Cart Path Erosion on #13

Along the cart path on 13 the 5 inches of rain we have had has finally taken its toll on this drainage spot.  It had washed away a big section of the hill into the creek below and had washed out under the cart path about 2 feet back.  We started this repair by getting down in the ditch and clearing the debris out.  We then tamped the area down to make a solid base to begin our repair.

Next we hand stacked rocks to make a wall so that we could begin back filling under the cart path with crush fines.  We tamped the crush fines in with hand tampers so we could get a solid foundation under the cart path.

This is a picture from above so you can see the wall we built to hold the crush fines in place before we began filling in with the large stones.

Here is a picture after we finished filling in with the large rip rap rocks.  To finish this project up we will come back and put in some new curbing to help divert the water. We will be finishing this up once we get some hot weather to help slow down the grass so we can catch back up.

Foot Golf Now at Drumm

Hole #2 on Executive Course

Inside of FootGolf Cup

This year we have added FootGolf to the Executive Course here at Drumm Farm.  FootGolf is played like golf but all you use is a soccer ball and your foot.  We have a nine hole course set up and ready to play.  We are associated with FootGhin so with their help we designed a layout.  FootGolf is a fun new way to get people and families out to the course to enjoy a fun growing sport.

Front Hill Sign

Before

After

As you can see in the before and after images we have gone away from painting the Drumm Farm rock's lettering from black to white.  When coming down Lees Summit Road it was hard to read with it being black so we painted it white and now it stands out much better.  

Drumm Assistant Superintendent

Assistant Superintendent Bryan Kohler

I would like to introduce my assistant Bryan.  He joined our staff in the Spring of 2014 and moved into the assistant position later that Spring after Kurt Nielsen decided to move on and away from the golf business.  Bryan had been an owner and operator of his own landscape business for many years but had previous golf course experience before starting his business.  Bryan also comes from a farming background and still helps out on the family farm.  Bryan is married and has two children.

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.

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.