Mother Nature has certainly made her presence known over the past few days!

Due to the heavy rain and flooding, the Lakes Course will be closed today, Tuesday, September 29. The Lakes driving range is currently looking more like a lake than a range, so the range will also remain closed for the entire day.

Vistas Overseeding Update

The recent rainfall has also delayed the start of seeding at the Vistas Course. Our team will begin the overseeding process as soon as conditions allow and the standing water has sufficiently drained.

At this time, we do not anticipate a delay to the scheduled reopening of the Vistas Course. However, that will ultimately depend on how quickly the course drains and when we are able to begin seeding. We will keep everyone updated if the weather causes any changes to the reopening schedule.

It’s Raining… SALE!

If we can’t golf, we might as well take advantage of the rain!

Starting at 10:00 AM today, we are having a one-day-only Rainy Day Sale in the Golf Shop:

• 40% Off All Apparel
• 40% Off All Hats
• 50% Off All Winter Wear
• 30% Off All Bags
• 20% Off Balls & Gloves

No additional discounts may be applied. The sale is today only, so stop by beginning at 10:00 AM and take advantage of some great savings. Please see the attached flyer for details.

The Links – Overseeding Specials

While golf may be on hold, The Links will remain open throughout overseeding and has some specials for our members to enjoy.

Through Monday, October 19, happy hour pricing on alcohol will be available all day, including $1 off draft beer and wine.

These specials are available Monday through Saturday from 8:00 AM–8:00 PM and Sunday from 8:00 AM–2:00 PM. The Links will also be offering food specials throughout the overseeding period.

We hope you'll stop by, enjoy the specials, and spend some time with your fellow members while we wait for the courses to be ready for another great season.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as our Golf Course Maintenance team works around the weather. We’ll continue to keep you informed of any changes.

It is hard to believe we are already in the middle of September and preparing for another overseed season at Westbrook. Although there is still plenty of summer left in the desert, the changing conditions on the golf courses are one of the first signs that our fall season is quickly approaching.

We have had extremely favorable growing conditions over the past month and a half. The combination of high temperatures and unusually high humidity has kept our Bermudagrass growing aggressively and the golf courses in excellent condition. More recently, temperatures have begun to drop, and the current forecast is calling for temperatures to remain below 100 degrees through the beginning of October. If that continues, those cooler temperatures should provide us with very favorable conditions as we begin overseeding.

Vistas Overseed Preparation Is Underway

The Grounds Team has already begun preparing the Vistas Course for overseed. Over the next several days, members will notice the appearance of the course begin to change, and that is completely intentional.

Mowing heights are being gradually lowered in the areas that will be overseeded, irrigation is being reduced, and the Grounds Team has applied its pre-overseed treatment to help encourage the Bermudagrass to slow its growth and begin transitioning toward dormancy. All of these steps make the eventual scalping and seeding process more successful.

To give the Grounds Team additional uninterrupted time to prepare the course, we have adjusted next week's closure schedule. The Vistas Course will be closed both Tuesday, September 22 and Wednesday, September 23. The Lakes Course will remain open all week.

A Quick Crash Course: What Exactly Is Overseeding?

Most Arizona golfers are familiar with overseed season, but you may not know everything that is happening behind the scenes.

Bermudagrass loves heat and humidity. When temperatures are high and moisture is in the air, it grows rapidly and creates the excellent playing surfaces we enjoy throughout the warmer months. As nighttime and soil temperatures begin to fall, however, Bermuda naturally slows its growth and eventually becomes dormant for the winter. Dormancy is essentially the plant’s protective state, growth stops and the grass loses its green color, allowing it to conserve its resources through the cooler months when conditions are no longer favorable for active growth. Once warmer temperatures return in the spring, the Bermuda wakes back up and begins actively growing again.

That is where overseeding comes in.

Before winter ryegrass can be planted, the summer Bermudagrass must first be prepared. The Grounds Team gradually reduces water and lowers mowing heights before scalping the turf (cutting it extremely short and removing much of the green Bermuda leaf material). If you've ever wondered why an Arizona golf course suddenly looks brown and a little rough just before overseed, that's the reason!

Once the Bermuda has been prepared, ryegrass seed is spread throughout the areas being overseeded. The next step is one of the most important: water, water and more water. The new seed must remain moist while it germinates, requiring frequent, short irrigation cycles throughout the day. It is also very important that temperature stay down during the night as we need to keep the bermudagrass in a dormant state and give the winter rye a chance to grow.

