Benefits of the Aerification Process

As you play your round you are probably wondering why the golf course maintenance staff has to disrupt the playing surface of the golf course?

Listed below are three of the main benefits of the aerification process.

1. It relieves soil compaction.  Over time, the traffic from golfer’s feet (as well as mowing equipment) tends to compact the soil under the putting green.  When the soil becomes compacted, the air pockets on which the roots depend are crushed, and the roots are essentially left gasping for air.  Without oxygen, the grass plants become weaker and will eventually wither and die.

2. It provides a method to improve the soil mixture around the highest part of the green’s roots.  Aerification is a mechanical process that creates more air space in the soil and promotes deeper rooting, thus helping the grass plants stay healthy.  Here at Heritage Shores we will be using a ¼” hollow tine to remove the core from the soil.  This will in turn allow for an infusion of air and water that brings a resurgence of growth.  The spaces left by the coring process are then filled with sand “topdressing” that helps the soil retain air space and will make it easier for roots to grow downward. Filling the aerification holes with sand will also help improve drainage and helps with compaction.

3. Reduces and prevents the accumulation of excess thatch. Growing turf adds a layer of organic matter on the surface.  This layer, called thatch, is an accumulation of dead stems, leaves and roots.  A little organic matter makes for a resilient green, but too much invites diseases and insects.  Topdressing and aerification are two of the best ways to reduce an existing layer and prevent an excess of thatch from becoming established.

Brooks Massey, Head Golf Pro
Heritage Shores

If you haven’t been to Deer Run lately, you’re missing out. The golf course is in the best shape ever, thanks to the hard work of the greens crew and Superintendent Dave Adcock. The ownership and management have diverted funds to the maintenance department with the goal of course improvements and beautification.

A new hole has been opened for play, making Deer Run the only 19 hole, par 73 golf course in the area. The new par 3 hole plays from an elevated tee, across a scenic pond to a generous green. Our new scorecard reflects the addition to the golf course, and now stretches out to 6300 yards of challenging golf. Other course improvements include the reduction of high natural grass areas (find your ball anywhere!), addition of beautiful flowers throughout, all grass tee driving range (never hit off of matts!!), and rebuilt Zoysia tees on holes 6 and 7. This year also has seen new Yamaha carts, as well as expanded services including: bar and grill; beverage cart; banquette; and Henry-Griffitts club fitting by Matt Gordon and Bob Beckelman, PGA.

Have your event in our convenient banquette room, or let our professional staff host your golf tournament. Whatever reason you choose, from tournaments to a friendly round, come out and enjoy Deer Run “new and improved”!!!

Bob Beckleman, PGA
Deer Run Golf Course

Playing Pebble Beach

In October I had the great fortune to play one of the greatest golf courses in the world “Pebble Beach”. I was part of a great group of guys who love golf and for the most part love to have a good time. Like a lot of golfers Pebble Beach has always been on my bucket list to play and I have to say it was one of the greatest golf trips of my life. I will never forget our group arriving at the golf course and being the first golfers out that day. With 20 golfers it was our first tee for almost an hour! What a perfect start to a great day that would only get better. The beauty of the front nine at Pebble Beach is second to none. Holes 4 through 9 are some of the most memorable and beautiful holes any golfer will ever play. As I played the back nine and approached 17 and 18, I continued to take in the beauty and history that is Pebble Beach. What a great day!

Flying back to Maryland I started to reminisce about my trip! I realized how lucky I was to see with my own eyes such a beautiful place. I remembered what is was like sitting on the deck at the Inn at Spanish Bay overlooking the Pacific Ocean with some good friends to the sound of a bagpiper while enjoying  a magical sunset.  Then I realized how fortunate I was to live in Ocean City. I started thinking about all the golfers who had seen the sunrise at Lighthouse Sound & Rum Pointe or the ones that have watched the sunset over Newport Bay at Ocean City Golf Club. I am sure they had the feeling I did when I gazed out over the Pacific Ocean and the Monterey Peninsula.  In a strange way Pebble Beach reminded me of how lucky I am to live in a place like Ocean City, Maryland.

