Rainy Monday!

The golf course has received a good amount of rain with more on the way today. As every past season I would always cringed when we would get any kind of rain for fear of how the bunkers would hold up. It was  all that we would talk about or wonder until we could see in the morning. As our past storms have shown its going to be a great year and one that we can worry about other course details.

 One would ask that now that you will not be having to repair the bunkers as much as in the past what will you do with your time? My answer would be to go to the next task. One that we would be able to devote more time to especially on a wet day where we could not mow any way would be filling fairway divots. This is one of the most consistent complaints that we have on the golf course. Other jobs would be more detail work; keeping weeds out of beds, edging irrigation heads on a more consistent basis, and reaching the outer depths of the golf course.

#16 green complex

#14 fairway complex

#15 green side bunker

#16 view from the pro tee

December 20th Course Update

Progress is humming right along with our bunker renovation and I could not be much happier on how far we have gotten this week. Most people up north (Frederick area) still have a couple of inches and were amazed that we had none. With that said the bunker polymer spray team returned yesterday to tackle another round of bunkers, #11,#15, #16,#17 and #18. Its been a bit of a pain with the sun not cooperating but we have managed to use hand blowers to get the gravel to the specified moisture reading so that the polymer will adhere. We upped the anti on our sand installation and they will work until that large pile of bunker sand is gone that sits in the parking lot today for the next 5 days straight. This will be a great advantage going into next week with the holidays and new year. 

#11 left side bunker with a blower to help dry it out

Polymer being sprayed, #18 fairway bunker

#18 green right side bunker

#18 green left side bunker

#18 left side bunker, getting a nose job

#18 left side bunker, ready to dry out and be sprayed

#10 green side bunker prep

#10 green front bunker prep

December 17th Course Update

The bunker construction crew returned yesterday to catch back up where they had left off. Very quickly they roughed in the drainage in the bunkers on #11 and this hole will be ready for the polymer. The company that sprays the polymer will be here tomorrow to spray holes 15,16,17 and 11. Once that is complete and cured the other team will return to continue to add the sand. This leaves us with 18 and 10 to complete and puts us just shy of attaining our goal to be done with the back side before the New Year, not bad concerning the weather we have had.

The Lakewood logo beech tree has been planted and looking great in the parking lot.

15 fairway bunker looking good

#11 right side bunker getting closer

#11 left side bunker 

#11 left side bunker another view

#18 green side left bunker, removing the old sand.

Old bunker sand being top dressed into the rough, its been
a bad area to grow grass, this should help water infiltration.

Tree spade prep

Lakewood logo Beech Tree is back

December 13th Update

With the recent snow storm the course received about 3-4 inches of snow cover and has put the brakes on our bunker renovation. I am hopeful that most of this may disappear next week as the temperatures creep into the lower 40's. After plowing the parking lots and side walks we began to plow the cart paths so that we could continue our work and knock off our winter agenda items. But first we had to go through the entire golf course picking up branches left behind from the ice storm we had recently. This mostly effected our pine trees with nothing of any significance, natures way of pruning. The staff is hauling all of them to a central location where they are being chipped.

All 11 zelkovas have been planted in the parking lot with one more tree we are waiting on to finish up that area. This should take place on Monday, weather permitting.

January 2008

December 2013
When these get bigger its going to change the look
of the parking lot, even next year when the leaves appear.

December 5th Update

The construction crew has been working feverishly this week knowing that we may be encountering another delay because of the weather starting tomorrow. As of now we have almost completed the last phase of adding sand on #14. The gravel installation is almost complete on #15 with rough grading taking place on #11 bunkers. You may start to notice more activity around the back of the club house side on 18. We have already started to remove the sand out of these bunkers and using it to top dress the fairway. Our head leveling project is going well and they have almost completed #12, as stated before not just irrigation heads but anything that may be low as well as sunken areas in the rough. 

 The biggest change that has taken place this week is our new Tee addition on #11, this will be a white tee and occasionally a red Tee when the pro shop deems necessary. This Tee has moved you approximately 40 yards closer than the original white tee markers. We felt that this was a good improvement and will cater to more than just one kind of golfer.

#15 Green Side ready for the polymer.

#15 Fairway bunker

#11 left side bunker

#18 Fairway bunker, sand removal

#11 New tee, for the white tee markers

We raised this area up to give it some character and for a place
for extra soil to go. This area was an old tee from the old course
and was just to flat and looked unnatural.

A side view of the picture above

Loading up #18 fairway with the old bunker sand.

December 3rd Update

Thanksgiving week progress was a little slow with the holidays and the bad weather that passed through. This past Saturday a few guys came in to prep the bunkers on #11 and #15. They piled up the old bunker sand and waited for us to use it on the #11 and #15 fairways. Hole #17 is prepped with gravel like #16 and once we get through holes 11 and 15 we will bring back the company that applies the polymer. Another crew is busy adding sand and they have completed #12, #13 and currently working on the fairway bunkers on #14. 

Second Fairway top dressing application

#11 rt bunker ready for sand removal

#16, going to look nice when the sand is added.

#15 Fairway Bunker

#15 green side bunker

#14 fairway bunker

#13 Before the Bunker Renovation

#13 After the Bunker Renovation