Frost occurs when the water inside of a plants leaf freezes due to cold temperatures.  This freezing causes jagged crystals to form and remain until temperatures warm enough to unfreeze the turf.  Turf damage will occur if equipment drives across or anyone walks across the surface while frost is present.  Blackened tire tracks and footprints are visual signs that the turf has been damaged due to the crystals inside the leaf rupturing the plant.  Frost damage is permanent and requires replacement or reseeding to repair.

Operators of facilities in desert climates must be extremely knowledgeable about frost in order to maximize revenues while protecting the delicate turf during the winter months.  Those of you familiar with Indian Wells Golf Resort know that our golf courses sit lower in elevation to most of the surrounding area.  The lower elevation makes our facility more susceptible to frost due to the cold air settling during the night and early morning.  Unfortunately there is no way to accurately predict frost due to the weather factors that cause it.  During the 2008 winter our facility experienced 40 out of 60 days with frost delays.  The 2009 winter only brought 5 days of frost.

Factors that will deter the formation of frost are wind and cloud cover.  Wind will keep the air masses moving keeping the cool air from settling.  Cloud cover will keep warm air from escaping into the atmosphere maintaining higher night temperatures.

Hopefully we will have a warm season keeping all of our guests on schedule and golf courses in excellent condition.

Rolland Vaughn

PGA Head Golf Professional

Indian Wells Golf Resort

“Season” as we affectionately call it here in the Coachella Valley has arrived.  Season brings beautiful weather to our area which in turn brings our winter residents back to their homes and fills our resorts with guests.  It is a great time to be living in the desert.

 At Indian Wells Golf Resort we are fortunate to offer 36-holes of golf for approximately ten months of the year.  During the months of October and November we continue to have 18-holes available during the overseeding process where 18-hole facilities will be required to close the course entirely.  This means that our facility becomes extremely busy with guests of all skill levels and backgrounds including country club members, resort guests, local residents, etc. 

Due to this busy time of year “Pace-of-Play” becomes an important challenge to ensure an exceptional experience for all or our guests.  Two ways to improve Pace are to choose the appropriate set of tees and to play “ready-golf.”  At our facility a target time for a round of golf is 4 ½ hours.  Finally, we ask our guests to be courteous and respectful to each other and if an issue occurs to contact a Course Ambassador for assistance.

 If you would like more information on how to improve your Pace-of-Play visit the link here at http://golf.about.com/od/golfetiquette/ht/paceofplay.htm.

Enjoy the weather and good golfing!

Rolland Vaughn

PGA Head Golf Professional

Indian Wells Golf Resort

The best way to improve is by changing a weakness into a strength.  By accurately keeping golf stats you are able to quickly identify areas of the game where you excel and areas that need improvement.  I see a lot of amateur golfers spending their practice session hitting shots with their favorite club instead of focusing on areas of improvement.  Practice time should be spent working on the shot that you continually struggle with.  After you have gained confidence at the practice tee take the positive attitude to the golf course and your game will improve.

For all of you iPhone owners there is a great app called TeeShot.  It can be used to track your strokes, putts, fairways, clubs, and distances.  Also, it has a GPS that can be used to measure shot distance.  For the rest of you like me a small notepad works great.

Good Luck!

Rolland Vaughn

PGA Head Golf Professional

Indian Wells Golf Resort

Proper weight shift through the golf swing will increase distance and control.  The golf swing is an athletic move so use other sports to visualize the weight shift.   If baseball is your game imagine a pitcher releasing a ball and his weight moving toward home plate.  If football is more your style then think of a quarterback passing the ball to his receiver by planting his back foot pushing off toward the target.  By having their weight move toward the target velocity and accuracy are both increased.

In the golf swing weight is shifted from the right leg on the backswing to the left leg through impact.  By transferring your weight properly you will be able to increase clubhead speed creating more distance and maintain a proper swingplane increasing accuracy.  Be careful not to slide through the ball.  Remember that the proper weight shift is a rotation and not a slide.

Rolland Vaughn

PGA Head Golf Professional

Indian Wells Golf Resort