“Hit em straight”

Bobby Vermillion
Endless Golf
http://endlessgolf.com/

History of Lighthouse Sound

The property, now known as Lighthouse Sound, was a working farm until the mid 1960’s when a massive development with almost three thousand home sites was envisioned and construction actually begun. The old silo and barn from the farm days can still be seen from the driving range. The project was stopped before completion and the property changed hands several times before the Ruark family bought the project in the late 1990s and committed to preserving the natural beauty of the property.

Most of the home sites were eliminated from the project, and the ones that remain were pulled off of the waterfront, reserving the most pristine areas for golf and preserving the environmentally sensitive areas. Rather than impacting wetlands wooden cart bridges were built throughout the property, including the longest cart bridge in the US, running between holes 8 and 9.

Lighthouse Sound has been recognized by most of the golf publications including a Top 100 rating by Golf Magazine. We hope you will take notice of the surroundings they have preserved as you enjoy your round at Lighthouse Sound.

 

Murphy’s Laws of Golf

Golfers who claim they never cheat also lie.

A two-foot putt counts the same as a two-foot drive.

Never wash your ball on the tee of a water hole.

There is no such thing as a friendly wager.

The stages of golf are Sudden Collapse, Radical Change, Complete Frustration, Slow Improvement, Brief Mastery, and Sudden Collapse.

The only sure way to get a par is to leave a four-foot birdie putt two inches short of the hole.

Don’t play with anyone who would question a 7.

It’s as easy to lower your handicap as it is to reduce your hat size.

If you really want to be better at golf, go back and take it up at a much earlier age.

If your driver is hot, your putter will be ice cold; if you can hit your irons, you will top your woods; if you are keeping your right elbow tucked in, your head will come up.

Progress in golf consists of two steps forward and 26.6 miles backward.

One good shank deserves another.

It takes 17 holes to really get warmed up.

No golfer ever swung too slowly.

No golfer ever played too fast.

One birdie is a hot streak.

No matter how badly you are playing, it’s always possible to play worse.

Whatever you think you’re doing wrong is the one thing you’re doing right.

Any change works for three holes.

The odds of hitting a duffed shot increase by the square of the number of people watching.

Never take lessons from your father.

Never teach golf to your wife.

Never play your son for money.

Never try to keep more than 300 separate thoughts in your mind during your swing.

The less skilled the player, the more likely he is to share his ideas about the golf swing..

The statute of limitation on forgotten strokes is two holes.

Bets lengthen putts and shorten drives.

Confidence evaporates in the presence of fairway water.

It takes considerable pressure to make a penalty stroke adhere to a scorecard.

It’s not a gimme if you’re still away.

The more your opponent quotes the rules, the greater the certainty that he cheats.

Always limp with the same leg for the whole round.

The rake is always in the other trap.

The wind is in your face on 16 of the 18 holes.

Nothing straightens out a nasty slice quicker than a sharp dogleg to the right.

The rough will be mown tomorrow.

The ball always lands where the pin was yesterday.

It always takes at least five holes to notice that a club is missing.

The nearest sprinkler head will be blank.

Every time a golfer makes a birdie, he must subsequently make two triple bogeys to restore the fundamental equilibrium of the universe.

You can hit a 2-acre fairway 10 percent of the time and a 2 inch branch 90%of the time.

Out of bounds is always on the right, for right handers.

The practice green is either half as fast or twice as fast as all the other greens.

No one with funny head covers ever broke par.

The lowest numbered iron in your bag will always be impossible to hit.

Your straightest iron shot of the day will be exactly one club short.

No matter how far its shaft extends, a ball retriever is always a foot too short to reach the ball.

If you seem to be hitting your shots straight on the driving range, it’s probably because you’re not aiming at anything.

A ball you can see in the rough from 50 yards away is not yours.

The only thing you can learn from golf books is that you can’t learn anything from golf books, but you have to read an awful lot of golf books to learn it.