Within several days, millions of tiny ryegrass plants begin to emerge. The Grounds Team then carefully manages irrigation, fertilizer and mowing as the new turf develops. During the closure, the goal is not simply to grow grass, it is to establish a strong enough plant to withstand months of golf-cart and foot traffic during our busiest season.

That is also why the course may still be wetter and softer than normal immediately after reopening. Irrigation is gradually reduced as the ryegrass matures and develops a stronger root system. During these first few weeks, the young turf is particularly susceptible to damage from cart traffic. This is why cart path restrictions remain in place for the first two weeks after reopening, giving the new ryegrass additional time to establish before introducing regular cart traffic. While we know these restrictions can be inconvenient, those first couple of weeks make a significant difference in protecting the turf and providing the best possible playing conditions throughout the winter season.

It is a tremendous amount of work in a relatively short period of time, and weather plays a major role in how quickly and successfully the ryegrass establishes. That makes the cooler temperatures currently in the forecast particularly welcome this year.

2026 Overseed Schedule

Please keep the following dates in mind when planning your golf:

Vistas Course
Closed Monday, September 28 through Friday, October 16
Reopens Saturday, October 17

Lakes Course
Closed Monday, October 12 through Friday, October 30
Reopens Saturday, October 31 — Halloween!

There will be a five-day period from October 12–16 when both golf courses are closed while the Vistas finishes its grow-in and overseeding begins at the Lakes.

Please refer to the above Overseed Closure Calendar for the complete September and October schedule, including our regular weekly course closures.

Vistas Well Project & New Tahoma 31 Tees

We are also happy to report that the Vistas well drilling project has been a great success, and after months of work, the construction walls have finally come down!

The Grounds Team took advantage of the construction period to make another improvement to the surrounding teeing area. The Black and Blue tee boxes were converted into island-style tees and sprigged with Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass.

Unlike laying sod, sprigging involves planting small pieces of living Bermudagrass throughout prepared soil and allowing the grass to spread and establish a new turf surface. Our Grounds Team completed this work entirely in-house, harvesting and transplanting Tahoma 31 from our own range tee to establish the new tee boxes. Tahoma 31 is a newer Bermudagrass variety known for its dense growth, excellent turf quality and strong overall performance. Both of our driving range tees are Tahoma 31, along with several other areas throughout the courses that our team has renovated over the past few seasons. Based on the results we have seen, the Golf Club plans to continue expanding its use, including incorporating Tahoma 31 into upcoming fairway improvement projects in the seasons ahead.

With the drilling equipment and construction walls now removed, work will begin on the White tee box next week. Our goal is to have the entire area completed and ready when the Vistas reopens following overseed.

It will be exciting to finally see this area come together after all of the activity surrounding the new well.

End of Season Sale — Now Through September 27

Before the new season arrives, we need to make some room in the Golf Shops!

Our End of Season Sale is underway now through Sunday, September 27, with savings throughout both shops.

The featured offer is:

Buy Two, Get One FREE on all apparel of equal or lesser value.

We also have special pricing on shoes, hats, outerwear, golf clubs, golf balls and gloves, along with increased discounts on our colored-dot merchandise, including savings of up to 70% off.

Please see the End of Season Sale flyer above for all of the offers and details.

This is a great opportunity to pick up something new for the upcoming season while helping us make room for the new merchandise arriving this fall.

Another Great Year!

As we bring another season at Westbrook to a close and prepare to begin a new one, I want to thank each of you for being a part of Westbrook Golf Club. We have a lot to look forward to in the months ahead, and our entire team is excited to welcome everyone back for another great season of golf. Whether you have been with us for many years or are joining us for your first season, we truly appreciate your membership, your support, and the community that makes Westbrook such a special place. Here’s to a great finish to this season and an even better one ahead!

A Reminder About Newly Sodded Areas

All newly sodded areas on the golf course should be treated as Ground Under Repair (GUR).

Most importantly, we ask that you please do not play a shot from the new sod. These areas need time to root and become established, and even a small divot or repeated foot traffic can set that process back considerably.

Under Rule 16.1 of the Rules of Golf and our local rules, free relief is available when the newly sodded area interferes with:

• The lie of your ball;
• Your intended stance; or
• The area of your intended swing.

