-Current Conditions

-Sechrest Nine Update

-# 10 Tee – Expansion/Bunker Project

-# 11 Approach

-Aerification – Fall 2012

-Greens Mapping

-Weather

-Year In Review

LOCH LLOYD COUNTRY CLUB

Golf Course Agronomy

The Golf Course Maintenance team at Loch Lloyd Country Club is committed to delivering world class conditions during an

uncertain golf economy through the commitment to diligence, professionalism, pro-action, and excellence. With first class

amenities and a world championship caliber golf course, it is an incumbent motivation to provide to our members and their

guest only the finest of playing surfaces. Upholding the integrity of the property with respect to the environment further

solidifies Loch Lloyd Country Club as one of the finest in the United States.

Collars – While the collars were the most negatively impacted by the summer weather, nearly all collars have been sodded in the most

extreme cases of turf loss, leaving some subtle plug work and seed establishment to be performed. Seen later in this report is examples of

how we measure what work needs to be performed in such areas remaining. Height of Cut - .170.

With nearly all playing surfaces having recovered to almost 100% the golf course has returned to world class quality.

Greens – Height of Cut is .115. Greens are again hovering around LLCC desired speeds of 10.5 to 11.5. Color and turf density are at a

premium and greens health remains optimum as rooting depths maintain at 7” deep.

Tees – Height of Cut is .500. Tees are excellent. With the exception of some heavily used par threes (# 2 and # 5), turfgrass density is great

and color still exceptional.

Fairways – Height of Cut is .625 and is being lowered to .500 for the duration of the season. Fairways # 6 – 14 are near tournament

condition and withstood the summer months well. Our newest # 1-5, 15-18 had a difficult time this summer, however are recovering very well

and are positioned to have a successful year in 2013.

Roughs – Height of Cut 2 ¼”. Roughs are excellent and have been recently been acclaimed to be the best in all of Kansas City. During a

recent visit from Tom Watson; he mentioned that he felt that the roughs were “perfect and couldn’t be better”.

9 9

8 8

9 9.5

8 8 8

7

8.35

1 1 1 1

9

10 9.5

9

10

11

9.75 10 10 10

8.5

9.5

10.5

9.5 9

10.25

11

Stimpmeter Readings

Sechrest Nine Tom Watson # 1-5, 15-18 Tom Watson # 6 - 14

SECHREST NINE OVERSEED

Obvious to all was the dramatic impact that the lack of water and excessive heat had on the Sechrest Nine this year. In the spirit of reaction,

pro-action, and optimism, the GCM team set out to improve the Sechrest Nine conditions to better than it was by capitalizing on the

abandoned conditions that Mother Nature left us with.

All tees, fairways, collars, and bunker faces were scalped down to the remaining crown of whatever turf remained in effort of creating an

optimal seedbed. Each playing surface required its own specific application. Tees were circle cut at .250 then vertical mowed in circles at

1/16”, aerified with ¼” hollow tines, cleaned of all debris, topdressed heavily with sand and then walk overseeded with T-1 bentgrass.

Fairways received similar inputting, however due to the larger acreage, topdressing was omitted and ½” hollow tines were utilized. Fairways

were seeded with a tractor driven drill seeder.

Tees, collars, and fairways were seeded exclusively with T-1 bentgrass while weak spots in roughs were seeded with Perennial Ryegrass.

Bunker faces were completely scalped with weedeater, blown free of debris, and then broadcast seeded with Tall Fescue and Perennial

Ryegrass. The Tall Fescue will prove to be a superior and more appropriate species for otherwise drought stricken bunker faces.

SECHREST NINE OVERSEED

No different from the grow in and establishment of the Tom Watson Signature Design, diligent water management and control coupled with

precise fertilizer applications have been the standard for the Sechrest Nine. While the photos may reveal the perception of a playable golf

course; this is not the case. Having experienced only just a few weeks of growing weather, more time is needed. It is possible that conditions

will be conducive to golf activity in 2012; however the likelihood of quality golf being had is low. With four frost delays already taken place, the

establishment process has been slowed.

Holes # 1-4 and 6 are the furthest along developmentally, while # 7-9 are next and # 5 last. Number 5 was the last hole to be seeded due to

the involved work that went into re-leveling and expanding three of the four tees.