River Run Plants Vineyard

Triminette, Chambourcin, Seyval Blanc and Vidal Blanc – not a foursome you would normally expect the starter to mention at your favorite golf course, unless of course, that course is the River Run Golf Club, Gary Player’s Ocean City Masterpiece.

Who are those “guys” and what are they doing here?

They are four grape varieties, recently planted in strategic areas throughout the front nine, that will in late 2013 add a special flavor to the post round ritual of drinks with your friends in the Player’s Club Restaurant – wines from the vineyards of River Run.

In consultation with Costa Ventosa, a local Winery located in nearby Whaleyville Maryland, four varieties of grapes were all chosen for their excellent wine quality, productivity, disease resistance and adaptation to the climate of the Mid-Atlantic region.

Just to the left of the first tee is Triminette, a cross between the French American Hybrid Joannes Seyve and the German cultivar Gewurztraminer. Triminette will produce a white wine with a spicy fruit characteristic (Gewurz in German means spice) with apricot and honey overtones.

To the left of the 3^rd green is Chambourcin, another French American Hybrid.  The Chambourcin grape produces a deep colored red wine with a full aromatic flavor.  Chambourcin wines can be made into a dry style or one with a moderate sugar level, giving it a pleasant sweetness.  Chambourcin wines are often served with dark chocolate or chocolate desserts, but go great with grilled meats, sausages, roasted poultry, and dishes with mushrooms.

Just ahead by the fourth tee is Seyval Blanc, a cross between the Seibel and Rayon d’Or varieties and will produce a crisp white wine, perhaps a Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay with citrus elements in aroma and taste.  Wines made from the Seyval Blanc grape are often paired with both fish and shellfish due to their palate refreshing qualities.

To the right of the sixth fairway is Vidal Blanc, a white grape developed in the 1930’s from a cross between Ugni Blanc and Rayon D’Or grapes.  Wines produced from Vidal Blance are fruity, with grapefruit and pineapple tones and are particularly suited to sweeter dessert wines.

For Lew Meltzer, River Run’s owner and developer, the addition of vineyards will continue his vision of making River Run a “Beautiful, unique, fun place to live, play, and enjoy some of life’s finer pleasures”.

 

 

Classic Golf Pranks

These are tried-and-true golf pranks guaranteed to get a laugh. Word of caution: these ideas should be reserved for very close friends: not your boss, and certainly not your host or someone who’s paid for your round. If you’re straddling the fence of appropriateness, it’s probably best to err on the side of caution.

However, if you’ve been the subject of a prior prank or you know the target well enough, then the gloves are off!

Turn Key
This is an easy one. After your playing partners have met you at the range or the first tee (and have already operated their cart), just turn their key to the ‘off’ position. It will take them a while to figure out why the cart isn’t working. Repeat.

Bag Strapped
Either at the practice range or near the first tee, simply loosen the vinyl strap that holds a player’s bag to the back of a cart. When the cart lurches forward, the clubs will fall off the back. Yes, it might damage the equipment, but it’s hilarious. The player whose gear falls off gets embarrassed because it’s loud and they’ll think it was their fault.

Do this repeatedly throughout the round until the sucker catches on. Eventually, they will.

Loud Speaker
If a player in your group has an embarrassing nickname or is sensitive about a common mispronunciation of their name, give the person in the Golf Shop a buck or two to announce your group to the first tee using the nickname.

Sand Bagged
This is an adaptation of the age-old salt shaker gag. At a course that has sand-n-seed containers on each cart, simply unscrew the tops so that when the container is picked up the contents will spill everywhere. Childish, but funny.

Dead Weight
If you’re walking, try to sneak something heavy into the bottom of your playing partner’s golf bag. Maybe a five-pound weight, a handful of rocks, a sand-n-seed bottle, seven beers or a human head. Whatever you can find.

The Driver/Putter Switch-a-Roo
Take your buddy’s brand-new $900 Super-Duper-El Guapo driver out of his bag and hide it in yours, then replace it with an old beat-up persimmon from the lost-and-found barrel in the cart barn.

