Course Update

With the completion of our drainage project on 10 approach we quickly moved over to #7 left of the green. This area has been giving us some trouble this past year with the drainage that was originally installed some time ago and became compromised. We have removed the existing drainage and installed new perforated pipe along with drain basins in strategic locations. This should solve the constant wet spot that we have developed. Also in the last photo we are going to trench around the approach and install a catch basin where the water collects on the path. This is a necessary project to keep the cart path from undermining itself due to the constant wet conditions in a low area.

The fairway top dressing has picked up in full swing with the second application, with the verti-quake and the 1298 (solid tine aerifier) we feel that this will improve our playing conditions coupled with the sand that is being applied at the same time. Our first application was very heavy and the second top dressing application has been backed down.

Winter Update

What an unusual winter we are having here. Normally we are looking out across the golf course and seeing snow but this has not been the case so far. I feel that this year is some what of some redemption from the past two snow seasons where minimal work has been done. We have been busy attacking our drainage issues on the golf course so that we can promote a firm playing surface. As you can see in the photos below our current project is installing drainage in 10 approach. I have noticed especially this past September that this area when wet from rain actually plugged golf balls. Because it was so close to the green it was on our priority list to take care of. During this process we were also trying to figure out why we have a wet spot in the rough just in front of the bunker. That problem was quickly solved when we excavated and found an old drainage pipe that had been cut off allowing the water to not drain any where, must have been from the old golf course. 

Another task we have started when the weather cooperates is to verti-quake our fairways. This machine slices grooves into the soil about 6 inches deep which helps with re-leaving compaction and improving our drainage. We decided to start this as soon as possible because at just less than 1 mph it is going to take a long time. 

Creek bank re-seeding update

It has been a couple of months now that these covers have been covering the seed and if you look at the first photo you can tell that we had pretty good success seeding this late in the year. 

Cover removed

While we were checking out the progress we removed another cover and discovered that we have a serious problem if we want to be able to keep this particular area maintained. It happens to be located right in front of the over flow pond here on #11. The whole purpose of this pond is to catch storm water and slowly release it into the creek via a filtered pipe. Well the pipe is working but its to slow, so the rest of the water is spilling over the top on to the turf grass making its way to the creek in a vast area as seen in the next photo.

Large wet area

So what we did was install a gravel smile drain in front of the pond with a drain basin to catch any water in a hurry. This project will now keep this area dry.