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Course News

After a long winter off-season, ONGC secretary Peter Teague thought it would be a good idea to touch base with 4th year superintendent, Nate Walker, for a state of the course update. The following interview took place at the Clubhouse in early April.

PT: Nate, good to see you, how did you spend your winter?

NW: Well, I view the winter as a time to recharge after a long golf season and also to get things ready for the season ahead. I spent a good deal of time working with our new mechanic Dave Wallace in order to get him familiar with our equipment. Gunner and I also spent a lot of time duck hunting.

PT: I noticed a few new faces on your crew, who do you have with you now?

NW: As I mentioned, Dave Wallace is a very skilled mechanic. He comes to us from Ferncroft where he was the mechanic for 5 years. I am looking forward to Dave being able to take our equipment to a new level. On the course Carlos and William are our uncle/nephew team that work well together. Those two guys are tireless. We are fortunate to have Albert DeGrasse returning and have also added Chris Young to our crew. Both Albert and Chris are very knowledgeable about the game and interested in exceeding our golfer's needs. The efforts of all of these guys free me to focus on important fertilization programs, spraying and general agronomics.

PT: So how did the course make it through the winter? How do things look?

NW: We had a very dry winter and the course was put to bed well. With the mild winter we are 3-4 weeks ahead of normal course conditions.

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PT: We recently had our Member Clean-Up Day. What are your comments on this unique Ould Newbury tradition and how helpful was this year's event?

NW: This year was awesome! Carlos worked 15 hours a week to keep the course in good shape during winter. This allowed members to do big projects. We focused on cleaning up large debris on the 5 th hole, trimming trees, painting clubhouse and many other areas. My crew and I are very appreciative of everyone's efforts and this has put us ahead of the game. Each of our members brings unique skills that benefit the entire club. Clean-Up Day is a huge part of Ould Newbury such a special place!

PT: Nate, it's quite apparent that considerable alterations have been made to the 5th hole. What was the reason for undertaking this project?

NW: Well, in the late 1980's the construction of the current men's 5th tee encroached upon a wetlands area according to the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection). The DEP estimated that we effected roughly ten thousand square feet of wetlands when putting in that tee. For the past year I have been working with the DEP and our environmental engineer Mike Derosa in order to rectify the situation. Initially the DEP wanted to levy a rather large fine against us. With the help of Mike Derosa, our attorney and club president Dave Leary we were able to get the fine reduced to a very manageable amount. In exchange we were required to give back some of our land and designate it as wetlands.

Mike Derosa and I worked to make this a favorable situation for the DEP, the environment and the club. As we all have seen in recent years the fifth fairway had become almost a continuous wet area and this scenario gave us an opportunity to greatly improve the drainage. We created a water filtration system to receive all of the run-off. On the right hand side of the hole we have a wet meadow which will contain various aquatic plant life that act as a filtration system for all the leacheate from the course. There are several different levels that water entering the wet meadow will have to go through. When water flows from the left hand side of the hole into the large pool on the right and when water comes from the 7th and 8th fairways into that pool it will get filtered. This will even filter out all fertilizers and will in a sense buffer and purify all drained water before entering into the neighboring Mill River .

This was viewed as a necessary yet impressive step by the DEP. I meet nearly weekly with Ron Stelline from the DEP and they would like to use us as an example for others to follow. The big buzzword is nutrient loading. Meaning that the DEP likes to see that what we do to the environment creates fauna which creates different life on the marsh and the rest of the environment.

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PT: How long did all of the work take and who did you use for this project?

NW: Plan and ground work started in July 05. We have Mike Derosa our environmental engineer who has a great reputation and great relationships with DEP and an appreciation for our financial limitations. I had opportunity to work with Mike when I was the assistant at Ipswich CC on a number of projects and his reputation precedes him. After researching construction companies we stayed local with T&W Excavation, a family operation headed by Dana Warren. Dana has worked with the Club for over 20 years and understood what we wanted to achieve and had worked well with Mike Derosa in the past. Dana broke ground the last week of February because we needed frozen turf to bring large excavators and dump trucks to 5 th hole to do the work. We got blessed with perfectly dry weather in March and were allowed to work straight through and Dana finished up in five and a half weeks on site.

PT: So what's left to do on this project and when can we expect to play the hole in its entirety?

NW: The project has been seeded and fertilized. Irrigation is in place and we are growing grass right now. We hope to have the grass matured and ready for play by July 4th . Until then we pray for more of this warm weather.

PT: So when the project is complete and the grass grows in, how will the changes affect the way the hole plays?

NW: We were able to culvert the ditch at start of fairway where the bridge used to dissect the fairway. For ladies and seniors they won't have a ditch to stop ball roll so in that way it's a friendlier tee shot. Also we were able to elevate the fairway about 20 inches at the base of the hill which helped to improve drainage. Dana Warren stripped the existing top soil and added over 1000 yards of sand to increase drainage and playability. The 5 th hole has always been one of prettiest holes and I think it has been further enhanced. The drainage improvements and elevated fairway will make the fairway dryer and firmer. Many tee shots should no longer be plugging in the middle of the fairway..

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PT: So has this project exhausted your budget and will we see an assessment or a dues increase for the 2007 season?

NW: I think we were able to do this project inexpensively for how large it is. We have made it a drier and better course for the long haul. Soon we may even have carts going across the fairway. The DEP was very flexible when they realized we were richer in “sweat equity” than cash. Our contractors all did quality work at reasonable prices. Understandably, Dave and Mike Chase have been on top of me to keep the costs down and I am pleased with how it has turned out.

PT: Any other major changes planned for the season?

NW: For this season we have purchased walk behind greens mowers to get green heights lower and have them role truer. We will all see a difference in the crispness in cut that our new mechanic will help us achieve. Stay tuned for my 2007 wish list.

PT: What one thing could every player do during a round that could help improve the condition of the course?

NW: The more aware each of us is on the impact that we have on the condition of the course the better we leave it for everybody else. Self-policing is the key. If we all fixed two ball marks on each green the greens would roll even better.

PT: Finally, how is your lovable lab Gunner these days?

NW: Gunner is by far the best looking member of my crew and a great assistant .

PT: Thanks for your time Nate and have a great summer!