Be sure to put the Super-Duper-El Guapo headcover back on the replacement. When it’s unsheathed, your victim’s heart will stop for as long as you can keep a straight face. This can also be done with a putter, or better yet, both.

Getting the Shaft
This is the classic golf prank. Before you leave the course, take all the clubs out of your target’s golf bag and replace them upside down – clubhead end first.

Stuff as many as possible into the smallest opening and give each a twist. It’s nearly impossible to pull the clubs out because they get so tangled. Hee-hee.

Pink Balls
Remove all regular golf balls from your male buddy’s bag and replace them with pink ones. Hopefully, he won’t discover the gag until just before he’s teeing off in a semi-serious tournament.

Or even better, just before he’s teeing off in a semi-serious tournament with a shotgun start and he’s as far away from the clubhouse as geographically possible. Now that’s good humor.

Laura Davies
Cut out a magazine picture of LPGA legend Laura Davies (about the same size as the top of a driver) and made copies.

Whenever possible, tape it to the top of his club so when he removed the headcover she was staring up at him. Use thick, super-adhesive, packing tape so it doesn’t come off very easily.

Your Mother
Here’s an advanced twist to Laura Davies. Tape a picture of your buddy’s mom (or wife) to your own club. Then act surprised and blame somebody else.

“Wow! Who taped this picture of my prom date to my driver?!! Not funny guys…”

Where’s the Beef?
At the end of the day, offer to load the clubs into your rig for the ride home. Slip a tightly wrapped package of raw hamburger (or old shrimp shells, or something equally smelly) into your target’s bag. If you’re lucky, he won’t find it before he can smell it. An advanced maneuver is to prepare two smelly payloads. Hide one in the main pocket where it will be obviously found after a cursory search. Then hide the ninja package where it won’t be discovered. They’ll find the first one, quit looking, and just blame it for the ‘lingering’ stench.

*Use your own discretion and you are responsible for your own actions. Pam’s will not be held liable for anything discussed in this blog.

Bear Trap Dunes hosts George Washington Inter-Collegiate Invitational.

Bear Trap Dunes was once again excited to host the annual George Washington Inter-Collegiate Invitational. For the 9th year in a row, Bear Trap was thrilled to welcome NCAA college teams from the region: Binghamton, Boston College, Delaware, George Washington, Hofstra, Holy Cross, LaSalle, Niagara, Rider, St. Francis of PA and University of Pennsylvania.

Good weather and fine course conditions were presented to this 11-team field of 70 players. Individual and team honors were up for grabs during the 54-hole medal play. The University of Pennsylvania captured the team honors with a combined score of +2 (two over par) for the five teammates through 54 holes.

UPenn included the individual medalist as well – Max Marsico fired rounds of 72-70-70 to win by four strokes. Plenty of under-par rounds were recorded during the event, including a 5-under par 67 from Binghamton’s David Cellura and a 4-under par 68 from LaSalle’s Michael Johnson. Yet it was Max Marsico’s and UPenn’s consistent play that earned them the titles.

The March conditions were pleasant and it was wonderful to see the Bear Trap Dunes members, players’ parents and other spectators on our grounds. This event proved a great kick-off to our Spring season, and Bear Trap Dunes is honored to host this prestigious local NCAA tournament every March. Brian Painter PGA Head Golf Professional Bear Trap Dunes

Brian Painter
PGA Head Golf Professional
Bear Trap Dunes

You Love It or You Hate It

As Allen Iverson so eloquently said, I’m talking about practice! That’s right practice. It amazes me how much time some people can spend on the range hitting balls. Probably because I have the attention span of a 2 year old when it comes to practicing and hitting golf balls. I would almost rather spend the day shopping with my better half then torture myself at the range for hours at a time.

It is my experience that you are either a golfer who loves to practice or one who loathes it. There is little gray area here. I know if I want to be a better player that I should spend more time working on my game. But the truth is, I just don’t care about improving enough to put in more hours on the range.

