Bunker Renovation

We have finally reached the day that the old bunkers and the problems that were associated with them will be behind us. The construction crew moved into action and started to dismantle the fairway bunker on #12 and the bunker complexes on #13. We are already finding things that have caused us a lot of problems one which we already know of was that the bunkers were not deep enough and the second is the drainage install was not up to the standards that it should of been. I am sure we will see more things down the road that will surprise us.  In the end it is a very exciting time and when next season rolls around this will be a proud moment for all of us. I will post a lot of pictures almost daily on the progress as it happens.

We have also begun to top dress fairways, we started on #12 and #13 and will be moving forward. 

They first reclaim and reshape the edges by hand.

The mini excavator scraping out the old sand.

Sand Removal

Popping the old drainage out to be partially reused.

Removing the bottom of the bunker..

12 Fairway Bunker getting a little deeper

13 left side bunker getting a face lift.

13 right side bunker holding water in the drain line, hmmm.

Back Bunker on 13 is being filled in, stay tuned for what
we do to enhance it!

Solid tining so they will accept the sand.

Top Dressing the fairway.

Course Update

Its been a busy week with leaf clean up and yes another sod truck. We finished up #13 intermediate and made our way around 14-16 replacing various cart path edges and bermuda spots. We do have a couple of more trucks to use and this may take place later in November. At this point the leaves are in full swing and all hands are needed for clean up. 

This past Monday we topdressed and broomed in greens. This process is needed for continued dilution of organic matter and to continue our firm playing conditions.  Next week we will spike and repeat the same process. 

The brush works extremely well, brushed left and
 not brushed on the right.

Next week we will begin our bunker renovation and we have already received a load of drainage pipe and the construction company has dropped off some equipment. We met with the architect and we are very confident to hit the ground running. We will be starting on holes 12 and 13 and moving forward. I will be posting a lot of updates of the entire process. Our main staging area will be in the parking lot where we will house our sand, gravel and top soil deliveries. This area will be coned off and we please ask that you be mindful as you are driving in the parking lot. 

Renovation Equipment

Load of drainage pipe delivered

My last topic is you may notice some off colored thin areas in the fairways. This is bermuda that has gone dormant because of the recent heavy frost that we have had.  In some select areas that had no green tissue we aerified and made a sand compost mix with seed to recover these areas. We will look at covering them next week to retain warmth for germination.

Bermuda spot

We poke holes into the area first

Apply sand/compost/seed mix

Broom in smooth

Adding a little food for growth

Keep it moist

Course Update

We have been moving right along with our rough sod project. We have stripped #13 intermediate along with various large areas on #11 making our way around the back nine. We have a sod truck this morning that should replace most of it, if we are short we already have another truck of sod planned for next week. The temperatures are becoming much colder every day and more and more leaves are falling. It is a constant battle that has only just begun, please bare with us as we move through the golf course on a daily basis. 

#6 Intermediate, sod complete

#13 Intermediate stripped and ready for sod

#11 Right of green complex, ready for sod

#2 Intermediate walk path, tall fescue mowed
at 1 inch. This is what we are striving for.

Last week we received close to 6 inches of rain that was needed to re-hydrate the golf course. Hopefully it was our last hooray on the bunker wash outs, but out with the old and in with the new. If some of you are not aware of the start date for the bunker project it is scheduled for November 4th and will go through out the winter. There will be extensive coverage of this process on the blog so please stay tuned. This week the staff has been busy laying sod in the rough working on holes 9-11 and mowing as much as possible. Next week we will continue to move through the back nine laying sod in various areas.

On a personal note, I have been out this week helping my wife with the birth of our daughter Hadley, everything couldn't be better!