The first cut on holes # 1-4 and 6 is scheduled for the week of October 15, 2012.

Currently playing as the toughest golf hole on property, # 10 at LLCC was a prime candidate for modification. Generally playing into the

wind, the 473 yard par 4 makes even the highly skilled player struggle at reaching the green in two shots. As seen above, there is plenty of

free space to extend the hole, making it a legitimate Par 5. With this extension comes the need for more strategy. Therefore, two opposing

bunkers will be carved into the rough no further than 100 yards from the green.

With natural golf and design savvy, Tom Watson visited the site, developed a plan and then reached out to Ownership for the final blessing

and approval. The project began on Monday (above left) and by the end of business Thursday (above right) started to look like outline of a

promising additional tee complex.

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“I told the members that I wanted a long par 4 but since the opening it is very

apparent that the hole indeed is playing too long. With that said I have

determined along with Matt that adding a new back tee and constructing

two bunkers within 100 yards of the green to create some problems for

the second shots, a par 5 is in order....a short par 5 which would round

out for me a good combination of varying lengths for our now 4 par 5's.

# 10 and #12 are long, #4 is reachable but with one's best two shots,

and now with #10, a shorter par 5 which would give the long hitting

player a fairly good chance of reaching the green in two shots given no

wind. The tee shot would be more elevated and the fairway narrower in

the landing area which fits the strategy of a short par 5...making the

player hit a straighter tee shot.

Best,

Tom”

In the top photo, several large boulders have been positioned at the extreme back of the teeing complex to create an intimate setting for the

championship tee. These boulders naturally occur all along the ridgeline above the tees on # 10.

The Watson yardage (as seen on the score card) will extend to an estimated 530 yards from the championship tee. The balance of the

yardages will simply be moved up a tee box and Par will be held to 5. Once the area is complete and grassed, concrete yardages will be

communicated.

Director of Golf Operations, Rick Scott, will be making the necessary adjustments to slope/rating, total course yardage, and handicapping with

the cooperation of the Kansas City Golf Association in the upcoming months.

The photos below capture some of the shaping process performed. All work was performed in-house by the GCM team. The upcoming phases

of the project will be the installation of drainage and irrigation, the review/go-forward approval by Mr. Watson, final grading, and grassing.

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(from back left: Casey Corbin, Renaldo Saldana, Gabriel Perez,

Juan Lopez, Bulmaro Pantoja, Nicolas Hererra, Agustin San Juan, Jose Gonzalez, Jorge Franceschi, TJ Ridge) (from front left: Keith

Kohlasch, Vincezo Escanilla , Carlos Lopez, Kristian Placencia, Feliciano Ramirez, Alfredo Martinez, Uriel Geron, Alejo San Juan, Mario Lopez,

Hugo Martinez, JulianSolis, Travis Boeve) (Missing from photo are Mark Button and Equipment Technician, Chris Reynolds)

In addition to making the adjustment to hole # 10, Mr. Watsons site visit also addressed an area that was in need of some refined aesthetic

enhancement; # 11 approach. Hailing as the longest Par 3 on the course, # 11 naturally sets up as a longer, yet intimate tee shot that

exposes nearly every contour on the hole. The idea of making an adjustment was to modify the approach grass line so that there were less

straight lines. As seen in the photos above, (left) the present day scenario reveals many straight lines from the tee and the proposed grass

line (right) will shorten the approach and will slightly alter the appearance of the hole. This work will be completed before spring 2013.

(WHILE IT MAY BE DIFFICULT TO IDENTIFY, THERE ARE SEVERAL WHITE IRRIGATION FLAGS INDICATING THE NEW GRASS LINE)

Aerification for 2012 is complete.

Accomplished this year was greens, tees, collars, approaches,

and fairways # 1 – 6, 15 – 18.

TOP RIGHT – Greens aerification was performed with ¼” hollow

tines with a walk behind TORO aerifier. Depths achieved were

no more than 2” as the subsurface material is sand and not even

1-year old in some cases. The purpose of this aerification was to

simply alleviate surface tension, increase gaseous exchanges,

and improve porosity.

MID RIGHT – This is the post aerification application of sand. It

is this application that will assist in filling the holes, bridging the

gaps between holes, and providing a uniform surface for the

crown of the plant to grow in.

