Monday, May 4, 2020

GOLF COURSE UPDATE 5/4/20


  • GREENS - Mowed at .125" 4 times per week rolled 3 times, TEES/COLLARS/APPROACHES Mowed at .325" 2 times per week, FWYS Mowed at .375" 2 times per week, ROUGH Mowed at 2.5" 1 time.
  • As of now, setup will be 2 times per week on greens and all accessories will remain off the course until further notice.
  • Bunkers initially raked out last Friday after continuous rainstorms over the past few weeks. As of now, we will only touch up rake once a week on Fridays before the weekend play. 
  • Plant Protectant, Growth Regulator Applications, and all Pre-Emergent Applications applied to all short cut turf, rough, range, and lawns. Our weekly application schedules will begin now that we are in the beginning of the actual growing season.
  • Weeding, mulching, and pre-emergent applications made to landscape beds and will continue until completion.
  • All golf course irrigation and tennis irrigation on, repaired, and operational. Clubhouse grounds irrigation parts ordered for repair week of 5/11/20.
  • All tennis courts re-surfaced and being rolled/groomed daily. During the week of 5/4/20 windscreens will be hung up and detailed work will be completed to have our courts ready once restrictions are lifted.  
  • During the week of 5/4/20 all driving range detail, mowing, and preparation will be made to have our practice areas ready once restrictions are lifted.
  • Finish work will also begin around the new air conditioning unit at the halfway house. New landscape to screen the unit will be dug up from around the property and finish detail to be completed by the week's end.
  • Current Staff - 4 Union Full-Time on the golf course, 2 H2-B Full-Time for Tennis and Clubhouse Grounds, 1 Assistant, Mechanic returned 4/27/20.
  •  Needle-tine aeration to greens bi-weekly during the wet spring has lead to great rooting across all our playing surfaces. We did not hollow core aerate any playing surfaces this spring so this practice will help aid in the benefits of core aerification until this fall.
I hope you all are safe and healthy as we all continue to battle the unfortunate shutdown and pandemic affecting our daily lives. We've had a great couple work weeks since the last post, working between rain events and with limited staff getting our property cleaned up from damaging winds, mowing our surfaces, and making the critical spray applications to set us up for a successful growing season. As you will all notice in the coming weeks we have and will be making adjustments to our maintenance practices as we continue to phase more labor into the operation and build to what our full staff will look like in 2020. You will notice us removing the first cut around fairways and greens, adding large out of play no-mow/native rough areas, and will allow some areas around bunkers to grow to limit hand mowing around our hazards. We will also be scaling back setup and bunker raking to once or twice a week compared to normal years as the mowing and spraying will take priority until we ramp up operations. Our plan for workweeks and detail will be modified and most likely will be changing on a daily basis as we do our best to give a great product while we get thru these tough times. With the challenge ahead as grass cutting becomes more of a necessity other modifications may be necessary or more staff will be added to address our necessities or expectations. 
As always we are here to promote our great game and the property while we battle the uncertainty of the current events and happy that Pine Hollow can provide the sanity we all need. Be safe and see you on the course! 



Saturday, April 4, 2020

IN MEMORY OF SALVATORE ANDREOTTI 1958-2020

Obituary of Salvatore Andreotti

Andreotti, Salvatore of Glen Cove, NY passed away on March 31, 2020 at Age 61.  Beloved son of the Late Michelina and Mario.  Dear brother of Luigi (Lee) and the Late Felicia Costantino.  Loving uncle of Angela, Michelle, Jessica and Victoria.  Adored great-uncle of Madelyn, Cristian and Jonathan.
A great man and a dedicated employee at Pine Hollow for over 20 years. Sal and I have been friends since my first day at Pine Hollow in 2003. We have worked together for 12 years and he always had a better way to do things, but that is why we loved his work and his dedication. He was incredibly loyal to his family, his friends, and to his craft which was to make this property better than it was yesterday. Our daily conversation about politics, grass, golf, and family will be greatly missed and he will always have a seat in our breakroom. Rest easy my friend until we meet again.

RESPONSE FROM THE EMPIRE STATE & GOLF COURSE UPDATE 4/4/20

Submitted on Saturday, March 21, 2020 - 8:53am Submitted by anonymous user: 173.245.52.86 Submitted values are:

    ==Intake Form==
      First Name: Brent
      Last Name: Peveich
      Name of Business: Pine Hollow Country Club
      Email Address: bpeveichturf@gmail.com
      Phone Number: 5165821684
      Region:  Long Island
      County:  Nassau County
      Topic:  Business counseling
      Comments / Questions: As a golf course Superintendent and looking
      ahead to next month we have critical course plant protectant,
      growth suppression products, and early season insect and weed
      applications that need to be addressed and therefore it is
      critical to apply even with the mandate. Along with these
      critical applications in the coming weeks we will need to begin
      mowing, watering and addressing our turf stand daily as it is a
      perishable product and with the warmer weather approaching our
      property is about to break from winter dormancy. Please consider
      Golf Course Superintendents and our Assistants to be Essential
      Skilled Contractors to keep our properties alive and viable once
      normalcy returns. Thank you!

