MEET THE MANAGERS

We are fortunate at Forest Creek to have a talented and diverse group of individuals working for us. You probably already know many of these people from seeing them working in their various areas. These are the managers who report to me and allow me to implement our programs throughout the Forest Creek development.Our organizational structure has separate crews for the North golf course and for the South golf course. There is also a separate crew which performs horticultural and landscaping functions. This group takes care of the clubhouse area and does contract work for the POA maintaining the entry area and roadsides. They also do contract maintenance at 30 village homes. There is also a support staff for these three groups who provide mechanical and administrative support.

SOUTH GOLF COURSE

L-R  Greg Stevens, Graham Purcell, Brandon McKenzie

Graham Purcell is the Superintendent of the South golf course. He is a native of Kildare, Ireland where he acquired a degree from Warrenton Horticultural College in turfgrass management. He came to Pinehurst through Ohio State's Global Turfgrass Management program.

Greg Stevens moved into the role of First Assistant when Graham was promoted to Superintendent. Greg first worked at Forest Creek during construction and grow-in in 1995. He is a native of Montgomery County and found his way back to Forest Creek last year. He attended East Carolina University and has a degree from Brunswick Community College in turfgrass management.

Brandon Mckenzie recently came back to Forest Creek after completing his internship and graduating from Sandhills Community College with a degree in turfgrass management. Brandon worked as a coop student at Forest Creek while going to school. He is now the Second Assistant on the South.

NORTH GOLF COURSE

L-R Garreth Williams, Chris Noll, Jeff DeMaine

Chris Noll recently moved back to the North course as Superintenent where he had previously been an assistant. Chris is from Michigan where graduated from Walsh College with a degree in finance. He moved to Pinehurst to attend Sandhills Community College from which he obtained a turfgrass degree in 2005.

Jeff DeMaine is another Sandhills graduate having obtained a turfgrass degree in 2010. Jeff's first career was in the automobile parts manufacturing industry.  He holds two degrees from Buffalo State University in New York; an AAS in Automotive Engineering Technology and a BT in Electromechanical Engineering Technology. Jeff is the First Assistant on the North golf course.

Gareth Williams works on both golf courses as an Assistant Superintendent and specializes in irrigation system work. Garreth is a native of Ystradgynlais, Wales. He has a BA in sports turf management with an emphasis on golf from Penycoed Agricultural College. Like Graham, Garreth found his way to Pinehurst through Ohio State's Global Turfgrass Management program.

LANDSCAPE AND HORTICULTURE

Lee Bunch

Lee Bunch has been working at Forest Creek since 1998 and has been in charge of our landscaping operations throughout that time. Lee grew up in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina and graduated from the Landscape Gardening program at Sandhills Community College.

ADMINISTRATION

John Mims

John Mims is my administrative assistant and is the HR manager for Forest Creek. John retired from the miltary after a career in Special Forces and Delta Force. John has filled many roles during his long tenure at Forest Creek and has been the shaper on many of our construction projects including the new chipping green where he is pictured.. John attended the University of Florida, graduated from Fayetteville State University, and holds an MBA from East Carolina University.

MECHANICAL

Lynn Lane

Lynn Lane has been the Head Mechanic at Forest Creek since 1996, the year the South golf course opened. I have said many times that my mechanic is my most valuable employee.. I can do anything which my superintendents can do as well as they can. What Lynn does, I cannot do.  Lynn and his staff of two assistant mechanics are responsible for keeping our equipment functioning and our mowers sharp.

GOOSE CONTROL

Sandy the border collie

The newest and youngest member of our staff is Sandy.  Sandy is a border collie and joined Forest Creek several months ago to help control our Canada Goose problem.  He is from Moore county but like Garreth his bloodlines are Welsh.  He is still young and he is still learning his craft of goose herding.  He goes home at night with Chris Noll where he shares space with Chris' two other dogs and his three children.

NEW MAINTENANCE EQUIPMENT

Golf course maintenance requires the use of many different types of equipment.  Some of the pieces used are common to construction and agriculture such as trucks, tractors and backhoes. The majority of the equipment however is very specialized and designed for the unique needs of modern day golf courses. Fairway mowers, triplexes, and walk behind greens mowers are specially designed and engineered for the intensity of modern day golf maintenance. We are fortunate that FCI has made a commitment to acquiring the equipment necessary to keep our golf courses in the condition that we can all be proud of.  Last year we added new fairway mowers, rough mowers, tee mowers, and utility vehicles to our fleet. This year we are adding new greens mowers, blowers, rollers, and sprayers to our inventory. Most of the equipment that we buy is specialized and only manufactured after we place an order. Our new equipment this year has an international flavor.  We have acquired 10 new 18 inch wide Barroness greens mowers which are designed and manufactured in Japan.  We have two new Agrimetal greens rollers and tractor mounted blowers scheduled to arrive from Canada. Agrimetal  designs and manufactures their specialized equipment in Drummondville, Quebec outside of Montreal. Our new skid sprayers are manufactured in Rocky Mount North Carolina. Most of this new equipment is needed to replace older worn-out equipment that we have been using well past its expected life. We hope this new equipment will allow us to create a better product on the golf course.

New greensmowers and skid sprayers

ULTRADWARF GREENS

CHAMPION GREEN

The grow-in for our new Champion green in section 16 is moving along nicely.  This green was planted on Thursday June 6. It will be six weeks since planting today. I estimate coverage at 80-90%.  The following sequence of pictures shows the steady growth of this new green.

