Driving Range Project 2011

Range after spraying with Round-up
Tilling up the range and dozer work

Range about half way tilled

Well the driving range project is now under way. We are hoping the process of reshaping and seeding will only take 3-4 days. Once all is said and done we are looking at about 5 weeks before we are able to reopen the range. So over the next few days I will post pictures of our progress.

Off Color Fairways

#1 Fairway discoloration

Some of you may have wondered why the fairways are looking off colored. This is the time of year when the zoysia grass is producing it's seed. So what is creating this color change is actually the black seeds and the white colored seed stalks. After a few mowing to get rid of them all we will be back to green fairways.

#1 Drain Basin

Chase's handiwork

Drainage trench

24" drain inlet

While fixing the bridges here, we needed to identify the problem of where was all the water coming from to create our erosion problem. On the west side of #1 bridge we recognized that all the water from the fairway and rough drained straight down the cart path to the bridge. Well this was a major problem because of the large amount of runoff that comes after wet weather. The idea is to install a large basin to collect all that water and send it down a 12" drain. So first Matt Chase shaped the basin in with a Bobcat and then I came in with the mini-x to dig the trench. Once we put the pipe in we back filled the trench and redid the cart path. We still have a couple of loose ends to tie-up because we were racing the weather so any rain runoff would get to the newly fixed bridge abutment.

Cart Path Drains #13

Digging the trench

Finished drains

There has been a long standing issue with water collecting on the cart path behind #13 green. I thought while I have all this equipment here on site for the bridge project I would take this opportunity to install a couple of drains. I took the mini-x out there, which is a long slow ride from the shop, to dig a trench through the woods so that we could install drain pipe. We had to cut a small section of concrete out so that we could put a drain on the other side of the path. After getting all the pipe installed we just had to back fill the trench and we were done. We hope that this alleviates the standing water.

#11 Drainage Issue

#11 Spring by cart path before

#11 after

Now dry cart path #11

For the past few years there has been a natural spring that has popped up along the west side of the cart path. This spring has created a problem with the water running down the path and making it slippery. We went in with a skid steer and created a drainage channel through the native grass. This channel will catch everything from the spring and keep it away from the cart path. We had instant gratification with this project because right when we were finished the water had already begun to follow the channel and the cart path has dried up.

#1 Bridge Repair

Exposed abuttment.

Loren down in the hole.

Top side finished.

Underneath before.

Underneath after.

This past Monday we began to repair years of errosion damage around some of our bridge abbutments. In all we have five bridge sides to repair and we started with the west side of number one. This was quite the process. We first needed to remove the cart path leading up to the bridge so we could add errosion control matting and back filling the void that was left from errosion. After we filled it in we then put gravel and screenings to make a temporary cart path which we plan to come back in the fall and pour concrete. The last step was to fill in the void that was left under the bridges with dirt and then added errosion control matting with rock that we recycled from our cart path repair project. We now have four sides left and we hope to have them all done by next week.

White Paint on Greens

I am sure some of you are wondering, "What are those white lines doing on the greens?" The lines are there for our mowers to see where the edge of the greens and collars arenow going to be. We are changing up our mowing practices. In the past we have had a dedicated mower to mow the collars and one to mow tees and approaches. With this change we will have two mowers to mow tees and approaches and we will hopefully be able to mow them more often then just twice a week. In time there will be a nice clean edge and the white paint will be gone.

Cart Path Repairs

Demolition of #1 cart path

Finished #1



Setting the forms for #2 cart path





Finished #2

Finished #10

Demolition #18 cart path.

Landscape fabric laid down before adding material #18.

Finished #18

As many of you know we have had some cart paths that were in need of repair. We were given the go ahead to begin fixing our worst paths on holes 1, 2, 7, 10 and 18. As of today we have finished four holes with #7 being our last to do, which is planned for Monday. To do the repairs we first needed to break out all the existing concrete and remove it from the site. We then came in with a machine called a jumping jack to help compact the soil into a more level surface which was then covered with a landscape fabric. For the last step we added crusher run, which is a material that will firm up over time, at a 6 inch depth and then compacted with the jumping jack.

By fixing these problem areas we are hopeful that it will reduce unneeded wear and tear on our equipment and golf carts. For those of you wondering what we did with all the concrete we broke out we will be using that as erosion control under our bridges as we fix them.

Snow!

We received about 8 inches of snow last night at the course.  I would love to go further out onto the course for some better pictures but that is virtually impossible.  So here's one form the clubhouse.  If the weather stays cold I don't imagine there being any golf for at least the next two weeks.

Turf Covers

Due to the harsh summer we have almost completely gotten all the greens to heal.  We do have a few spots that we covered with green's covers for the winter in an attempt to help speed up the process.

Geese Barriers

We have learned that simply putting a rope up around the greens keeps the geese off of the greens so they don't poop all over the green.  The rope may annoy our customers because they have to step over the rope to get to the green but it eliminates goose dropping all over the green.

Wildlife

This morning on my drive around the course I saw six deer near the creek on the right side of #17.  I enjoy seeing wildlife on the course and never miss an opportunity to simply stop and watch them.  I also saw a coyote on #11.  Perhaps we should employ him to take care of our geese problem.

#3 Bridge

This bridge, located from 2 to 3, has experienced a major washout.  The cart path leading up to the bridge has sunk about 8 inches.  We have done what we can and added a "ramp" to minimize the drop-off and will need to add another piece of plywood soon.  Eventually we will need to fix this bridge along with 4 others.

Tree Clearing

Matt and Matt have been working diligently on clearing our creeks of volunteer trees and brush.  They have completed #9 creek by the tees and are currently working on #2.

Mole Damage

This gold tee on #4 gets hit by a mole every winter.  Because the ground is frozen we can't do anything about the damage at this time.  When the ground thaws we will be sure to tamp the surface smooth and insert some mole bait into the mole's main run to see if we can eliminate the problem.