When taking relief in the general area, determine the nearest point of complete relief, no nearer the hole, and then drop within one club-length of that point, also no nearer the hole. Your ball, stance, and intended swing must all be completely clear of the Ground Under Repair after relief is taken.

There is one distinction that is particularly important around newly sodded fringes and greens:

If your ball is off the putting green and a newly sodded area is simply between your ball and the hole, you do not receive free relief solely because the sod is on your line of play. For example, if your ball is in the approach or rough and you would like to putt through a newly sodded section of fringe, the sod being in the path of the ball by itself does not entitle you to relief.

Relief would apply only if the new sod also interferes with the ball itself, your stance, or your intended swing.

We appreciate everyone's help protecting these areas while they become established.

Vistas #5 Lake – Well Work

First, please do not be alarmed if you notice the water in the lake on Vistas #5 becoming a little brown or cloudy over the next day or so.

The drilling team has completed the installation of the casing for the new well and is now working to clean out the bottom of the well. As part of that process, they need to pump out silt, sediment, and other material that has accumulated at the bottom during drilling.

Some of that sediment may temporarily discolor the water in the Vistas #5 lake. This is an expected part of the well-development process.

As we continue irrigating the golf course overnight and pumping water from the existing well back into the lake, the sediment will gradually dilute and settle out, and the lake should return to its normal appearance.

A Little Help From Mother Nature

Finally, it looks like we may get some additional help from Mother Nature. Rain and thunderstorms remain possible Monday, with another chance of storms toward the end of the week.

Monday should also bring a welcome break from the recent heat, with temperatures forecast to remain below 100 degrees. While some triple-digit temperatures may return later in the week, it is certainly nice to finally see at least a little relief from the extreme temperatures we have been experiencing.

As always, thank you for your patience and cooperation while our Golf Course Maintenance team continues preparing the courses for the upcoming season. The work being completed now plays an important role in setting us up for the best possible playing conditions this fall and winter.

It appears the monsoon has finally decided to join us this summer, and while the added humidity may not be everyone's favorite part of August in Arizona, our bermudagrass certainly isn't complaining.

A Little Humidity Goes a Long Way

Over the past few weeks, you may have noticed both courses really beginning to come into their own. The added monsoon moisture and humidity, combined with the work of our Golf Course Maintenance teams, have helped the bermudagrass fill in, strengthen and develop the dense summer turf we want heading into fall.

There is actually a little science behind what you're seeing and it is highly dependent on weather.

Bermudagrass is a warm-season grass and thrives during our summer heat. The challenge in Arizona is that our heat normally comes with exceptionally dry air. When temperatures are high, humidity is low and the wind is blowing, turf loses moisture very quickly. Once the monsoon arrives and moisture in the air increases, that environmental stress eases and conditions become much more favorable for vigorous summer growth.

That makes this time of year especially important.

We tend to think of summer as the "offseason" at the Club, but agronomically, it is anything but. Summer is when we rebuild our bermudagrass base. This is our opportunity to encourage strong roots, rhizomes and lateral growth, repair areas stressed during the previous season, and build the healthiest stand of Bermuda possible.

Why put so much effort into Bermuda when we're going to overseed it in October?

Because the Bermuda doesn't go away. We are essentially putting it to sleep underneath the winter ryegrass. The stronger and healthier we put that Bermuda to bed this fall, the better foundation we have when it wakes back up next spring.

So while the humidity may make your golf shirt stick a little more than we'd all prefer, there is at least one positive: the golf courses love it.

FY2027 Annual Dues Invoices & Member Website

Yesterday, we sent the FY2027 Annual Dues Invoice to our membership by email. If you don't see yours in your inbox, please check your spam or junk folder. You may also access the dues invoice in the members section of the club website.

To help ensure Club emails reach you in the future, we recommend adding info@wbvgc.com to your contacts or safe-sender list. If you find one of our messages in your spam or junk folder, marking it as "Not Spam" or "Not Junk" will also help your email provider recognize future messages from the Club.

You may also notice some changes when logging into the Members section of our website. We have begun updating the member experience with a cleaner, more modern look and feel. This is a work in progress, and you will continue to see improvements and new updates appear as we get closer to the start of the new season.

It's Still Hot... So the Sale Continues!

The temperatures haven't given us a reason to rename it yet, so our It's Hot Sale continues through the rest of this weekend at the Golf Shops.

There are some excellent deals remaining! Stop by the shops and take a look while supplies last.