BOTTOM RIGHT – A simple hand smear test is performed in a

circular motion to help conceptualize if the proper amount of

sand has been applied in order to fill each hole made. The sand

is incorporated by dragging a fine brush called a cocoa-mat

across the surface in a circular motion

Due to the intense cleanup process involved with aerifying

fairways, the team has decided to forego aerifying the unspoiled

setting of fairways # 7 – 14. As seen below, heavy topsoil is

removed from all fairways on site and requires a thorough

cleaning of the surface post aerification. Clay cores are very

difficult to retrieve. As the clay dries, the cores solidify and are

comparable to rocks. If the clay core is wet, there is a tendency

to smear making the removal near impossible. The perfect

balance is required in order to effectively harvest these cores

without damaging the turfgrass surface. This perfect balance is

an art that we are still navigating….on to 2013!

With so many intricacies and subtle nuances to each golf green on property, the GCM team has taken a proactive approach at managing our

putting surfaces. As some would say, the shortest pencil is far better than the longest memory….for this reason, we have begun a mapping

exercise for all greens to help expedite the effective and spot specific management of troubled spots so that nothing gets forgotten. Led by

one of our Lead Assistants, Mark Button, aerial maps of each hole have been printed out for careful dissection.

ABOVE - # 15 (possibly the busiest green with troubled spots) has many exercises needing to be performed.

MIDDLE - # 14 has far less “noise”, but still requires hex plugging work at the start of the collar as well as some non-invasive aerification.

BOTTOM – A color map for hole # 1 indicates precisely where and what work is needed.

This mapping technique will be implemented for the long term care of tees as well. For fairways this technique has been utilized already in

effort of anticipating how to manage the worst locations on each hole specifically during the summer stress season. Site specific drill and fill

will be applied to areas that have been mapped and found to be in need. Mapping can also be helpful in identifying trends of insect damage

and non-desirable weeds specie reoccurrence…..such as Poa annua.

OCTOBER 2012: temperature 52° (4° below avg.); precipitation 4" (1" above avg.); Oct 1-5: T-storms, then sunny, cool; Oct 6-10: Rainy periods, seasonable; Oct 11-16: Sunny, turning warm; Oct 17-20: Rain to snow, turning chilly; Oct 21-26: Rainy periods, cool; Oct 27-31: Snow, then sunny, cold.

NOVEMBER 2012: temperature 45° (2° above avg.); precipitation 1.5" (1" below avg.); Nov 1-5: Showers, mild; Nov 6-11: Sunny; cool, then mild; Nov 12-16: Showers, cool; Nov 17-21: Sunny; mild, then cold; Nov 22-26: Rain to snow, then sunny, cold; Nov 27-30: Rainy periods, mild.

Annual Weather Summary: November 2012 to October 2013

Winter temperatures will be higher than normal, on average, with precipitation and snowfall near normal in the east and below normal in the west. The coldest periods will be in late December, early January, and early and mid-February. The snowiest periods will be in mid- to late November, mid- to late December, early January, and early March.

April and May will have near-normal temperatures and rainfall, on average, with hot temperatures in late May.

Summer will be drier and slightly cooler than normal, on average, despite hot spells in late June, mid- and late July, and mid-August.

September and October will be slightly drier than normal, with near-normal temperatures.

Temperature and Precipitation November 2012 to October 2013

Tue

Oct 16

Mostly Sunny / Wind 77°/58° 0 %

Wed Oct 17

Few Showers 60°/44° 30 %

Thu Oct 18

Partly Cloudy / Wind 58°/44° 10 %

Fri Oct 19

Partly Cloudy 58°/45° 0 %

Sat Oct 20

Partly Cloudy 68°/49° 10 %

Sun Oct 21

Mostly Sunny 72°/56° 0 %

Mon Oct 22

Partly Cloudy 70°/48° 0 %

Tue Oct 23

Showers 61°/41° 40 %

Wed Oct 24

Sunny 56°/36° 0 %

Warmest Regards,

Matthew C. Bashara

Director of Golf Course Maintenance

Please take a moment to view some of the beauty that was captured over the last few months of 2012.

A simple piece of some of the favorable scenes at Loch Lloyd Country Club can be viewed by copying and pasting the following link into your

web browser.

http://youtu.be/CXZjrRoc8ig