Meet Pippa the Goose Dog!!!

This is Pippa, she is part Australian Shepard and something else, I was told hound but I don't see it. I adopted her from a shelter as Christmas gift to my two daughters because they had been hounding me for a dog for months. I figured if I was going to get the girls a dog that I better get one that I can bring to work and have her chase the geese. I didn't want a dog that I would have to put in a kennel all day while I worked. It didn't take Pippa long to figure out that chasing geese is fun and equally fun is all the love she receives from the golfers after she chases them. Pippa has been a great addition to my family and to Drumm Farm.

#17 Green Repair

After we removed the bad

After we re-sodded


Last summer was a hot one and we lost the back corner of #17 Green so this spring we needed to re-sod the decimated area. First though we needed to fix some greens around the course where we had lost just little portions of sod so we used what good we had to fix those areas. After plugging all the other greens with what good sod we could we removed the rest of the area with our sod cutter. We then used our chipping green as our nursery green and transplanted it to #17 Green. Seventeen has filled in nicely but we are still top dressing it and mowing it at a higher cutting height until we feel that we can safely start to lower it back to our greens height. We hope that with all the tree removal that we did around the green this winter we will not have this problem again.

New Tee Markers

JIg for cutting tree posts to size

Jig for lining up and putting in nails


Nail in block before cutting off head

Painted and finished tee blocks

New driving range dividers

Coming into the new season this year I was wanting to purchase new tee blocks because our old plastic ones were faded and the bottom stakes had broken off. After looking into purchasing new wooden tee blocks I figured it would be more then we could afford to do being that it would cost us $28 per tee marker and we would need, at the very least, 198 of them. So I looked for an alternative. Behind our maintenance shop we have a large pile of tree stakes left over from the construction of the golf course. I took a stake and made a 45 degree angle cut on two ends, put a couple of nails in the bottom, painted the ends and then varnished it. We thought that it turned out nice so we went all in. Matt Chase made us a nice jig for our miter saw so it would be easy to cut up the tree stakes uniformly. Next we had to figure out a way to line up the nails and get them pointing in the same direction so we came up with a second jig to make it easier on us. We then hammered in the nail and cut off the head. Lastly we painted and varnished them all. When it was all said and done we made around 300 tee markers because you always need extras. So for those 300 markers it cost us under $200 to make and I even made new range dividers too.

Last of the Tree Removal

Before looking toward #17 Green

After

This was the finishing touches for our tree removal between #17 Green and #3 Green. It was a large mess of thorn bushes and vines. It took us a little time to remove but was well worth the effort everyone put in.

Tree Work between #3 & #17 Greens

Before: Looking from #17 Green towards #3 Green.

After: Looking towards #3 Green from #17 Green.

We are also in the process of creating a breeze way between #17 green and #3 green. This should help improve the airflow around #17 green and improve the quality of turf on the green. We still have some brush to remove on the #3 side of the creek and then we will be done.

Tree Removal from #2 & #17 Greens

Before: Looking towards #2 Green.

Before: Looking towards #2 Green and Fairway.

Some of the vegetation removed.

After: Looking towards #2 Green.

After: Looking towards #2 Green and Fairway.

This winter we began clearing the trees behind #17 Green. We are doing this for two reasons. Reason one is to get better air flow for #17 green and the second is to get more sunlight to #2 green. We had to clear a lot of underbrush first and then we removed the larger trees. Everything went as planned, which is always a nice thing.

Driving Range completion (better late then never for pics)

Grown in with distance poles added.

Bermuda is beginning to pop.


Watering the range.

Mark seeding with Bermuda.

Grading and tilling all done.


Well I have been a little behind on the blog so I am updating our driving range project. Everything went smoothly and we had the perfect hot and dry weather that Bermuda grass needs for establishing. We are very pleased with how the range turned out and we believe that it will be a nice asset to Drumm Farm.