It is with the deepest regrets that I announce that after 16 years with ClubCorp and 7 years with Desert Falls Country Club, that it is time for us to part ways. I want to take this time to thank my entire staff and fellow department heads and employee partners for their friendship and devotion. They are all professional in what they do and it has been a pleasure to have known and worked with them. I also want to thank the entire membership here at Desert Falls. It has been a pleasure serving you. Desert Falls truly is the friendliest club in the desert and I wish you all continued success.

I have two weeks of my vacation from last year that I need to use up before I lose them. Now that the Fallies and the Derby are done, I am going to take a few of those days. I will be returning to work on April 3rd. See you all then.

After our Regional Meetings last month, the corporate office had been reviewing the 3 superintendents that had been maintaining a blog and thought it was such a great idea that they made it mandatory for all of our company superintendents to start and maintain a blog. There are currently 38 superintendents out of the 102 that now have blogs in place and here are the email comments that we received from Mark Burnett, EVP - Golf and Country Club Division


Wow! There are some very impressive sites here. May need to get some of our Supers to come in and help improve our social media strategies at corporate. Really cool.

Good work all in making communication with Members and Boards a priority!

Mark Burnett
EVP - Golf and Country Club Division
ClubCorp, Inc.

This past Monday the Men's Golf Association sponsored a breakfast for the golf maintenance staff in the PDR to show their appreciation for all the hard work that they do. I really want to thank them and tell them how much the guys appreciate it. They work really hard in some extreme tempertures all year long and it does them wonders to know they are appreciated.

Yesterday we fertilized the greens and today we are getting them rolled in preparation for the upcoming Men's Derby.

Yesterday we held a meeting with club mamagement and several members to discuss some upcoming issues in conducting a coot shoot. Here are the minutes from that meeting.

Coot Committee Meeting
Monday March 19, 2012

In Attendance:

Tom Shephard, Tim Skogen, Jennifer Dammeyer, Tom Sprott, Jim McClean, John Prater, John Doherty

Tom Shephard will draft a letter to the City of Palm Desert and the Palm Desert Sheriffs Department. There are several reasons for the letter. First will be to let them know that we have applied for a Coot Depredation Permit from the Department of Fish and Wildlife Services and that we will be shooting in the near future to eradicate the coots (application will be included). Second, will be to find out if they have any restrictions or requirements that we need to be aware of, such as who we need to contact prior to shooting and how far in advance. And lastly, to hopefully get something from them in writing that they are aware of our permit and our future plans, and that we have documentation of their approval and requirements.

Tim Skogen will draft a letter to be sent out to all homeowners explaining all the methods that we’ve taken so far and what our upcoming plans are for eradicating the coots. This letter will not be sent out until we are closer to actually shooting.

The members will get Tim the correct HOA contact information and will assist him in making sure that all homeowners receive prior notice to any shooting.

Tom Shephard will be responsible for contacting all Federal, State or Local Government Agencies prior to shooting, as well as all required necessary reporting after shooting.

Tom Shephard will also contact other property superintendents in Palm Desert to obtain any information they have on shooting in this city, as well as contacting the superintendent at Mission Hills C.C and Desert Island C.C. to get any assistance on how they conduct a shoot. Email updates will be sent out periodically as information is obtained.

Everyone was in agreement that it is too early to determine exact specifics on conducting a shoot, but did agree on several issues.

1. That the first shoot would be around October 2012.
2. That Mondays and Tuesdays would be the best days to shoot.
3. That shortly after Sunrise would be the best time to conduct a shoot.
4. That using a single tee while shooting on the opposite nine would be the safest.
5. That homeowners, as well as local officials would be contacted prior to all shooting.
6. That Tom Shephard would be the lead contact person and responsible for conducting the shoot.
7. That birds should only be shot on land and not in the water.
8. That a boat and operator would be available to get any birds that go into the water and die.
9. That the birds need to be picked up as soon as reasonable possible after the shoot.
10. That once the permit arrives we would meet and finalize plans to conduct the first shoot.

We have started seeing some weeds (nutgrass) popping through on the areas of the greens that were enlarged last summer. We expected this, but it appeared a lot early in the season due the hotter then normal temperatures this winter. We treated the greens with a pre-emergence herbicide to help control the crabgrass (which we haven’t seen any yet) but unfortunately, there is no pre-emergence control for nutgrass that will not harm the grass varieties used on the greens also. We are currently researching for a post-emergence herbicide that can be used on a green without damaging the existing turf.