Week Three Comes with Heavy Rains

The start of our third week on the project has come with back to back heavy thunderstorms bringing nearly 5 inches of rain over the last two days.

Hole #5
The first heavy thunderstorm came on Tuesday, June 13 at around 4:00 when there was just a few more hours worth of work left to complete the final sodding of the green complex surround. Two systems came through that evening bringing 1.5 inches of rain and then 2 more a few hours later. The resulting damage was fairly small due to the size of the area affected. The bunker faces washed out and the exposed gravel in the drain lines were covered with silt. Repairs were made to these areas on Wednesday and on Wednesday night we received another 1.3 inches so we will need to go back and make a few more repairs.
The green was sodded with Bent on Friday, June 9 and once the sod is well rooted we will spray out the surface with Roundup.  We expect to do this on Monday, June 19.  Once the Roundup has taken effect we will begin our aggressive verticutting procedure to remove the surface plant tissue.  We expect to sprig the putting surface sometime during the week of June 26-June 30.

Bent  Sod Going Back on #5

#5 Green Sodded

#5 Green Surround Sod Installation

New Bunker on #5 Damage from Storm Water

Short Game Area
With the construction efforts slowing down on #5 the contractor has relocated his earth moving equipment to the practice area.  With only one day of earth moving underway we were hit with the first 3.5 inches of rain.  As the shaping work really hadn't got going we were able to push the wet soil off the surface and continue shaping on Wednesday.  But with another 1.3 inches last night the earthwork is at another standstill.  Eventually, the practice area will see another chipping green installed closer to the clubhouse and a large practice bunker constructed in front of the existing smaller chipping green.  We had hoped to sprig this green with #5 but with the weather delays we will move forward with #5 and get the new chipping green planted on what now currently looks like it will be as many as1-2 weeks later.

Existing Short Game Area 

Area Where New Going Will be Installed

Day 1 Earth Work

Day 1 Storm

Day 1 Storm on Newly Planted Practice Green

Day 2 New Green Cavity Water Filled

Farm Conversion - Week 2 Concludes in Rain

New Construction
The final day of our second week comes to an end today the same way our first few days started with rain shutting down the new construction taking place on hole #5.  To date 6 out of 13 normally scheduled contractor days have been canceled due to rain so that part of the project continues to lag behind our original schedule.  But despite the above average rainfall, we have made progress.  The old green was cored out and the new green sub-floor was shaped in and approved by our architect, Billy Fuller, on Tuesday, May 30.  The new contours are somewhat reversed from the original contours on the left side of the green.  The new grades are now pitched towards the tee moderately at around 2%.  Versus the old grade that pitched 3-5% away from the tee and to the left.  This should result in an incoming shot that is much more receptive to holding close to its landing spot. The following two days were spent installing new drainage and adding a four-inch layer of gravel.  On Friday and Saturday the contractor started adding the new mix but as of today, Monday 6/5, there is still ~40% of greens mix yet to go in.

Mix Removal

Billy Fuller Reviewing Final Sub-Grade

New Drain Pipe

4 Inch Gravel Layer Installed

New Mix Going In

With the current forecast, we expect Wednesday may be the next day before operations reinitiate.  We are now looking at re-installing the old Bentgrass sod back onto the new surface early in the week of 6/12-6/15.  We will allow one week for the new sod to stabilize and one week for the sod to be sprayed out after its re-installation to allow for a modified no-till planting.  That puts us installing the new sprigs during the last week of June or possibly the first week of July. This will allow for a 6-7 week grow-in window before the course is slated to be re-opened. which will result in a much younger surface than the primary set of no-till greens on our Opening Day.

No-Till (Holes 1-4, 6-18 and Practice Green)

The really good news is the rains have had little effect on the no-till portion of the project.  The greens went through an extensive preparation process and were sprigged one day later than originally scheduled.  The Champion G12 sprigs were successfully planted on Thursday and Friday (6/1-6/2) and new leaf formation was noticeable on Sunday for the first set of greens that were planted on Thursday. We have some very unstable moisture in the atmosphere today and the only thing that could set us back now is a heavy thunderstorm that could wash the sprigs and force us to re-sprig damaged areas and continue our heavy water cycle for several days longer than without the occurrence of a storm. Moving forward on the no-till greens we expect to begin cutting the new grass in 17-21 days.  We will be implementing some fairly standard practices of weekly fertilization, frequent topdressing and rolling as well as additional aerifications and grooming over the next several months in an effort to turn to the existing sprigged surface into a high quality putting surface.

Verticutting Old Surface

Aerifying Old Surface

New Green Perimeter - New Bermuda sod will be sodded to the right of the yellow line in July

Sprigs Going Down on #11

Sprigs Being Rolled

Sprigs First Water

Sprigs Day 3