Mr. Peveich,

Thank you for contacting Empire State Development. Private golf course operations may continue, however, dining is only available for take-out and delivery.  The point-of-transaction to pay to play on the course can remain open in-person or, if the option is available, may be conducted online or over the phone.  Any in-person element of the business shall abide by social distancing and cleaning/disinfecting protocols

To stay informed and get nightly updates from New York State with the latest news on our response to the pandemic, sing up at https://now.ny.gov/page/s/coronavirus-updates.

If you still have questions, please visit the.COVID-19 FAQ section of our website at https://esd.ny.gov/novel-coronavirus-faq-businesses.

Sincerely,
Empire State Development


GOLF COURSE UPDATE 4/4/20


  • GREENS Mow 4x per week at .125 Rolled 3x per week, TEES Mow 1x per week at .325, Fairways Mow 1x per week .375, Rough currently slowly growing and not necessary to mow as of 4/3/30.
  • All mechanical work is being done on a need be basis. Checking quality of cut, small repairs, and mower grinding. (Mike Greco/Brent Peveich)
  • Golf course cleanup continues slowly with only two course employees.
  • Irrigation repair on the golf course, tennis courts, and clubhouse grounds continues and should be wrapped up week of 4/6. (Assistant Mike Greco)
  • All tees and fairways were sprayed with initial plant protectant application on 3/30/20 to treat early-season patch diseases and knoeck down early season inoculum. (Mike Greco/Brent Peveich)
  • Seedhead Suppression applications made to our greens. This early season spray is designed to keep greens healthy by forcing our Poa Annua greens not to flower which keeps the plant's energy geared towards root development not seeding. This process also keeps the playing surfaces smoother and less likely to decline in the coming months. (Brent Peveich)
  • Two of our H2B workers have returned and started cleaning beds around the Clubhouse Grounds and rolling tennis courts in preparation for the 2020 season. 
We currently have a very small staff due to the mandate in place and are only performing essentail work around our property. On the Green Department we are all pitching in and Mike and I are doing our best with our limited staff to provide you with the best product we can under the circumstances. Please be safe and practice social distancing while enjoying our great property from a different point of view. Be well and see you soon.




Saturday, March 28, 2020

DIFFERENT WAYS TO ENJOY OUR GAME AND GOLF COURSE UPDATE 3/28/20

Due to these unprecedented times, we are asking our membership to enjoy our property in different
ways. While practicing social distancing the open space our property has is great for winter rules golf, exercise, and getting to know the property from a different viewpoint. Please be safe and cautious during these times and abide by all the rules and regulations under the Executive Orders in place for our safety. We can't wait to return Pine Hollow to the club you all know and love, so that is why these weeks are critical to flatten the curve of Covid-19. Below we have some information to help understand where the state of golf is currently and a brief update on the golf course operations. 


GOLF COURSE UPDATE 3/28/20

Our Golf Course is starting to break dormancy and with that comes spring mowing, plant protectant applications, and cleanup work to get us ready for once our lives get back to normal. We currently have a limited staff due to the Executive Order but thankfully we are deemed Essential during these times to preserve our golf course. Every area Superintendent I've talked to is exercising caution with our staff and we are all doing our best to prepare and maintain our Club's Greatest Assets. Currently, my crew has initially cleaned leaf debris, tree litter, and the mess left by non-migrating geese while this past week my Assistant and I have pressurized the Irrigation System and made repairs necessary for when we need to begin watering. Our plans for next week will be to mow all shortcut playing surfaces and make the first of many important fungicide and insecticide treatments setting us up for a great 2020 golf season. Looking forward we will be mowing and rolling greens as necessary and re-setting the golf course as play and time dictate. I will do my best to keep you posted with information from our Associations and look to keep you posted thru our blog as much as possible. Please stay safe and see you soon.

Monday, March 16, 2020

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC & GOLF COURSE UPDATE 3/16/20

Until further notice, we will continue to stay open for golf and you are encouraged to get outside to play our great game. Due to the current situation, water coolers will remain off the course, bathrooms will remain closed, and all golf course accessories will remain in storage. We ask all members to leave the flag in on greens while playing and strongly suggest walking instead of taking carts.
It's certainly moments like this that will make normalcy feel that much more worth cherishing once it returns, so please be safe and we will see you soon! 

Information about the Pandemic below - 



Be safe from my family to yours!

Monday, March 9, 2020

GOLF COURSE UPDATE 3/9/20


All greens will be officially opened for the 2020 season on Wednesday 3/11/20 except #1 Green. The work at the first green complex has healed in great and with the mild winter we are on pace to open for the first men's event in early May. As you know early March weather can be unpredictable but our staff returns next week and we will begin bunker detail, aeration, and placing golf course furniture for the season as weather permits. Cart availability will be determined this week once initial treeline cleanup is completed and forecasted rain events become more clear. Also as a reminder, please use good Driving Range etiquette and practice from the mats until our grass tee is made available.
 Welcome back and we're excited to ramp up for the 2020 season!