Week 6

The first week of July marks the start of week 6 and we continue to make steady progress.  The green on #5 was sodded on the last day of week 3 and throughout week 4 we focused on getting the Bentgrass sod to root down and stabilize.  Once the sod had established itself we applied an application of Roundup herbicide and waited 7 days to begin aerifying and verticutting in an effort to prep the surface for the new sprigs.  The new sprigs were planted on the afternoon of June 27 and will take approximately 10-12 days to begin setting new roots.  On day 16 (July 13) we hope to begin mowing the new surface.  Our nursery that sits to the left of the #16 teeing area was also prepped and planted at the same time.

Spraying the newly established Bent sod

Aerifying the recently sprayed out Bent sod

June 27 watering of newly planted sprigs on #5

Short Game Area 

The same week that #5 was planted was when we began making the new improvements to the short game practice area.  There was and still is a lot to do in this area.  As of today (July 2) we have constructed the new green and roughed in the two new bunkers in front of the old chipping green. We have also rough shaped in the entire chipping area between the two greens and installed the new irrigation for this area as well as an extensive amount of new drainage.

Earthwork Day 1 Short Game Area

Day 1 Storm

Subsurface Drainage in new chipping green

Gravel layer in new CG

New mix installed in new CG

New bunkers getting roughed in

Moving Forward

Our goal is to have the short game area finished and completely planted by Sunday, July 9.  At which time we will move our construction efforts towards re-shaping the bunker on hole #14.  We will not be making any changes to the putting surface on #14, rather we will be lowering the right greenside bunker and eliminating the large mounding that currently exists between this bunker and the green. The end goal is to be able to see more of the green from the tee and eliminate any bad bounces from balls that land just short of the green.

Once we are finished with our work on #14 we will begin installing the collar around the greens on the course.  The collars will be sodded with Latitude 36, which is a hybrid Bermuda that is very similar in looks to the standard 419 hybrid, but has shown a higher degree of cold hardiness.  We hope to be finished with the collar installation by the fourth week of July.  This will be about the same time we expect to have 100% coverage on the greens that were planted on 6/1 and 6/2.  The first few weeks in August will be spent fine tuning the surface of the new greens in an effort to get them ready for our August 19 opening date.