8 Tee now being mowed at regular tee height of cut

The 8th tee was mowed with the riding tee mower this morning for the first time at our standard 1/2" height of cut.  It has held up well over the play it has received during the Invitational.  The cool season turf around the tee has been greening back up from its initial struggles when it was first laid out.  It will continue to improve but will struggle during stretches of severe heat.  Hand watering of the cool season surround will be required to supplement the irrigation system so we do not overload the zoysia which want to grow with less water.    Late summer and early fall will see the surround cool season turf improve and will be in great shape for next season.  We will continue to do some regular topdressing which will improve the smoothness of the playing surface and will help to provide a slight drier top surface of the tee after heavy rain events. 

We will also be topdressing all of our tees over the next few weeks to help with divot recovery and smooth the surfaces as well.  The tees will also be core aerated which will improve rooting going into the fall and winter, provide better drainage and will improve the overall health of the zoysia.

The 8th tee on the final morning of the Invitational.
32 days from the time the old sod on the tee was removed, new tee was constructed and is being mowed at normal playing height.

8 tee progress

The turf on the newly constructed 8th tee is doing very well.  The cooler weather has helped the fescue recover and the rooting of both the zoysia and fescue are tacking down to the soil.  We will be doing a walk mowing of the tee surface in the next few days as the turf continues to improve.  We added another 24 pieces of fescue to the front of the tee to finish off the surround.  We have some asphalt patch work to complete in a couple of spots and everything should then be complete. 

Here are a couple of pictures from the top of the Halfway House which gives a better perspective of the tee and how it now fits into the landscape.

Parts of the 4th, 6th and 12th blue tees were repaired a few weeks ago with some new zoysia sod.  They were top dressed heavily this evening and broomed in to smooth out the heavy application of sand.  I expect these sections of tee to be played in the next few days.  We appreciate your patience.

Also, the short range zoysia tee was verticut at about 1/2"(You cannot see the verticutting lines after the topdressing and dragging of the sand)  in depth today in two different directions to begin the process of taking some of the humps that natural form from topdressing divots and play over the last few years.  The tee was sanded  very heavily and fertilized.  I left the right third of the tee with a little less sand so that it would be in play but the left two thirds will need a few days of watering and growing before we place it back in play.    In the end, practice tees need to have the sod removed and the teeing surface leveled every few years to provide a completely level surface. 

Update on #8 tee

We've been watering the tee excessively over the last few days to keep the turf wet as it is beginning to send down roots into the soil.  The fescue is showing some stress from the mid-90's heat but I expect it to bounce back this week as the temperatures moderate.  The zoysia has shown very little stress after being laid and is in excellent condition.  We  have about 25 pieces of fescue sod that we will pick up early in the week to finish off the area next to the red tee and the front of the new tee surround.

We have some asphalt patch work to do along the back and the right side of the teeing area this week.  We will begin to reduce watering to help firm up the surface in the next few days as the roots become stronger which will then allow us to get a walking mower onto the teeing ground area sometime during the week of July 5th.

We are going to take a picture from the Halfway House roof in the next few days which will give you a great overhead view of the new tee.

8 tee renovation complete

The renovation of 8th teeing ground is complete except for some work next to the red tee, mulching the hole sign and ball washer area and adding some asphalt patch to the cart path on the right side of the tee. 

We were able to solve a number of problems with the renovation of this tee:

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  The tee has been leveled and sloped to allow for a ball to be struck from any spot on the tee and water will drain off of the tee due to the slope of the surface that was made by the Laser leveling.
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  The only water that comes onto the tee will do so either from rain or a sprinkler that was designed for that purpose.  Runoff water from other areas will only go around the new tee.
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  The tee is completely zoysia instead a mixture of bermuda and zoysia.
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  The tee surround can be mowed by automated equipment.
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  Golfers who choose to walk can enter and exit the tee from all four sides.

The view from the Halfway House door.  An 8" step onto the tee or your can enter the right side of the teeing ground with only a very slight incline to prevent water from entering the teeing area.

The view from 10 green surround.  Cart operators will need to be aware of the 8" wall that now backs the tee as they leave the area of 10 green.

The slope off the front of the tee has been softened to allow for automated equipment to mow the surround plus allow for golfers who walk to exit the front of the tee if they chose.  You can also see how level the teeing ground is with the camera being placed at about ground level. 

We've placed a couple of signs on the tee reminding everyone to stay off of the tee until we begin to water a little less and the turf has had a chance to take root and has been mowed.  Once conditions are right for walking on the tee, we will place another sign inviting you to take a look at the newly renovated 8th tee.

This also might be the time that we invite you to hit balls off of the tee as well.

The new tee will be ready for play by the Invitational.

