Greens Committee - Year End Report

The mandate of the Greens Committee is to advise and assist the Board of Directors on all matters related to the golf course grounds, ensuring the course is maintained and enhanced for the benefit of its members. The Committee meets once a month during the golf season and once or twice in the off season to review course conditions, identify areas for improvement, address member suggestions and complaints, and update long term planning.

What a difference a year can make. This year we were blessed by favorable weather and optimal growing conditions, resulting in excellent playing conditions throughout the season. The focus this year was to attend to many details that were affected by last year’s weather and large course renovation work. This included stump removal and tree cleanup across the property, and general cleanup work and finishing details from Phase 1 renovations. We limited our Phase 2 work to the addition of a new green side bunker on hole #8 which was completed with in-house resources allowing the club to rebuild our capital account and providing members with a break from construction.

A key initiative this year was the launch of the club’s new turf-grass website. The site includes course standards for greens, fairways, tees, and rough areas, updates on course activities, and informative articles on golf course design and maintenance. With over 5,000 visits and 1,300 blog post reviews, we see this as a successful new communication channel for our members. If you have not yet visited the site I encourage you to do so at oakfieldturfgrass.com. Thanks to Kevin Moores and Geoff Hay for spearheading this initiative.

Our Greens crew also initiated a new project to improve the look of the course. This involved cutting approximately 20 acres of fescue and treating those areas for weed control. This will allow for healthier fescue and more visually pleasing naturalized areas.

We saw continued improvement in turf growth and playing conditions on and around greens on Holes #1, #4, and #10. This is a testament to the value of our tree management work over the past few years and this work will continue.

An area of concern is the condition of the grass on the new White/Blue tee box on Hole #9. We will continue to work on this tee box with aggressive horticultural practices and tree management to improve conditions.

Major investments were made this year to enhance course maintenance capabilities. A new large rough mower, costing $125,000, replaced an aging 2012 unit, which has been reassigned to smaller areas like the beach and driving range. The club also installed new yardage markers and completed a significant irrigation upgrade, including new satellite boxes and remote-control technology for improved efficiency.

On June 11th, the club unveiled its new 25,000-square-foot range tee deck, marking a milestone in the club’s multi-year improvement plan. Grass tee decks require significant care and maintenance, especially new turf. Management prioritized turf health by rotating grass and mat usage effectively, ensuring the new turf has time to repair itself. As the turf matures it will more closely resemble fairway conditions.

Improved course conditions and attention to details resulted in significant improvement in member satisfaction with course conditions. The satisfaction survey revealed a 45% jump in members rating their experience as "very satisfied." Specific gains included a 42% improvement in satisfaction with putting green conditions, a 45% improvement in fairways, and a 23% improvement in rough conditions.

However, some challenges remain. Member dissatisfaction with bunkers remains high at 48%, and the driving range faced criticism (17% dissatisfaction) due to its late opening. These areas will remain a focus for the committee moving forward in its work.

As we prepared for Phase #2 of the course improvement plan, the committee worked closely with management to prioritize bunker improvements and other key projects, including:

o Hole #1: Fairway bunker reconstruction

o Hole #3 & #5: Tee reconstruction and widening

o Hole #8: Left greenside bunker reconstruction

o Hole #13: Removal of back and far-right greenside bunkers, creation of a new chipping area, and retaining wall repairs

o Hole #16: Greenside bunker and surround reconstruction

o Hole #17: Fairway bunker removal, fairway widening, and greenside bunker reconstruction

o Hole #18: Removal of the left greenside bunker and reconstruction of the right greenside bunker

These priorities were brought forward and discussed by committee members and presented to the Board of Directors by our Board Liaison Steve Foot.

Phase 2 work began immediately after the course was closed at the end of October and significant work has already been completed

o Removal of left fairway bunker and rebuild of right fairway bunker on hole #6

o Rebuild of left green side bunker on hole #8

o Removal of left and back right green side bunkers on hole #13

o Rebuild of left green side bunker on hole #16

o Filling in left fairway bunkers and rebuild of green side bunker on hole #17

o Removal of left green side bunker on hole #18

These changes are all part of our Course Master Plan which can be viewed on the Turfgrass web site.

And a deep tine aeration of putting greens to enhance drainage and root health was completed in November. Wow, that was a lot of work and all I had to do was report on it.

The Greens Committee is very pleased with the course improvements this year and is committed to pushing forward with new manageable initiatives in 2025. We appreciate our members’ support and ask you to reach out to us with questions or suggestions.

We thank the 2024 Greens Committee members for their dedication and service:

Chairperson: Robert Hawkins

Club Member Volunteers: Ryan Theriault, Sue Conrad, Anne MacKinnon, Lance Bullock, Cheryl Burgess, Jay Cameron and Cole Hilchie

Board Liaison: Steve Foote

Staff: General Manager Eric Tobin, Golf Course Superintendent Kevin Moores, Associate Superintendent Geoff Hay, and Golf Professional Blehr MacKinley

Thank you for your support and commitment to Oakfield Golf Club.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert Hawkins

Committee Chair

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