Pretty much sums up this Winter for Us

We have finally been able to get over and finish the fairway extension on #8. We had to blow off the recent snow to find the fairway line, but everything worked out. We also took advantage of the snow and finished up some last minute painting on our tee markers and trash cans for the season. Once the snow melts we will resume our greens aerification on the front and next week we plan to aerify the tees.

Progress Report

Last Friday we had the bunker polymer applicators arrive to find a steady drizzle. That right there pretty much sums up how mother nature and our wonderful weather people have been calling it. But we did luck out on Saturday and these guys made a great push to spray holes 4,5,7,8. This is really a big deal to us, the applicators come from New York and as stated before scheduling around what you might think the weather will do has been a night mare. Hole #3 is shaping up very nicely and then we will be moving on to #1, #2 and the short game. That big pile of bunker sand is about gone and more should be arriving by the day, that puts them very close to completing the bunkers on #8. We shifted to that hole instead of #10 because we have a haul rode that needs seed and straw laid down as soon as the heavy equipment is finished driving through there. 

Our greens aerification is almost complete for the spring and we will be looking at aerifying the Tees as soon as possible. The pump house building drainage has about another hour of work left and it is a great feeling to have it finally dry inside the building, Our seasonal staff returns next week, that could not have come at a better time because our list just keeps growing and growing. So look for us in the following weeks to really turn it on and start to dominate out on the golf course, of course if mother nature will let me!

Installing gravel around the pump house building

#4 front green side bunker

#4 left green side bunker

#4 back green side bunker

Finishing up the bunkers on #9

#9 bunker complex

Old bunker sand being used for the fairway on #3

The mobile fan was instrumental in drying out the gravel
before the polymer application.

Course Updates

At this point everyone on the staff is a little tired of the snow accumulations and how muddy and wet it our jobs have been. Our greens aerification update is as follows, we have finished the back nine greens and have started the process on holes 9,4,5 with cores laying out on our practice greens from this morning. Tomorrow our goal is to get as much done as possible with an end goal of completing all of them by Friday afternoon.

Our pond is filling back up slowly but surely and I am looking to schedule the pump station start up technician next week and charge the lines on the golf course. We also have what I thought to be an easy drainage project but when you throw in angles to work from and rain it makes for a mess. It really all stemmed from water seeping into the cinder blocks that wrap the pump house. This created a permanent lagoon inside and all be darned if we are going to let that happen to our new baby. Our objective is to tar the outside wall/seal the inside wall, insert drainage pipe and fill gravel all the way to the top of the wall to move that water as quickly as possible. This fix although nasty will prevent this from happening again.

The bunker crew returned today to add sand on #18 and this hole is now complete.  We are looking to have #9 and if possible #10 completed by the end of the week depending on how they can get around with out causing a mess.

#18 left side bunker

Pump House wall drainage

Pump House insulation is almost finished

Phase two of the drainage is sealing off the inside wall
with drylock primer which is a moisture barrier.

This is why we are doing all of these details, you
have to protect the investment.

Progress Update

Wednesday was a very productive day considering it was a 100% chance of rain. I went ahead and rolled the dice and had a sod truck delivered to continue the bunker edges and we also completed round #2 of the back nine greens aerification. Simply put our first aerification relieves compaction in our greens while incorporating sand into the holes. For the second time we use a solid tine to open up a hole and continue to incorporate more sand into the greens profile thus less clean up.  Remember we have been battling an organic mat layer in these greens and I am very happy to say per our last lab test that we are making great progress towards achieving our goals through the cultural practices that we have implemented. What can be very detrimental in this mat layer is the ability to lose the drainage that we need with the holding of excess water at the surface making the greens soft and spongy and loaded with chances for diseases to inoculate and cause unneeded stress to the turf grass. Our lab technician was very impressed with the results that he had to ask how we are achieving success. Of course I am aware that there are some people that think this is a little aggressive but if we were to stand and do nothing our greens would deteriorate to the point that they would have to be rebuilt, simply put. On Friday weather permitting we will continue the front nine greens aerification.

On another note, steady progress is being made and #7 is now officially ready for the polymer application. Another team is arriving Monday to install the sand on holes 9,10 and 18. Our pump house project is coming to a close and the contractor finished the irrigation main line and made the last connection to tie into the existing irrigation system. With just a few more details inside the building to accomplish we will be ready to start the new system up for the season.

Results of first aerification

Picture taken after solid tining took place,
 no cores were removed on the second application.

This is our final result we are looking for.

Laying sod on the edges just in case it rains, this keeps the
gravel contaminate free.

#8 right green side bunker

#8 front green side bunkers

#8 left fairway bunker

#8 back green side bunker

#7 left approach bunker

Making the last main line connection

Crazy Monday!

Its a good feeling to get back in the swing of things and today was no exception. We finished aerifying the greens on the back, this is round one. Next we will blow the holes clean and begin the top dressing process. For the front side we will wait until after any rain on Wednesday and proceed with the same process on the front. Our new irrigation main line line just passed the gas lines and they should have that completed today.  The polymer spray team for the bunkers returned to finish spraying #18 and all of #9, today their goal is to spray #10 and move to #8 and #7 weather permitting. Remember this stuff needs to be dry to spray and this time of year it can be very difficult until the conditions are just right. We had a little pipe issues with our pond and that also has been taken care of, we took advantage of this fix to clean our intake screen for the irrigation system and everything looks intact from 1993. All of the old bunker sand has been removed from #7 and #8 and the team will be working on removing the sand on #5 today.

We got smart and started to fill up our top dresser with
cores from the green.

Then we started to blow them out in the fairway,  once
dry we will drag the sand off them and blow of the organic
material. This will put back sand in the fairway and
decrease the amount of material we bring back to dump.

Bunker Polymer Application

New Irrigation Main line install

#7 right green side bunker

#7 left approach bunker

Sunday Catch-Up

Today we took advantage of the warmer weather finally drying out the greens and started our spring time greens aerification.  Our goal is to have the back nine greens completed and top dressed before the rain on Wednesday of this week. We will then proceed to open the back nine and then repeat the process on the front 9 some time after Wednesday. We plan on keeping the front 9 closed for the aerification and bunker construction process. This will insure uninterrupted time to finish the bunkers and the aerification process. Weekends will be looked at more closely and we will make a decision on opening the front on a limited basis, either using temporary cups or even closing a selected hole down so our bunker project can move along.

#11 Irrigation Addition

This week we shifted gears after the snow storm to install irrigation heads around the new white tee on #11. The snow may have held us up in other ways but gave us the perfect opportunity to complete this task. There will be a total of 4 heads added, two are for the tee and the other two for more rough coverage on the hill. Also because we have the trencher we took another opportunity to fix a little standing water on the path near our project by installing a drain basin to shed the water off. Once the snow melts we are going to shift gears and begin the greens aerification process on Sunday if not Monday first thing.

Installing a rough head near 18 tees

#11 Tee Irrigation line

Rough head addition below the Blue Tee on #11.

Drain basin for cart path will be placed here.