Pond Work Completed Just in Time for Spring Rains

 Ski Lake Spillway Renovation

The spillway pipe structure on Ski Lake (#1 Pond Farm Course) has been successfully replaced.  The original Galvanized pipe had deteriorated to the point if could no longer be trusted on what is the club's only high hazard dam.  The project has been in the works for several years with the permitting process taking well over a year for the approval of our engineered plans.  The pond had to be dropped over 10 feet to conduct the new construction work.  Once the work began it went very smoothly and finished on time despite a few heavy rains slowing us down.  The work is now officially over and moving forward  we just a need a few good rains to get the pond back to an acceptable water level before we start using it again for our course irrigation.

Farm #14 Pond Level

Our repair of the spillway structure last year resulted in the wrong final elevation of the pond level.  This was due to leakage in the pipe over a long period of time, which gave us a faulty survey reading of the true lake level.  As such, a new riser was added to the new system this year at no additional cost to the club to bring the lake water height up to it's proper level.  The pond on #14 had to be lowered several feet to add the extended structure, but that work is now complete and we expect once the pond is full this addition will result in a much more attractive pond and a lot more water, which is important as this pond also serves as a primary irrigation source.

Additional Storm Drainage #11 Farm

Water flow from the additional road widening on Horsepen Creek road has added to our storm flow demand on the left side of #11.  This actually has always been a problem going back the 2009 renovation but the roadwork definitely added additional storm flow and siltation.  We have hopefully alleviated this problem by catching the the water as it comes onto the golf course and not allowing it to travel all the way to the singular basin in the low area at the turn of the dogleg.

Preparing for the Spring/Summer Season

Both courses have received preventative treatments for spring and summer weeds.  Both courses are now working on installing mulch in all our landscaped areas.  In total the staff will put over nearly 1500 yards of hardwood mulch between the two courses.  Nearly 3,000 bales of pinestraw will follow this in May.  The Irving Park greens were aerified in early March and are now nearly 100% recovered.  The Irving Park staff recently completed the large task of adding nearly 200 tons of replenishment sand to the bunkers.  Of course all this work and much more is done in conjunction with routine maintenance of the two courses for daily play.

Irving Park Range Renovation  - Tentatively Start Repairs May 2

We are tentatively scheduled to begin putting the Irving Park back together on May 2nd.  This of course is very dependent on the clubhouse contractor completing enough of his work, so that he can get range area cleared of trucks and materials.  Once the work does begin we expect the renovation work to last approximately 6-8 weeks.  The scope of the project currently includes redoing everything from the first tee to the practice green to restoring the range area.  Everything will be put back together very similar to what is was before construction damage with the exception of the practice green which we expect to be significantly larger and more usable.