Don’t get me wrong I love golf as much as the next guy but the thought of spending hours practicing never has excited me much. It’s kind of strange too, because I grew up playing all kinds of sports and always look forward to practice. With golf it’s always been different for me. Maybe that’s why I’m stuck in mediocrity or it could be that I’m just not very talented. Whatever the reason I’m happy the way things are for now! Although every now and then I have to spend some time on the range with one of my PGA buddies to save my sanity.

I also know that spending time on the range can hurt your game if you continue to practice bad swings and don’t receive proper instruction. I have seen many golfers spend hours on the range with no professional help and continue to repeat bad swings and completely destroy their game. So my advice would be if you don’t like to practice don’t do it! But if you do make sure your time on the range is spent practicing the proper fundamentals otherwise your just wasting your time and your effort!

“Hit em straight”
Bobby Vermillion
Endless Golf

Spring Club Primer…Are Your Clubs Ready for Spring?

After this long, cold winter, I’m sure you’re probably not physically ready to start playing golf – and how about your clubs?  Are they in the best shape possible? If not, what can you do to get them ready for the upcoming golf season?

Perhaps the most important and often most overlooked is getting your clubs evaluated for the proper loft and lie. Golf clubs can easily work their way out of alignment (loft and lie) by simply hitting balls on the range or off hardpan, hitting a tree root, rocks, or just during normal play. It is always a good idea to insure your clubs are set to the manufacturer specifications by having them checked at least once a year.

If the lie of a club is off by as little as 1 degree, this could mean that your shot direction could be off by 3-4 yards.  You may not notice this in your long irons, but being off 3-4 yards in your wedge could mean the difference between being in a bunker or being on the green.

Loft is equally important. There is only a 3-4 degree loft difference between clubs as you progress through the set.  Do you have two clubs in your bag that you may hit about the same distance? You should see about an 8-10 yard gap between each club.  A simple loft check and alteration will cure such distance gaps.

How about your shafts?  Are their dent marks in your steel shafts or unusual wear marks or fraying on your graphite shafts?  Both of these conditions could lead to premature shaft failure.

Do you hear a rattle in your shafts or clubheads? This could be caused by loose weights or epoxy could have broken loose.  Although this doesn’t affect play-ability it could be a distraction.

Check your ferrules as well.  These are the plastic trim pieces where the shaft enters the clubhead.  If there is a separation between the ferrule and head it could mean that the ferrule is loose or worse yet the club head is actually loose.  Although this is unusual, it pays to at least have them looked at and corrected if necessary.

Check your grips for unusual wear.  Are there indentations caused by your thumb?  Are they slick or hard to hold onto?  Do you even remember the last time you changed them?  If not, you are probably in need of new grips.  While you’re at it, have your Clubmaker check your grip size.  You may be surprised at what a different size grip could mean to the feel of the golf club.

What about set make up?   Do you ever hit your 3 or 4 irons?  If not, take a look at the new hybrid clubs.  These new clubhead designs are much more forgiving and a lot easier to get airborne.  Do you consistently hit a fade (slice)? Perhaps a driver with a closed or offset face will help straighten your drives. These designs will help you return the clubface in a more square position at impact and could result in straighter drives.

If you are a serious golfer, you should have a frequency analysis done on your clubs. This high-tech specification check compares each of your clubs to one another to see how they compare. Throughout the set, there should be an equal separation between each club. If a club does not follow the same progression as the others, that club could play noticeably different than the rest. What does this mean to your game? Well, if your clubs are not frequency matched, they may not perform in the same manner or be as consistent.

Whether it is the loft, lie, shaft, or grip, it is wise to have a Clubmaker perform an equipment check-up at least once a year to ensure that you have equipment with the correct specifications to match your individual playing characteristics. The best players in the world are constantly evaluating their clubs. Doing it on a regular basis will help you do the same.

by Mike Bednarcik
Custom Clubs of Frederick
Golf Digest – 2011 Top Clubfitting Facilities
www.CustomClubsofFrederick.com

Mike is a Certified Professional Clubfitter through the Association of Golf Clubfitting Professionals