Here are the highlights from January through May:

For those of you who were not here to enjoy it, it was a real Montana winter. Plenty of cold, plenty of snow cover, and very few freeze/thaw cycles. All positives for the golf course.

Greens:  Despite missing aerification due to weather this past fall, they came through winter very well and are in good health. Unfortunately, the voles decided that our bentgrass is delicious and spent the winter under the snow feasting away. This damage on bentgrass is rare. It is also particularly
time-consuming to recover from because they eat all the way down to the growing point on the turfgrass plant.

Tees/Fairways:  Snow melt and sunshine arrived very late this year so the golf course is about three weeks behind it’s usual maturation. It is an especially stark difference to last year when it was a solid three weeks ahead.

Project Updates:  A real Montana winter combined with a cold, wet Spring to hinder our ability to complete projects early in the season. Everything is finally coming into place just now in early June.

We pumped out the ponds at Fish Camp in November and we have built new flumes (water aqueduct system) in our maintenance facility throughout the winter. Installation is beginning soon.

We have expanded and realigned the II tee on hole #1. We were able to make it double its previous size so that it can withstand all of the abuse that a typical 1st tee receives.

We have also realigned and increased the size of the V tee on hole #3. This tee was aimed into the forest down the right side and the root zone was completely infested with tree roots from the nearby forest.

The new III/IV tee on Hole #6 is complete. We are in the process of adding a handrail around it as it is built upon quite a high wall. It’s a great look from back there for those playing the III tees.

The renovation of the the I/II/III tees on #11 is complete. We have significantly increased the size and improved the alignment toward the center of the landing area.

We have planted myriad trees on the property line behind 13 tee.

In addition to paving the new path to the new tee on #6, we were able to start overlaying old cart path. We began on #2 because it was a size that fit our budget; we hope to continue each year with an increased amount of area. Our paths are now 17-18 years old and will be deteriorating more quickly each passing year.