Wayne's World Spring 2022

La Cumbre Country Club • February 17, 2022

Spring has come early this year, and it feels like it started on January 1st! Our greens are trying to produce seed heads, a typical March through April event. Our fairways have good color and are growing. Our native planting areas are trying to bloom, and the bugs are out! Nothing is following our typical patterns. I know we are enjoying some of the best-golfing weather, as the rest of the country is frozen stiff. So, I hope you enjoy the facility, as it may be the best weather days for golf over any place in the United States.

What’s to come over the next few months:

  • The Reclaimed Water Contract starts March 1st and will be in place for 25 years. We are very fortunate to have this contract during this current weather pattern. This contract provides a more secure water source at a reduced rate to potable water.
  • The hillside behind the 6th green, where we ran the reclaimed pipe, will be planted and the fence repaired. 
  • Work around the Campus has started with updating the landscape planters and plants. 
  • The 10th Green tee will be relocated for safety issues. Many members requested this change because there is no visual from the 10th tee, and the access to the current location is too steep. In addition, the tee is too small for its usage.
  • The driving range tee plus the 5th and 7th teeing grounds will be leveled and resodded. 
  • We will begin cart path reductions on holes 12 through 16, starting in late April. In addition, Todd Eckenrode, our club’s architect, is reviewing these holes for tee adjustments and new cart path installations.

I hope you enjoy the nice weather, while we wish for more rain! 


Wayne Mills

PS: Many members have asked about my new dog; his name is Rusty. He is a French Britney, or for the more cultured than me, his name is Omar Du Young, and his breed is “Epagneul Breton.” He will be three years old in April. I acquired him from individuals whose life changed and who had to move. So now he’s stuck with me. You will see him on the course if you look quickly.

By La Cumbre Country Club May 13, 2022
Good Morning La Cumbre! We are starting to transition from spring to early summer. The property is transitioning too. So, the Greens and Kikuyu are taking on a different look and feel in fairways. Both need constant irrigation, so less roll on both surfaces than in winter. Ball marks and divots repair faster this time of year, but we still need your support in fixing these blemishes from your execution of that perfect shot. This year's weather is very eradicated, and everything seems to be a month to two ahead of historical growth patterns. But all our contractors and material suppliers are a month or two behind. So, the work we have slated for this year will get done, but it looks like the window of June to early September is when this will be completed. On the waterfront, the deliveries of reclaimed have been steady. Again, this came online just as the State and local agencies beat the drought drums. They are looking for a 35% reduction in water usage throughout the system. Agriculture rates are being adjusted way up with the mandated reduction. As this intensifies, different groups will be pointing fingers at each other. Being a private club, they would love to point them at us. With the continued drought, certain tree species show signs of heavy stress and decline. Mainly the Redwoods and Monterey Cypress currently. Using water with lower qualities will only add to this if we do not get heavy winter rains to clean the soils. But the property is in good shape with some excellent additions planned for the season. See you on the course. I'll be somewhere behind Rusty.
By La Cumbre Country Club January 31, 2022
“I don’t use the word ‘sustainability,’” said Wayne Mills, superintendent at La Cumbre CC in Santa Barbara. “I use the words ‘reduced inputs that benefit society.’ Potable water is a fluid people need to sustain life,and we were using it to irrigate turf. If we use reclaimed water, we use less potable water and still employ people, create living wages, and give people a place to enjoy themselves.”
By La Cumbre Country Club January 19, 2022
President's Annual 2021 Report and 2022 Budget
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