Friday, March 27, 2020

Precautions to help keep everyone safe

Over the last few weeks we have been trying to do our part to keep our members, the public and our staff as safe as possible during the Covid-19 pandemic. 



As we enter these uncharted waters, GMS @ Pueblo del Sol have taken steps these last few weeks to try and minimize exposure and still try and provide some normalcy during crazy circumstances. Ideas and info from our professionals at Golf Maintenance Solutions to other golf courses around the world and daily updates from our GCSAA community and the CDC-   are helping us continue to strive to give golfers the "touchlesss" golf experience to try and control the spread of this virus. 

Here at Pueblo del Sol we already have pulled the water jugs, removed all rakes from the bunkers and we also took all ballwashers off course.This weekend we will remove all the divot sand containers. Bag racks have also been removed from the driving range tee. We also found a great solution(credit goes to other courses that were already doing it)that keeps the integrity of sinking a putt but without having to reach your hand in the cup to retrieve your ball.


two sticks of a pool noodle cut to 3"






We have also issued new protocols for our golf course maintenance staff here at GMS. The crew is  sanitizing all touch points in the shop area daily, including door knobs, light switches, steering wheels, shift knobs, etc........ Even though we already have a small crew we are continuing the practice of social distancing, staggering crew start times, no meetings in lunch room, employees riding solo in carts and eating lunch in their cars.

Our picnic table in shop no longer used for eating & meetings but a sanitizing station.


We don't really know what the future holds for us going forward with this virus, in particular with some states requiring shut downs of BOTH golf and maintenance but we are going to continue doing our work and continue to adhere to our safety protocols we have in place so we can do our part to "flatten the curve" until we are told otherwise.....And hopefully in the not so distant future we can get back to some normalcy.

Stay healthy and take care of one another.

Monday, March 23, 2020

Everybody's favorite time of the year....... Aerification !

After 3 weeks of fun we are finally finished with Green, Tee and Fairway aerification. We also verticut the approaches. The GMS crew did an outstanding job as usual, but getting greens done in two days with a smaller crew than usual but with the same high quality was pretty awesome. Getting it done before the rains hit was an added bonus. We would like to thank our "jefe grande" Bill Nauroth for coming down and helping us out during the greens portion of aerification.


Aerification #11 Fwy  1"x 9" Side Eject Tines at a depth of 4"-6"
Aerification #4 Fwy
#12 Fwy after punch
#17 Fwy.....Blowing off debris
#4 Fwy after drag and blow
#17 Fwy  Aerified, Verticut 2 directions, and blown
#4 Fwy finished....Aerified, Dragged and blown off.
#11 Tee  Saved time by using the Wiedenmann
#1 Green   5/8" x 6.5"  side eject tine at a 4" depth and a 1.5" x 1.5" spacing grid
#1 Green
#1 Green
#8 Green  Back-back blowers getting plugs off collars
#8 Green........Our "jefe grande" Bill Sweeping plugs
#8 Green........ Sweeping Plugs
#7 Green..... Already top-dressed and now getting gypsum and 0-0-50 to help in recovery
#13 Green .....  Filling holes with the drag brush
#13 Green....using a vibratory roller & brush to help fill holes
looking good.....
#17 Green..... 4 days post aerification after a light brush
#14 Green....5 days post aerification after .55" rain
#7 Green.....6 days post aerification
#1 Green.... First mow @ .120   7 days post aerification
#8 Green..... First mow @ .120  7 days post aerification

Friday, March 13, 2020

Meet our new Golf Course Superintendent




GMS @ Pueblo del Sol would like to welcome our new Superintendent Vern Lewis. Vern has been a Superintendent in Arizona for 32 years. He started out at Emerald Canyon in Parker, then to Antelope Hills in Prescott and spent the last 13 years up in the Pinetop-Lakeside area at Pinetop Country Club. Vern and his wife Paula are excited for a new challenge and are looking forward to our warmer Southern Arizona weather. We welcome them both and are excited to have Vern as part of the GMS team.