February 2024 Newsletter

February 2023

Winter has officially arrived here at the Thousand Acres.

Welcome to Thousand Acres Golf Club

Dear Members, Winter has officially arrived here at the Thousand Acres. As the cold and snow settle in, we are staying busy planning for the upcoming season, as it seems likely the golf season is officially wrapped until spring. While that is always a sad day for golfers, we are celebrating the most successful golf season ever at Thousand Acres. I never tire of this one… “we have an 18-hole golf course!” On top of that, we had more play than ever, more member play than ever, and more golf shop sales than ever before. Thank you. While we have much to do and are always looking forward, it is hard to not look back and take note of all that has happened here over the past few years, and certainly this past season. We continued to grow our event calendar, hosting four Nine and Wine events, three local charity outings, our first ever night golf event, and our grand opening event. As for 2024, I don’t think we can beat the significance of opening the back nine, but we have plenty on our agenda, and are going to work hard to exceed expectations. We have several major projects on the horizon; road construction, real estate development, and additional club amenities, to name a few. And we are still focused on improving the golf course. If you haven’t played this fall, there is a surprise waiting for you with the newly renovated #3 greens complex (more on that later). We are also expecting improvements off the course… look for updates to the website, and we are always working on improving communication with our members. About the website… we have some spectacular new fly-over videos of each golf hole, thank you to TaylorMade Realty, and we will be incorporating these into the website. Along with the hole-by-hole description we would like to add some golfer reviews. If you have anything you would be willing to share about a golf hole, please consider sending that to us at this link . We would like to include that information from our members. It could be your favorite hole, favorite view, the hardest green, or maybe an extra special memory for you. Please share with us.. Happy New Year and all the best.

Warm regards,

Bob Raley
General Manager

CRAIG YUTZY , DIRECTOR OF GOLF

We want to highlight and thank you for your contributions to our Mulligans for Charity program. Our membership raised $4,000 throughout the season, purchasing mulligans during our member only events. This is an impressive commitment to helping support our local Garrett County charities. This year we will donate equally to four charities… Cindy’s Fund, The WGW, the Hart Foundation, and the Deep Creek Watershed. Thank you, again!

Whether you like it or not, winter is here. The weather is turning cold and golf operations will be closed in January and February. We will be working on the 2024 events schedule and plan to add new events, activities, and instructional programs. Please reach out directly if you have any ideas or suggestions for the 2024 season.

The holiday shopping season has wrapped. However, we have had a holiday golf shop sale throughout January and were lucky to see many of you! Members who have bag storage please reach out to confirm next steps. Construction will continue over the winter months on our brand-new club storage room and bathrooms.

I will be heading to the PGA show in January for continuing education and to review the new merchandise options for the golf shop. We are always looking to expand our offerings, and the show never disappoints in regards to options.

On behalf of the entire golf shop staff, we wish everyone a happy & healthy new year. Stay safe and see you in the spring!

TOM HARSHBERGER , DIRECTOR OF AGRONOMY

With winter here, this is a good time to look back and reflect on what worked for us and what did not work in 2023. We were able to escape any significant challenges and provide good playing conditions on a busy golf course. That is our goal every year, and we met our goals in 2023. There are always things we need to tweak and work on for the upcoming season. For example, weed control in the rough, improving moisture management on fairways and agronomic strategies to help the front nine and back nine play similarly. We are already working on strategies for these improvements, and many more! This is our planning season, and if we do it well, it all but ensures a positive golf season next year.

The H2B staff left for Mexico in early November. What a great job they did for us this season! Kudos to them and the whole staff! They were eager to get back to their families and have some time off. They do still work in Mexico during the off-season but not to the degree that they do in the states. The paperwork is already in process for next year and we certainly hope that the visa process works out in our favor, and we see those same guys back here in April!

There are two important tasks to deal with each December, before the snow arrives. The first being to blow out the excess water in the irrigation system. We do this so the sprinkler heads and the PVC pipe do not freeze and crack. The second important task is to apply our snow mold protection before the first big storm. This is always a moving date because it’s different every fall/winter. We wait until the last day before it snows and spray all the bentgrass surfaces at the same time. This is a very important application because this protects the plants throughout the winter months.

It’s now time to schedule my trip to the GCSAA national conference and trade show. This time around its in Phoenix, AZ at the end of January. This conference gives me the opportunity to see the latest and greatest in the turfgrass industry and for some continuing education opportunities.

I would like to thank everyone here at Thousand Acres. We had a great season, and we will strive to make next year even better. Please have a safe and healthy new year!

BOB RALEY, GENERAL MANAGER

With the good fall weather (in , we took aim at additional improvements around the front nine. One of those projects that may go unnoticed if you were not here to see it, might have some of the most important impacts. For the first time ever, we were able to have a contractor aerify the fairways on the front nine. This is a big deal for us, reducing the excess organic matter on the fairways is one of our top priorities. While we were at it, we also vertically sliced the fairways and sand topdressed as well. This is the sort of agronomic improvements that make the real difference year to year. We hope to do this again in the spring, and again in the fall, and so on, with the goal of improving the health and playability of the fairways. Less excess organic matter should mean increased ball roll, improved lies, and improved ability to withstand cart traffic, drought stress, and excess moisture.

Smaller projects that were completed earlier in the fall include the improvements behind #1 and #9 greens. We softened the slopes, removed a few trees, and sodded the areas. In addition to improving playability, projects like this should help reduce lost balls, and increase pace of play.

Along #8 fairway, we improved the slope exiting the fairway near the cross bunkers. This area below the fairway sees a tremendous amount of cart traffic concentrated into one very small area. By softening the slopes, the cart traffic will be better dispersed and should result in healthy turf in the area. And the gentler slope is much safer for carts heading back to the cart path.

The big improvement of the fall was the greens complex on #3. Over the years the bunker faces have gotten steeper and harder to maintain, and as a result harder to play. We wanted to improve the playability of the area and maximize golfer access to the green. And while the changes above ground are what we all see, it was the improvements in drainage below ground that will make just as much of a difference. Several drains were added to improve the health and playability of the entire area below the green. While the number of bunkers has doubled to four, the bunkers are smaller and there is less sand than before. Play it off the right slope and the sand is just a visual distraction!

We hope you appreciate our commitment to improving the golf course, we will keep making it happen!