New Bunkers are holding up well

This morning the golf course had already received 1.5 inches of rain, and this after noon we are at another 1.75 inches with a total of 3.25 inches within a 24 hour period. In the past these bunkers would have been destroyed and a lot of man hours would be needed to repair them. Our plan is to do more of a preventative maintenance depth check tomorrow with just a few areas to repair. All in all the bunkers are doing what they are supposed to be doing, eliminating washouts by as much as 98 percent.

Our short game is in the final stages and we laid the sod on one half and need to finish the other side of the approach. We had almost beat the rain but there is only so much you can do until the ground becomes a slippery mess. We also floated out the teaching green and this was prepped for seeding. We are going to take advantage of this harvested area and seed a blended variety of bent grass and see how they compare to our existing grass.

Over 2 inches of rain at this point

A shoe box size wash out on #9, this is understood
because of the hill side.

#9 right side fairway bunkers holding up well

Floating out the teaching green

Laying the sod at the short game

Left side complete 

The right side has just a little more to go.

Bunker Education

The 6th Hole is Complete

As you may be aware this past Friday we completed the sodding phase for #6. The green surface itself is finished and all of the irrigation has been rerouted to accommodate the new extended shape.  The rough around the green had been graded and we laid the last truck on that hole Friday afternoon in preparation for the thunder storm. We will keep this as a temporary pin in the fairway for as long as we can, at least a week until the grass begins to root into the soil. At that point the hole will be open with the exception of the new green section. I would like to keep traffic off of this area until Memorial Weekend.

The bunker on #1 fairway has half a truck left and then that process is done. Our last effort will be focused at the short game and we plan on getting that ready for sod very soon.

Irrigation loop install

Harvesting the sod from the teaching green

Laying sod on the new green extension

It was a team effort to get this done.

Top dressed the new grass

A view from the hill, you can really see the difference.

Left of the green, rough grass install.

Behind the green, minus the bunker.

Hole 6 Update

Most recently there has been great progress on the greens expansion and finishing up the fairway bunker sod. Yesterday we laid sod on the right side of the hole near the green and another truck was delivered this morning to finish the fairway expansion. The greens mix is in and being worked to achieve the desired grade and the next step is to re-install the irrigation loop and grade the rough around the green in preparation for sod. On Friday we would like to lay the new green expansion sod and this will be harvested from the teaching green. We do plan to have this open this Saturday with a lot of ground under repair, this will be painted for your convenience.

Overall the course is becoming more detailed with regular mowing and mulching beds. Once these construction projects come to a close we will refocus and finish our regular season prep. The greens are not growing because of the cold temperatures that we have and they are still sandy, with that being said when we roll it tends to be abusive and mashes the sand into the plant giving it a brownish color.  What we will do is lay off the rolling until the temperatures warm up and then we can grow through the sand.

#6 New Fairway Bunker, sod complete

#6 green expansion grade stakes

Gravel Install

Greens Mix Install

Packing it in and adding water to help

Prepping for the fairway move

Rough grass installation, right of the green

The new walk on area, with the bunker removed
there will be plenty of ways to walk to the green.

You can see the soil in the photo, this will give you
a better idea on the new fairway extension.

We are getting there!

Yes, we are getting closer and closer to finishing up the bunker project. Today and tomorrow we will actually finish the polymer application and this will lead us into our sand application window. Starting tomorrow the team will be adding sand into the bunkers on #1. The short game is progressing and this to will be ready for grass in the week to come. The #2 Tee extension has been finished and once the grass takes hold we will open this up for play. Realistically we will need a few weeks before that will happen.

The golf course is waking up and the grass is starting to grow which means there will be some crazy rough in certain places. We will be diligent to stay ahead of this active growth and continue to keep it at a manageable height. Our short game is receiving some new plants, our current plants did not survive the polar vortex very well so they have been replaced with dwarf crepe myrtles. We already have some of these on the golf course and they have done very well for us.

Laying sod in the mud

Short Game bunker

Filling in the other bunker, here we will be enlarging
the approach. 

Everything has to tie back in to existing grade.

New plant locations

Course Update

This past week and even today has been very eventful. Thanks to the management team they quickly installed the irrigation on #2 Tee extension before the rain hits us tomorrow. Also the bunker team  was busy making a push to have the bunkers on #6 ready to go with gravel. They also have started to rough shape the short game bunkers and prepare those for the end of the week. Our spray team is coming at the end of the week so it was a mad dash to get every last bunker ready.

Our green expansion took a back seat because of the bunkers and they will shift gears very soon. Our goal is to extend or gain another 1500 square feet so that you could have more pin placements rather than all in one area. And the bunker in front needed to be shaped accordingly to fit the new shape. It is really is starting to take shape and we are looking forward to grassing this very soon.

#2 proposed irrigation lines

Heads are back in, we just need to regrade and then sod

Short game left bunker, this will be filled in to make way
for the approach extension.

Short game right bunker in process of shaping

#2 right side bunker

#2 left side bunker from the back of the green

#6 New Fairway Bunker

#6 Left green side bunker, getting a nose job

#6 green side bunker, standing at the bottom and looking
at the green.  That is about 7 feet or more, but when you
add gravel and sand more like 6 1/2 feet deep.

View from the green looking at the tees.

Back view of green extension

Side view of green extension

Course Update

On Monday it had rained all day and only accumulating about 1/2 inch of rain. Normally we would be upset because we knew we had to repair bunkers after even the lightest amount of rain the following day. I can not even describe how that feels knowing that what we had planned for the next day was tossed in the trash and every body was pitching sand.  Good bye horrible bunkers, you wont be missed!

Now for some projects, we cleaned up the front entrance by removing some plants and replacing with rough grass and harvested some tall grass for a back drop that will hide the bag drop. At this point now you can see the Japanese maple. The driving range top two tees were aerified before the rain and that puts us on schedule to roll into our rough aerification. Our #2 blue/white tee extension is coming along just fine. We did find out something very interesting, as we were looking for the outfall drainage pipe to connect to we were amazed to find that it did not exist. Yes, that means the tee drainage was never installed properly and would not drain.

On hole 6 the team has already made a big dent in the front green side bunker and removing the right side bunker. This bunker that is being removed is being pushed closer to the tee and placed on the right side of the fairway. Of course nothing is never that easy and we found that a 2 inch pipe for the fairway heads will have to be rerouted along with reconnecting 15 wires. Then it was noted that our 4 inch mainline needed to be moved to accommodate the new bunker layout.  Tomorrow we will lay the new 4 inch pipe to get that back online then lay a new 2 inch section in the coming days.

Prepping for sod

Driving Range Tee aerification clean up

#2 Blue/White Tee expansion

#2 Tee,another angle

#2 left side bunker in rough stages

#6 right bunker removed

#6 main line excavation and removal,
saving pipe saves money.

#6 2 inch pipe removal prep, Here he is using a toner
 to identify each one and assigning it a number. All 15 wires
           were labeled so that when we put it back together you
 just match them up. Easy Peasy!

New location for the bunker.