In House Project Update

Well, after a few computer issues, I am back up and running, sorry for the delay! I'll get everybody caught up on all the progress over the next few days when I get a chance to get all of my pictures ready. In the mean time, I do have a few ready for you.

While the Spence crew is working on their tasks, we are taking on some in house projects. The first project we took on was improving the turf quality in the drainage work areas on #7. I have had a few questions, mainly toward the end of the summer, why the drainage areas are no longer working. First off, these areas are working! I'll save you the boredom of agronomic jargon of our problem and get to the point. The area became "sealed off" where the water would not soak through the soil. The solution to the problem was to aerify the area to break through the surface. The problem with the solution, was that the turf was not mature enough, so had I aerified the area during the summer, it would have torn up the turf. Simple enough? I hope so! Now that we are into the fall, the turf can handle an aerification. We aerified the drainage areas, along with the rest of the fairway. We then topdressed the areas with our old bunker sand to create channels to minimize the chance of the area sealing off again. The sand was then drug into the holes and we overseeded the entire fairway to promote thicker turf. Hopefully this area will be much better next summer as the turf matures.

  Aerifying the fairway

 

Topdressed drainage area

 

Area after overseeding and dragging

 

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what all has been going on with the course. I'll get everybody up to speed over the next few days!

 







Green #1 is Finished/Bunker Work Has Started

The Spence crew finished sodding #1 green on Thursday. It only took them 6 working days to complete which is pretty impressive. Unless they get behind due to weather or other circumstances, they typically only work Monday-Friday, although they are pretty long days! The green was stripped last Wednesday so the sod was only off the green for one week. They averaged this pace last year as well so we are off to a great start.

Construction of the new bunkers is also under way. The bunker on #2 has been shaped and drained, one of the bunkers on #9 has been shaped, and one bunker on #14 has been shaped. The bunkers are being worked on now for one main reason. I want to get them built and seeded before it gets too cold. I believe one of the issues in the past was that they were seeded too late in the season. This caused poor germination and poor turf coverage. We are making every effort to prevent this from happening again.

#2 Bunker

#14 bunker being shaped

There will be 5 bunkers that need to be seeded. The goal is to have them ready this coming week if possible. Irrigation will also need to be installed but this should be done relatively quickly. When installing the system last year, we planned for these bunkers so most of the items are in place and simply require completion.







Restoration Year 2 Under Way!

Last Wednesday the Spence Golf crew began working on the second half of our restoration project. So far we have had great weather and they have been able to get off to a great start. We started on hole #1. The green is almost complete. Sodding should be finished by tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon.

The crew has also begun some of the bunker work. More pictures will follow as these progress. I plan on posting weekly, if not more frequently throughout the fall.

Coming Soon!

We have had a great summer on the golf course! Other than some record temperatures in late June/early July the weather has cooperated quite nicely. While it has seemed a bit wetter than normal, we are only slightly above average. The big difference has been in the fact that the rainfall has been consistent. It has rained almost every week for the last two months but usually not enough to cause the course to be too wet.

Now that we are less than two weeks away from resuming the second phase of our restoration project, I will begin posting regularly again. Despite my best intentions, I didn't post anything during our busy summer season, choosing to use the Chatter for my communications. Updates will be provided regularly throughout the fall and winter as work progresses. Stay tuned!