2nd Annual Links Grill Renovation Golf Tournament

The 2nd Annual Links Grill Renovation Golf Tournament is coming up on Saturday, September 5, with a 6:30 AM check-in and 8:00 AM tee off.

All proceeds benefit the Links Renovation Fund and will help support improvements to the Links facility. This year's projects include patio upgrades, new TVs, commercial umbrellas and a misting system.

The entry fee is $99 per person for a foursome ($396) or $125 for a single to be paired with other players. Entry includes a buffet breakfast, lunch, two bar drink tickets and five raffle tickets, along with Long Drive and Closest-to-the-Pin prizes.

To register, text 602-680-0512, call 623-561-1681, or email phil@thelinksgrill.com. All registration is done through the Links Grill.

Thank you to everyone who continues to support the Links and the improvements being made to the facility.

Looking Ahead

There is always a lot happening during an Arizona summer. Some of it happens out on the golf courses, some behind closed doors, and some underneath our feet or above our heads, in the case of that old popcorn ceiling (another email coming regarding those upgrades next week).

Over the next several weeks, our focus will remain on strengthening the golf courses, completing our summer projects and preparing the Club for another busy season.

In the meantime, enjoy the improving course conditions, take advantage of the Golf Shop sale this weekend, and perhaps appreciate the monsoon humidity just a little more the next time you step outside.

We look forward to seeing you around the Club.

If you've been out playing recently, you've probably noticed that portions of our golf courses aren't transitioning as smoothly as they typically do this time of year. We've received a number of questions regarding course conditions, and we wanted to take a few minutes to explain what has happened this season, what we're doing, and what you can expect over the coming weeks.

Before discussing this year's transition, it helps to understand the type of turfgrass we have at Westbrook Golf Club.

The Vistas and Lakes Courses feature Common Bermudagrass, a turf variety that has served the club well for many years. While it has provided excellent playing conditions over the years, Common Bermudagrass is slower to recover during spring transition than many of today's improved bermudagrass varieties.

In fact, one of the primary reasons golf courses throughout Arizona and across the southern United States are converting to newer bermudagrass varieties is to improve spring transition, increase turf density, recover more quickly from stress, and reduce water consumption. The United States Golf Association (USGA) recently published an excellent article discussing this topic.

The short answer is that this has been one of the most unusual transition seasons we've experienced in recent years and it hasn't been unique to Westbrook Golf Club. Many golf courses throughout the Valley have experienced similar challenges due to an unusually unpredictable weather pattern this spring and early summer.

If you're interested in learning more about why golf courses across the country are upgrading to newer bermudagrass varieties, the USGA recently published an excellent article that explains the advantages of modern bermudagrass and why many facilities are making the transition.

What Is Summer Transition?

Each fall, we overseed our golf courses with perennial ryegrass to provide the lush, green playing conditions everyone enjoys throughout the winter when bermudagrass will not grow. As temperatures begin warming in the spring, that ryegrass must gradually be removed so the underlying bermudagrass can emerge and take over for the summer and create a solid base for the next overseed.

This process is known as summer transition, and under normal conditions it is a slow, carefully managed process that begins in late February and continues through May.

Our goal is never to remove the ryegrass as quickly as possible. Instead, we gradually reduce it over several months, allowing the bermudagrass to establish beneath it. When the weather cooperates, the transition is relatively seamless and playing conditions remain consistent throughout the spring.

Why This Year Has Been Different

This year, the weather simply did not cooperate.

In early March, we experienced temperatures exceeding 107 degrees, something we have never seen that early in the year. Those temperatures arrived during one of the busiest periods of our golf season, when member play and overall rounds are at their highest.

Under those conditions, the ryegrass began to basically die out. Had we continued with our normal transition program, the ryegrass would have disappeared before the bermudagrass was even close to fill in, resulting in widespread thin and completely bare areas during the peak of our member season, conditions that would have been considerably worse than what you are seeing today.

Because of that, we had to stop the transition process to preserve as much healthy turf as possible during March and April. This delayed our overall transition schedule and basically reversed it. Then temperatures cooled significantly. Those cooler conditions slowed bermudagrass from waking up, while allowing the ryegrass to continue growing, delaying the transition even further.

In June, temperatures increased again and humidity began to build, conditions that normally encourage bermudagrass growth. At that point, we needed to accelerate our transition program because the ryegrass must be removed to give the bermudagrass enough time to fully establish before preparations begin for October's overseeding season.

