The Amherst Regional High School golf team preparing for a practice round, with Coach Carl Vigeland.

Below is a course recovery plan provided by Course Superintendent Carl Teschke.  However, in general, the USGA and CSGA have reported on the tough conditions affecting many New England courses due to the hot and extremely wet conditions experienced in July 2018.

http://ghpcdn.ghin.com/GHINeNewsletters/ViewMail.aspx?ghinno=1822950&tid=95604&club=3018001&assoc=30&rrid=17864&em=robdorsch@sbcglobal.net/

http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/regional-updates/northeast-region/2018/the-costs-of-a-wet-summer.html/

GCSANE Perspective: A Blistering Summer of 2018

AGC Course Recovery Plan

Step1: Core aerify and seed in August 2018. Seed is coming up now.

Step 2: Keep the height of cut up until greens are fully recovered.

Step 3: Send out soil samples to make sure our soil is in balance.  A previous test of the soil in May 2018 did not indicate the stressed areas on the greens were associated with disease.

Step 4: Anticipate closing the course on November 25, 2018.  Additional core aerification and seeding of the greens will then take place. This will open up and invigorate the soil for the winter and minimize winter injury.

Step 5: Resod the 4^th , front of 5^th  and 7^th Tees in September 2018. The soil pile used for topdressing and the divot mix become contaminated with weed seeds (goose grass) and needs to be removed and replaced.  The contamination resulted from the pile being several years old and not properly covered.

Step 6: With the course closed this winter, weak areas on the fairways will also be aerified and seeded.

Step 7: Deep tine aerify in April 2019.  Deep tine aerfication has not routinely been done in the Spring.

Step 8: The whole course will be treated for crabgrass in Spring 2019. It has been a while since has been necessary to do this.

Step 9:  Develop a new soil storage area in 2019. As stated in Step 5, the area by the nursery has become infested with weeds, and is the reason why we see heavy weeds in the areas we use divot mix on (mostly No. 4 tee).

Step 10: Re-establish the nursery in 2019. With the weeds and thatch issue, it has become unusable.

Carl Teschke, Course Superintendent

August 2018

“David Twohig has shepherded Amherst Golf Club for 40 years as PGA professional” . . . great article by the Gazette published on September 4, 2018.

“As a member, I have met people of all ages as I’ve played my regular rounds in the morning.  My kids have been able to practice and play this great game here as well. It’s a very friendly club and not too expensive for my family.  I’m looking forward to many years of enjoying golf together with friends and family here at Amherst Golf Club!”

~ Testimonial from Denis

1. Over 100,000 golf balls a year are hit into the water at the famous 17th hole of the Stadium Course at Sawgrass (picture attached below).

2. The longest drive ever is 515 yards. The longest putt ever is a monstrous 375 feet

3. Phil Mickelson, who plays left-handed, is actually right handed. He learned to play golf by mirroring his father’s golf swing, and he has used left handed golf clubs ever since.

4. The chances of making two holes-in-one in a round of golf are one in 67 million.

5. Tiger Woods snagged his first ace at the tender age of eight years old.

6. Balls travel significantly further on hot days. A golfer swinging a club at around 100 mph will carry the driver up to eight yards longer for each increase in air temperature of 25°F.

7. The longest golf course in the world is the par 77 International Golf Club in Massachusetts which measures a fearsome 8325 yards

8. The highest golf course in the world is the Tactu Golf Club in Morococha, Peru, which sits 14,335 feet above sea level at its lowest point.

9. The longest golf hole in the world is the 7th hole (par 7) of the Sano Course at the Satsuki Golf Club in Japan. It measures an incredible 909 yards.

10. The largest bunker in the world is Hell’s Half Acre on the 585-yard 7th hole of the Pine Valley Course in New Jersey.

11. The largest golfing green is that of the 695-yard, 5th hole, a par 6 at the International Golf Club in Massachusetts, with an area in excess of 28,000 square feet.

12. The driver swing speed of an average lady golfer is 62mph; 96mph for an average LPGA professional; 84mph for an average male golfer; 108mph for an average PGA Tour player; 130mph for Tiger Woods; 148-152mph for a national long drive champion.

13. There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.

14. The first golf balls were made of thin leather stuffed with feathers. Tightly-packed feathers made balls that flew the farthest. Feather balls were used until 1848.

15. The youngest golfer to shoot a hole-in-one was Coby Orr, who was five years old at the time. It happened in Littleton, Colorado, in 1975.

16. 22.8% of golfers are women.

17. Golf was banned in Scotland from 1457 to 1502 to ensure citizens wouldn’t waste time when preparing for an English invasion

18. The term birdie comes from an American named Ab Smith. While playing in 1899, he played what he described as a “bird of a shot”, which became “birdie” over time.

19. The word golf does not mean “Gentleman Only, Ladies Forbidden”. This is an internet myth. It is thought the word golf comes from the Dutch word “kolf” or “kolve”, meaning “club”. Historians believe this was passed on to the Scottish, whose own dialect changed this to “golve,” “gowl” or “gouf”. By the sixteenth century, this had evolved into the word we know today.

20. Don’t feel bad about your high handicap — 80% of all golfers will never achieve a handicap of less than 18.