Golf Committee – Barry Kasprow

The Golf Committee, like nearly everyone else, is anticipating the opening of the new greens and is excited about the prospect Sussex Pines becoming of one of the finest golf courses on the Delmarva Peninsula. Like most of the members, however, we don’t want to start playing the new greens until they are ready. With that in mind, we have adopted a “wait and see” position regarding tournament and outside play this season.

A tentative Calendar was published in the last Newsletter and will be available shortly in the Pro Shop. In addition, there are three significant events that still need to be scheduled: the 19-Man Shootout, the Men’s Match Play Championship, and something new – a “Golf Coalition” Championship open to members from our new Coalition with Seaford CC, Green Hill CC, and Caroline CC.

For those of you who may not have heard, King’s Creek will remain open to play by Sussex Pines members through the end of May. However, the fee to Sussex Pines members increased to $40 on the 1st of May. Guests will have to pay the full $80 fee. We are grateful to Kings Creek for opening their course to us throughout this whole time of rebuilding our greens, and we know many of our members took advantage of the opportunity. And thanks go also to our own head pro, Tim Mumford, who took the initiative to get this set up and provide an alternative golfing venue for our members.

The Tuesday Night Men’s League will start on 19 May 2009. Sign up with Tim in the Pro Shop. .

Greens Committee – David Quinn

Green Chairman's Update as of April 20:

Thank-you to all the members who came out Saturday April 18th in support of a spring cleaning of the golf course it was a beautiful day.

An update on our new greens: with continued below average temperatures all this spring and high winds it has been very difficult to get a good consistent pattern of germination, given that, I am pleased with what I am seeing the past couple of days. We are seeing more germination everyday as the temperatures slowly begin to climb especially on 10,6,16, 13, 5, 1, and 4. If you have been out on the course lately you probably have noticed that Harry has the irrigation up and running on an automatic watering cycle for all of the new greens, this is imperative to receive quick and absolute germination. Harry will be spot seeding starting tomorrow April 21st, he is also on a very strict schedule to start applying fertilizer to these greens every week. I need to add that these greens are draining superbly and that every week from here on you should see noticeable improvement.

Additional Update as of May 3:

Things really do change very quickly on Delmarva, from an average 50 degrees to 95 degrees and above in a very short time, and thank goodness for that. Because of this weather change, the growth on the new greens has changed dramatically from nothing to nearly 90 percent coverage on all of the new greens. The superintendent and his crew are cutting these greens almost daily and adding fertilizer weekly.

Kudos to Harry and crew for the GREAT job they did in preparing our golf course for a successful open house as well as this crew's obvious dedication to their jobs.

David Quinn, Chairman