Fall hits fast!!
Even though the weather is not allowing good golfing conditions, we have been keeping ourselves rather busy on the course this Fall. It was really nice to see as many rounds as we had this fall to help make up for what could easily be one of the most forgettable Springs I can remember. Hopefully you were able to make it out and enjoy one of the many beautiful days we had at our disposal.
Since the weather was so nice, we waited longer than we have in the past to start our Winter preparations. Now that we are seeing incredibly reduced play, we started to deep, solid tine aerate fairways and tees. You will see holes in the surface, but we do not pull soil to the surface and make a mess. That muddy mess comes from heavier than normal earthworm activity.
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| There is a mad dash to this tractor on cold mornings. |
Our largest consumer of labor this time of year is leaf cleanup around the course. Right now, we are dedicating around 240 labor hours a week to cleaning up leaves. In spite of the tree removals over the years, it still amazes me how many leaves we pick up. We do compost this material on site with the hope that it will return to the golf course in the future.
Over the last month or so, you have seen a number of holes dug in the rough to repair failed drainage basins. The staff has been doing great work and using quality materials that will stand the test of time. When the time comes for us to put more drainage in the ground, we will be able to tie-in new pipe to these basins.
The electric transmission company that owns the power lines strung behind 3 green, along 5 fairway and moves north to Calumet is performing maintenance mowing to remove overgrown brush. This is a practice they perform every 10 years or so to reduce arcing from the lines. With this work being done, views from 13 green will open up over to the east and make the hole feel more connected to the rest of the golf course. This will allow the opportunity to introduce more fescue into the landscape, which will add some nice contrast and texture. Another result of this work will expose a portion of the area where we dispose of course materials such as soil, clippings and tree branches. Once we get a better idea of what this will end up looking like, we will determine if we have to add additional plantings or more fescue to reduce the impact of the natural screen being removed.
Some exciting and very welcomed news is the start of cart path replacement! The work this fall will address the horrendously bad paths we have over to the range, behind 2 green and 3 tee, the system of paths around 10 green, 11 green, 12 tee, 12 green, 15 tee, 13 green, 14 tee. Further work will be done next spring and will replace the maintenance path from our shop all the way down to the bridge on 11 tee. This first round of path replacement is around a $250,000 investment with more to come in the future.
The initial thought to our path project was to address full replacement of every path on the property. While that was a great idea from a scale of economy, the feasibility of that approach ended up not being the best option considering the needs of other projects between the two locations of this great club. At this time, more work is waiting approval for next fall.
Our staff has also started to replace burned out sod around our steep, south facing bunker slopes. The grass we plant in it's place, a blend of Turf Type Tall Fescue and bluegrass, is more resistant to this extreme growing environment. I am hoping this grass performs well enough to avoid installing additional, specific bunker face irrigation when our new irrigation system is installed.
Lastly, and I recommend you sit for this news, we will be planting trees this fall. Maybe read that sentence another time... Along Good Hope and the third hole we have an abundance of Ash trees. Over the next 2-3 years, we will be removing all of them from the observed infestation of Emerald Ash Borer. New trees, taken from our nursery at the end of the driving range, will be planted to help fill in the anticipated, unwanted views opened from removals. We also have some larger shrubs in the nursery which will be added along the fence to help soften the look and sound from the street. Additional plantings will be considered in the future to address any other areas that are in need. There might be a couple other surprises placed around the property as well.
The course will remain open until our typical closing date of the Monday before Thanksgiving, November 20th. This date may be adjusted to an earlier time if we end up having a colder than average forecast. After we close, final winter preparations will be completed and we will put a wrap on the 2017 season. Until then, we hope to see you out here as much as the weather allows.
The electric transmission company that owns the power lines strung behind 3 green, along 5 fairway and moves north to Calumet is performing maintenance mowing to remove overgrown brush. This is a practice they perform every 10 years or so to reduce arcing from the lines. With this work being done, views from 13 green will open up over to the east and make the hole feel more connected to the rest of the golf course. This will allow the opportunity to introduce more fescue into the landscape, which will add some nice contrast and texture. Another result of this work will expose a portion of the area where we dispose of course materials such as soil, clippings and tree branches. Once we get a better idea of what this will end up looking like, we will determine if we have to add additional plantings or more fescue to reduce the impact of the natural screen being removed.
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| This will look amazing when completely grown in. Hard to believe now, but will be really nice. |
Some exciting and very welcomed news is the start of cart path replacement! The work this fall will address the horrendously bad paths we have over to the range, behind 2 green and 3 tee, the system of paths around 10 green, 11 green, 12 tee, 12 green, 15 tee, 13 green, 14 tee. Further work will be done next spring and will replace the maintenance path from our shop all the way down to the bridge on 11 tee. This first round of path replacement is around a $250,000 investment with more to come in the future.
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| A 10 inch cavity is dug prior to adding 8 inches of gravel and 2.5 inches of asphalt. Previous paths had 3 inches of gravel and 1.5 - 2 inches of asphalt. |
Our staff has also started to replace burned out sod around our steep, south facing bunker slopes. The grass we plant in it's place, a blend of Turf Type Tall Fescue and bluegrass, is more resistant to this extreme growing environment. I am hoping this grass performs well enough to avoid installing additional, specific bunker face irrigation when our new irrigation system is installed.
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| This is a tedious process, but we are fortunate to have the talent to make it happen. |
The course will remain open until our typical closing date of the Monday before Thanksgiving, November 20th. This date may be adjusted to an earlier time if we end up having a colder than average forecast. After we close, final winter preparations will be completed and we will put a wrap on the 2017 season. Until then, we hope to see you out here as much as the weather allows.
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