, Oasis Golf Club and Red Hills in St. George, Utah—so the climate of Northwest Colorado was quite the change from some of the desert surroundings he’s used to, the Pilot & Today reported.
“We don’t have the snow down there, so it’s definitely been a different kind of challenge,” he said. “It’s all about budget and being able to combat any issues.”
The course conditions in the spring at Yampa Valley didn’t go unnoticed by regular golfers, who weren’t thrilled with the patchy greens, the Pilot & Today reported.
“We had members who weren’t playing here the whole summer because of it, and our play from Steamboat Springs basically just stopped,” Ballif said.
The biggest obstacle was thatch, a common issue for golf courses when plant matter builds up and doesn’t fully decompose that can affect greens especially.
“It gets worse and worse as aerification practices don’t happen,” Ballif said. “It’s a problem that’s been progressing over the past four or five years.”
During the summer, the Pilot & Today reported, YVGC worked to combat the issue and also irrigated sections of the course.
“We aggressively aerified the greens a couple times, top-dressed, fertilized, [used] herbicides, and just did a lot of plugging the greens and re-seeding,” Ballif said. “Thatch happens everywhere, so it’s just a matter of the maintenance practices.”
Though work started as soon as possible, it was a while before it started having an impact, the Pilot & Today reported. “We didn’t really see the effects of it until about the end of July,” Ballif said.
YVGC nonetheless had a busy summer for players, with a full schedule of tournaments, the Pilot & Today reported. New management of the course restaurant, the Yampa Valley Bar & Grill, by Cherissee Smith, also had an impact, Ballif said.
And players are now commenting on the improved course conditions, the Pilot & Today reported.
“The ones that hadn’t played here for several months were pleasantly surprised because they weren’t expecting things to change that much until next year,” Ballif said. “It’s an ongoing process, and it’s not where we want it to be, but we’re hoping by next spring it will be even better than it is now.”
Workers also will be preparing for snow, which will accumulate moisture and with that, the potential for multiple types of mold, the Pilot & Today reported.
“We’ll be applying fungicide this fall. You usually put it down just before a big storm happens, so that will protect it through the winter,” Ballif said. “If we can get the timing right, we should have a good chance of being in good shape by April.”
YVGC plans to keep the course open to players as late as early November if weather allows, the Pilot & Today reported.
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