10 tee renovation and other news

Lady is anxious and ready to start her day. She is patiently waiting for instructions like the rest of the crew.


Additional progress has been made the last 2 days on the new 10th white tee box and the additional box ahead of #10 blue tee.




Skip is using the forks on the box blade to break up the soil allowing the box blade to then move material to the areas where we need more soil. The soil is moist and is very soft right now. We used the large loader in the background but the weight of the unit created some significant rutting. As you can see, Lady has given her instructions and is now moving out of his way.




You can see how the teeth are scarifying the soil.




After tearing down the tie wall, moving dirt and moving some more dirt, we are now finished with the rough grading phase. We have some erosion blanket in place that you can see lining the front of the tee. We have tentatively staked the four corners of the tee. We are waiting for the rain to come in and help to settle the soil. Overall, we have lowered the tee by about 2.5'. The tee will be slightly smaller than I first planned in the diagram. Right now we are about 36'x22 but I believe when the finish grading and laser leveling are complete the tee will be in the area of about 40x24(960 sq ft). The tee will slope slightly from the back left corner to the right side and right front corner. We will have some additional sub-surface drainage in the back of the tee to keep it dry and a surface drain on the right corner to catch any excessive surface water which could end up coming across the corner of the tee.




I think the tee will fit more naturally with the lay of the land. The tee is smaller but of adequate size to handle the amount of play. We have created a easy assess to the tee surface. In the future, a turn in will be created for easier access and remove carts from the main road. At this time, members will be able to park on the cart path near the hole sign/benchball washer area.

Just a reminder that we have made a temporary white in front of the renovated tee. There was a small tee that has been abandoned for a few years that we have recently reopened for the next month or two. We appreciate your patience.



The new tee in front of the blue tee on #10 is just beginning to take some shape. We are short about 3 loads of dirt which we will have to locate on property in the next few days. This is going to be a supplemental tee for the white tee and the blue tees could be moved forward from time to time to this spot. The apron of the tee will extend to the main road. The tee will be as wide and the blue tee and will be about 25 feet deep. We are softening half of the left, front and right sides of the original blue tee to help reduce hand trimming and wear patterns which have developed because the bank of the tee is too severely sloped.




Here's Assistant Superintendent Mike Walerius getting what I would consider the first cut of the spring season on the greens on Wednesday. Its almost time for some regular maintenance to take place.

Here is a picture of our green nursery which we have been growing in since last fall. The lighter colored turf on the left has been mowed. There are just a couple of spots which need some cover but overall the green is in good shape. We are still higher with our mowing height(.180" versus .150" on all other greens) on this green in comparision to the rest of the greens on the course but we will continue to move the height down to match the other greens in the next month or two. Lets hope we do not need this green except for a repairing a scalped old hole.

#10 Tee Renovation Day 2

A great deal of work was accomplished on our second day of work on the 10th white tee box renovation. Worked continue on the removal of the tie wall the was against the left side of the tee and front this morning.

Guys cutting ties and nails for easier handling from the left side wall of tee and removing remaining sod from tee surface. Some of the zoysia was laid in the water line repair behind 18 green

Front tie wall torn down. Wall of dirt is almost 5' tall at this point.

Irrigation head and swing joint hanging from original surface of old tee. Head will have to be trenched onto new tee to keep proper spacing of irrigation heads.





Skip Fierro beginning to dig out upper level of tee. We are removing approximately 2' of soil from existing tee surface to lower overall level of tee.





Dump truck unloading soil from #10 white tee to new tee which will step down from existing blue tee. Tee will be located in front of blue tee and will stop approximately 10-12' before main drive into the club. We are going to soften the slope on the existing blue tee which will allow mowers to more easily get around the tee without damaging turf.





Skip using loader/backhoe to grade from front of tee to the back of the tee. Tee will have slight back to front slope because the land falls off to the front and will be drained to the right of the picture with laser leveling equipment


Beginning to see the tee forming from back to front. We still have dirt to remove from the left side walk off area of the tee and a large amount of dirt from the right side of the tee. We need to remove some dirt to the back of the old tee to soften the slope and also help in moving water around the tee. It appears that a majority of the water will be moved around the right corner of the tee with some shaping of the existing grade. This is helpful to members so that the walk on and off area is dry.




As all projects go, this is a work in progress. We will keep you updated as work continues to move forward.

#10 White Tee Renovation

2-23-09

Our staff began the destruction and reconstruction of the #10 white tee this morning. Our first job was to remove the sod from the tee surface. This would allow the soil to moved much easier and would not create any issues with forming the new tee surface. Initially, we thought the sod would not be able to be used again for the tee surface but it was frozen and the sod cutter did an excellant job in removing the material at the same depth. We have laid the sod on the asphalt in our maintenance yard which should hopefully allow us to pick it up when needed for the new tee. It also places the sod near a water source in case the sod become dry.

Once the sod was removed, the crew began removing the ties from the steps and planter walls. This was not easy work but the backhoe/loader made this task much easier. Some of the ties were cut with chain saws to allow them to be loaded more easily in the loader. Some of the material is being hauled away and the rest of the material will be stored in the back area of the driving range.

Mike Walerius operationg front loader as we remove ties.

Some of the planter bed material was saved because of its rich quality. The rest of the material will be spread in the walk off area and will be placed back in sod. We have about 1/2 the wall complex removed and will remove the remaining part on Tuesday. The loader will then began removing the soil from the west and lake side of the tee. Excess dirt will be piled in front of the blue tee and will be used to established the base of the tee which will be connected to the existing blue tee. We will be removing approximately 2 feet from the surface of the old white tee which will lower so that players if they chose can walk off the front of the tee. We also want this softened some mowers can get around this tee. We plan to slope this at a 4/5 to 1 slope which will work very well for both equipment and players.