From the Superintendent

MARCH 2021

BRANDON RAZO

Bring On 2021

Last season was very busy and stressful. Lots of open play, hydraulic leaks, irrigation pump going down, and the tragic accident losing not only an employee but 3 amazing young men made it very difficult for me to put what was on my mind into writing. But now I am refreshed, refocused, and ready to get this season going.

At the end of the 2020 season, we did a little tee renovation project. There were a few tee boxes that we wanted to flatten out to allow a better playing surface and open up more area for tee placements. I am very pleased with how they came out. We will be opening up 3 of them as soon as we get them rolled and mowed. The tee box for BK 2 still needs a little more work, we were about a week late on getting that one seeded last fall.

A main focus this year will be getting all the new greens totally filled in, and pushing the damaged greens hard to grow in. They are looking a lot better, but I feel we can have them totally fixed up this season. These greens could roll slightly slower as I will be pushing them with fertilizer every week to two weeks getting them to grow and fill in. These greens will also have sand applied regularly to help the process.

This year, Cross Creek is playing host to the Hoosier GCSA Member/Guest event. I am looking forward and excited to host this event this season to display the course to my fellow Superintendents from across Northeast Indiana. The date of the event is August 25th, so that gives my team a date and goal to get this course looking better than ever. I feel like this crew will do an amazing job this year.

Lastly, there will be one big change this year to Cross Creek. We have decided to change all out-of-bounds to red/white stakes. They will no longer be marked with white only. This decision will help speed up pace of play for leagues, outings, and open play. This is also something that the USGA is pushing for courses to do, and probably in a few years all courses will be making the transition.

“If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.”

-James Cameron