It's A SOCIAL World After All

First off let me apologize if you now have that song running through your head, not my intent.  If you didn't already I'm sure you do now, and again, sorry.  We do live in a social world now however, but now it is a "social media" world.  The days of club newsletters being mailed out to members is most likely a thing of the past.  Members/golfers want information now, instantly, which has changed the way superintendents and golf professionals communicate with their members and golfers.

We try to use a lot of different social media outlets because we realize that not everyone uses the same resources and each one has its own unique purpose.  Our Facebook site The Bear Trace @ Harrison Bay gives a detailed view of what is going on at the course.  Our Twitter account @BearTraceHB allows us to give instant information about course conditions and activities.  Our website www.tngolftrail.net provides information on our golf course and the other courses along the Tennessee Golf Trail in a broader, more in depth format.  We are also on Vine at Bear Trace HB, Instagram at beartracehb, and of course this blog, which we love to keep up to date.

We have all these information outlets to try and educate and inform our golfers and we did not expect our efforts to gain national recognition but it has.  Today we received official notification, by the one and only Pat Jones, that we have been selected to receive the Dr. John Kaminski Leadership Award from Golf Course Industry Magazine and Aquatrols at this years Super Social Media Awards in San Diego.  We are very grateful and humbled that our work has been recognized and are really looking forward to the #GCITWEETUP16.

Social media sites are a great way to get YOUR word out about changes or improvements to the course, course closures for weather or cultural practices, or to announce upcoming tournaments or outings.  If you don't already utilize this free way to promote your golf course and yourself I would strongly encourage you to consider it.

2011 Is In the Rearview Mirror

As 2011 comes to an end and I look back at a very successful year at Harrison Bay I have to say I am very pleased with all that we have accomplished this year.  It has been a little over a year since I started this blog and it has been fun to show you what is going on at the golf course.  Our golf course maintenance staff has made several improvements to the golf course this year including the renovation of the front nine greenside bunkers, providing better putting surfaces with the addition of John Deere Walking Greens Mowers to our fleet, irrigation renovation to some of the greens, beginning the renovation process of the native grass areas on the course, and improving and expanding our environmental stewardship activites.  My crew is very dedicated to the golf course and I have to express my pride in thier work.

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2012 looks to be another exciting year at Harrison Bay.  Our Eagle Cam Project should be up and running soon, the renovation project of the back nine greenside bunkers is in full swing, we will continue renovating the irrigation around some of the greens, renovation of the native grass areas will take place during the summer, and we are going to add some mallard duck nesting tubes to our environmental conservation program in the next few months.  All in all 2012 should be an exciting and busy time at The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay.  We hope everyone enjoys the improvements that we are making to the golf course and if you have any questions or comments about what we are trying to accomplish here just let us know.  Hope to see everyone at the Trace in 2012.  Happy New Year!!!

 

Harrison Bay Eagle Cam Project

Photo by Bret Rogers

For close to a year now I have been dreaming and working toward placing a camera in the tree above our bald eagle nest.  The camera will allow us to view the activities in the nest and will provide us with a view that not many people have the privilege to see.  I feel honored and blessed that the eagles have trusted our golf course as a suitable place to raise their family and we are taking every step necessary not to disturb them during the process of this project.

The project started by visiting some other bald eagle cams on the web and wondering why we couldn't do that.  It has taken almost a year worth of research and planning but we are oh so close.  The project is funded by the Friends of Harrison Bay State Park, the United States Golf Association Green Section, and the East and Middle Tennessee Golf Course Superintendents Associations.  I am extremely grateful and thankful for the support from these organizations and am so excited about getting this project off the ground. 

Photo of first juvenile eagle last year

Dave Leff of Horizon Electronics has worked tirelessly to research and recommend the best camera setup for the project.  We have decided to place two stationary cameras at different angles in the tree which will provided us with 24 hour viewing of activities in and around the nest.

Live web streaming of the eagles nest will be visible at our website http://www.harrisonbayeaglecam.org/ and on the blog http://hbspeaglecam.blogspot.com/.  Give us a little time to get things up and running.  We hope to have the streaming video available by mid December so we can all enjoy the building of the nest, the laying and hatching of the eggs, and the fledging of the baby eagles.  As time goes on and we hopefully gain valuable footage and information about the eagles we will post information on Twitter and Facebook.

As you can imagine this project is very involved and I can not thank the volunteers that have given their time, expertise and financial support to get this project off the ground.

The goal of this project is to continue to show interested individuals that golf courses are good for the environment and if maintained and managed properly can be an environmental asset.  We hope you like the project and ask for your prayers and support for its success.

Promoting The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay

The February 2011 issue of The Golf Course Trades magazine contains an article I wrote promoting The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay and the golf course industry.  In the past, golf courses seemed to be the easy target for people claiming that golf courses were "environmental polluters" and to some extent I think the industry as a whole did not do a great job of protecting and promoting the environment but times have changed.  Environmentally friendly golf course provide enormous areas for wildlife to prosper and survive and we are excited to be the best environmental stewards we can be.

I hope you can take the time to read the article found on pages 16 and 17. Click on the link below:

Promoting the Industry and Yourself

Introduction to our blog

Welcome to the new Bear Trace at Harrison Bay Golf Course Maintenance blog.  We are very excited to have the opportunity to display the hard work that the golf course maintenance crew does to improve and advance the golf course.  We will use this blog to show improvements and advances to the golf course, help explain practices that are occurring on the golf course, and inform you of wildlife and environmental activities that are seen or carried out on the golf course.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments about The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay.  We hope you enjoy.