June 8,2013

June18,2013

July 1,2013

July 15,2013

MINIVERDE CHIPPING GREEN

The reconstruction of our new chipping green culminated on June 26, 2013 with the sprigging of this green with Miniverde ultradwarf bermuda grass and the sodding of the features with Celebration bermuda grass.  A second load of sod was installed on July 10.  This project was a team effort from the Forest Creek golf maintenance staff in which dirt moving, feature shaping, irrigation installation, and grassing were all done" in house".  We feel that this is a significant improvement to the Forest Creek practice facilities.  Our plan continues to be to open this area back up for practice around Labor day.

Shaping by John Mims June 10

Irrigation installation June 18

New bunker ready for sod  June 26

Sodding old bunker June 26

Sodding new bunker June 26

More sod around newly sprigged green July 10

Recently mowed greens surrounds July 10

Miniverde grow-in at three weeks

Tree on 3 North

The North golf Course was built over several years in phases. Holes 1,2, and 18 were originally a three hole practice loop built in1998.  As Forest Creek grew and new roads and new sections were developed the golf course grew with it.   Before any work could take place, a routing was developed  by Fazio Design. This routing showed the envelopes for the golf holes.  Based on that routing, clearing limits were flagged for the various holes with different widths at different areas of the hole.  The clearing limits were different at the tees, at the greens, and in the landing areas. Finally in 2001 we began work on new holes 3,4, and 5.

The golf maintenance staff was part of the clearing and construction team.  The third hole presented exceptional challenges, because the existing grade of the hole was running perpendicular the  direction which the hole was playing. Part of the hole clearing process involves designating which trees must be removed and which trees should be saved.  The reality of this third hole was that there was only one oak tree which had any size and quality worth saving.  That tree is the tree in the waste bunker on the left between the first and second landing area. The golf hole was shaped around this oak tree.

We often hear questions about the appropriateness of this tree as it does effect play.  It has certainly grown and is far larger and far healthier than it was in 2001.  Whether it should stay or be trimmed is a subject for open discussion. It does not effect play as much as the Eisenhower tree at Augusta nor is it as picturesque as the cypress tree which formerly stood on 18 at Pebble Beach.  However, everyone needs to know that thought by the designers went into leaving that oak tree on 3 and thought should go into whether it should stay. The following three pictures show how the size and appearance of this tree has changed over the years. Let us know how you feel about this oak tree.

2013

2001

2004

Aerification and Transition

AERIFICATION

Yesterday we began the cultural program of aerifying our golf  holes to promote healthy turf and firmer turf. We are doing this program differently this summer than in years past. Previously, we did not close any holes  for the aerification of fairways and rough. We would aerify and  clean up each hole before we moved on to  the next hole. The idea was that this caused minimal disruption to an individual's round of golf because they would experience only one hole which was " messed up".  Unfortunately we were unable to be as efficient as we would have liked and did not aerify each hole as completely as we would liked.  This year we are closing nine holes at a time so we can do a more thorough job on each " nine".  We have blocked off a period of two weeks for each of the four " nines".  It may not take the full two weeks to accomplish our work. We will open the closed" nine" as soon as we are finished and move on to another nine holes. For the next several weeks we will only have 27 holes available for play.

The process of aerification is common to all golf courses. The intensity of that aerification will vary. Anyone who skips greens aerification is asking for trouble. The regular aerification of bentgrass fairways is also crucial to their health. Bermuda grass fairways can thrive wthout aerification but their playing characteristics will suffer over time.  The optimum time to aerify bermuda grass fairways is the summer when they are actively growing.  They respond well to aerification, verticutting and topdressing.

Since it is our goal to provide excellent playing conditions at Forest Creek, we decided to undertake a very intensive aerification and topdressing program of our fairways and roughs this summer.  We felt that the inconvenience of closing one" nine" of our 36 hole complex was offset by the opportunity to improve the health of our turf and the playing characteristics of our fairways.

We are using pull behind aerifiers with 3/4 inch tines on the fairways and rough and walk behind aerifiers with 1/2 tines on the tees and approaches. We are chopping the plugs to add mineral matter back into the soil profile.  We are topdressing the approaches and wet areas with sand to promote a firm playing surface.
The opening of columns in the turf canopy with aerification promotes a health plant by allowing the exchange of water and air into the soil profile. This process involves the use many pieces of turf  maintenance equipment and many different personnel performing different tasks.  The turf is aerified, the plugs are broken up, the remaining thatch is removed, the turf is then mowed, and finally appropriate areas are topdressed.. The goal is firm fast healthy fairways.

Aerifying around greens

Aerifying fairways

Aeifying rough

Plugs in fairway

Chopping plugs

Topdressing fairways

TRANSITION

The transition of the South golf course from overseeded ryegrass to bermuda grass has been progressing nicely.  The aerification process we are engaging in now, helps with transition.  The aerification of areas which have been damaged from spring dead spot is a practice recommended by the universities and the USGA to promote recovery from this disease.  Other areas which will benefit from this practice are areas which show damage from excessive traffic when the turf was dormant and areas which are weak from winter time shade. The following three pictures show improvement in the Long Tee on 17 South over the last several weeks. While there is still need for further growth of the Bermuda, it is  moving and continuing to cover the bare areas.  We feel we are on schedule for a good recovery.

June 20

June 26

July 6

TEE WORK

The closing of the front nine for aerification has allowed us to do work on the second hole leveling the Short Tee.  When a narrow tee is used extensively and divots are filled with sand in the same general area for a number of years, that area will become "crowned". We want our tees to be flat. They are generally built with 1% slope right to left. They should not have a hump in the middle. To fix this, we removed the sod from the tee, graded the surface back to flat and placed the sod back onto the tee. It should be ready to use when we open this nine back up for play.