Unfortunately, temperatures cooled once again after an aggressive sprayout. Nighttime temperatures dropped back into the 70s, and while those temperatures may feel pleasant to us, they are not ideal for bermudagrass. Bermudagrass performs best when both daytime and nighttime temperatures remain consistently warm with nighttime temperatures above 80 degrees. Those cooler nights and lack of humidity slowed its growth once again and delayed its ability to fill in the areas where the ryegrass had been removed.

Simply put, the weather never remained consistent long enough for either grass to do what it naturally wants to do. Courses that did not overseed or have newer bermudagrass varieties have generally experienced fewer challenges than courses like ours that rely on a gradual transition to maintain quality playing conditions throughout our busiest season.

What Are We Doing?

Our Golf Course Grounds Team continues to monitor conditions daily and adjust our maintenance practices based on the weather.

That includes carefully managing irrigation, fertility, mowing practices, and cart traffic to encourage healthy bermudagrass growth while minimizing additional stress on the turf.

Members may also notice that some areas are being maintained a little wetter than normal. This is unfortunately needed and intentional. Common Bermudagrass responds best when adequate soil moisture is maintained during transition, and with humidity remaining lower than normal for much of the summer, maintaining additional moisture helps create an environment that encourages bermudagrass recovery.

Transition is one of the most challenging aspects of golf course maintenance because every decision involves balancing today's playing conditions with the long-term health of the turf. Looking back, there will always be things we might adjust with the benefit of hindsight. However, based on the weather conditions we experienced throughout the spring, we believe the decisions made were in the best interest of preserving the golf course during our busiest season while positioning us for a successful summer recovery.

The encouraging news is that bermudagrass is an incredibly resilient turf. Once we begin experiencing consistently warm days and, more importantly, warm nights, it will become much more aggressive and rapidly fill in the areas that are currently thin.

While conditions may be a little rough in places today, we fully expect continued improvement as we move through the heart of the summer growing season.

Investing in the Future

Many members have asked about the club's long-term plans, and we're excited to share that significant improvements are already underway.

Following completion of the new Vistas irrigation well, Westbrook Golf Club's long-range plan is to begin converting the fairways to Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass, starting with the Vistas Course in the summer of 2028.

Because many golf courses throughout the region are making the same transition, demand for Tahoma 31 sprigs is extremely high. As a result, the earliest we can secure the quantity needed to convert an entire course's fairways is the summer of 2028.

Tahoma 31 is what we have on both our driving range tee. It has demonstrated exceptional turf density, faster recovery from stress, superior drought tolerance, improved wear characteristics, and significantly lower water requirements than older bermudagrass varieties. These improvements will provide better year-round playing conditions while supporting the club's long-term commitment to water conservation and sustainable golf course management.

Rather than waiting until the fairway conversion begins, we're already introducing Tahoma 31 through smaller improvement projects whenever opportunities arise.

A great example is the work currently taking place on Hole #6 at the Vistas. While the new irrigation well is being constructed, we're also rebuilding the teeing grounds on #6 into modern island-style desert tee complexes and converting those tee boxes to Tahoma 31. This project will create a cleaner, more attractive entrance to the hole, modernize the irrigation system serving the tee complex, and significantly reduce water usage in that area.

These smaller projects allow us to continually improve our golf courses while working toward our long-term vision one project at a time.

Vistas Well Project Update

We are also pleased to share that drilling on the new Vistas irrigation well officially began this week.

The first phase of the project involves drilling a 1,000-foot pilot hole, which is expected to take approximately two weeks. Once that work is complete, they will reem the bore to 20 inches before installing the permanent casing and well screen.

If everything continues according to schedule, we anticipate the well being completed during the first week of August.

This project represents one of the most significant infrastructure investments the club has made in many years. It will improve the long-term reliability of our irrigation system while serving as the foundation for future turfgrass improvements.

Thank You

Everyone at Westbrook Golf Club takes tremendous pride in the condition of our golf courses. We know the courses are not currently at the standard our members expect, and we share those same expectations.

This year's transition has simply been the result of an exceptionally unusual sequence of weather events that challenged every golf course superintendent in the Valley. While we cannot control the weather, we can continue making sound agronomic decisions that protect the long-term health of our golf courses.

The good news is that the bermudagrass is healthy, the long-range forecast is becoming more favorable, and we expect the golf courses to continue improving throughout the remainder of the summer.

Thank you for your patience, understanding, and continued support of Westbrook Golf Club.