# 8 tee renovation update

Great progress today on the new white/blue tee complex on hole #8.  The tee was laser leveled and sodded, part of the cool season surround was sodded and the remaining surround will be sodded tomorrow morning after some finish grading off the front of the tee bank and completion of the natural stone curbing/wall which will hold the back of the tee in place.

Mike McNeil from Laserturf Leveling which is a part of Schaeffer-Meyer from St. Charles beginning the process of finish grading the tee.

Mike continuing to go in circles around the tee.  The tractor has a receiver unit that tells the scraper to raise or lower the box depending upon if the slope needs more and or less dirt.

Mike is scraping the bank of the tee to smooth out the walk on and walk off areas of the tee.

Pretty much all hands on deck after lunch except for a couple of rough mowers.  Assistants Mike and Skip, Russ, Tom, Jason, Arian and Ryan all pitching in with the process.  We brought in 30 yard rolls of big roll sod which allows sod laying to become a thing of beauty and speed but the tee had areas that were soft and pumping so we rolled the sod out on the side and cut the pieces in 6-8' sections and carried them onto the tee.  We wanted to use the large roll sod because there are less seems that have to heal and it can be placed into play quicker than normal 3' slabs.  The staff started laying the sod at 90 degrees and finished at 95 degrees at 2:30.  A tough job.  Russ is putting a cooling shot of water on the sod as it was being laid.  Not too much to create excessive problems for us but enough to bring the sod out of shock.  Once the sod  was completely laid, we started to give it a good drink of water.  It will be kept very moist to wet while it begins to send down roots and begins to grow.  It is important that we keep plenty of moisture in the root zone so the turf will be healthy and the tee will open on time.    You can see the lengths of sod in the foreground on the cart path after they were cut and are then being hauled out onto the tee.

The teeing ground completed covered with zoysia.  It looks outstanding.  Still some border work to do.

A view of the tee surround cool season turf being placed around the tee.

A fully completed tee complex coming tomorrow.

Rain, rain go away, #8 tee renovation

After 3 days of rain in St. Charles county where our dirt was being hauled, we were finally able to make some good progress on Friday.  We hauled out 7 tandem truck loads(100 yards approximately) using our single axle dump truck and Skip moved it around with our box blade tractor.

The view from the cart path between 7 green toward 8 tee.  You can see that the elevation of the tee will be at the existing level of the natural stone wall of the flower bed.  The stakes are in place to give us some gradient marks between the wall of the flower bed and the various areas of the tee.  The tee will slope from right to left and out the front corner toward the pine trees in the background.

Another view from the back of the tee on the left side pointing toward the right front corner.

Monday morning before our full field outing that we had on the golf course, we brought a skid steer in with tracks which allowed us to do some  additional grading and packing of the soil.  Skip is doing the honors.

Skip using the bucket to move soil into some tight corners.

Another view from the right front corner.

How the tee was left at 10:30 before the start of the tournament.

The work planned for Tuesday includes:

• Contractor laser leveling the teeing ground first thing in the morning.
• Bring more dirt in for the area between the new tee and the red tee to soften the bank for ease of mowing.
• Grade and pack the dirt in place for the tee surround.
• Begin the stacked natural rock curbing/border around the tee after the teeing ground had the proper gradient set.  
• Sod the teeing ground with big roll zoysia sod.
• Back fill along the new curb and install fescue sod around the border of the zoysia and between the new tee and the red tee.  

8 Tee box progress

An update on the 8th teeing ground renovation.    We were able to cut the old sod off of the tee this morning, load it in our dump truck and haul away.  A couple of loads of dirt were hauled in and the dirt was moved around on the tee.  There are numerous irrigation heads and valve boxes located on the tee that have to be raised to the new level of the tee.  Then the rain came.

Skip using the sod cutter to remove the sod.  Russ is preparing to dig up some of the irrigation boxes.

Skip working his way across the tee.

Skip pushing and pulling the sod that has been cut from the tee surface with the tractor and box blade.

This is the valve box that controls the landscape sprinklers around the Field Bar.  The large pipe is the potable water source for the pro shop and maintenance building.  The shut off and valve will need to be moved about 8" to the left so we can place the natural stone curbing along the cart path which will divert the water around the tee box.  The valve box will need to be raised to the level of the tee using an extension.  Lady always likes to investigate a hole in the ground.  She checks out the guys work and gives her approval.

We set up our surveying equipment on the tee to determine the amount of soil needed in any given area.  Marks were made on surveying stakes so soil will be raised to the marked line on the stake.  Most tees are sloped from around 3/4 to 1 %.  The tee will be rough graded for the laser level to do the finish grading.

We hauled 2 loads of dirt onto the tee and moved the dirt around before a monsoon hit us. More pictures tomorrow when we begin work on our natural stone curbing which will allow us to raise the level of the tee by about 8" and move the water around the teeing ground.