Driving Range Mats

Starting this week, we ask that all members, and guests, restrict their practicing on the driving range to the artificial turf mats located on the back of the tee box.  Each year the winter golfing season produces a lot of great golfing weather.  This causes a lot of divots to accumulate on the driving range.  The dormant Bermuda cannot regenerate and by spring, the surface of the range is completely used up.  Often, by March, there is almost no turf left to hit off of.  By hitting off the mats during the winter, we can ensure a full, dense, and divot free, surface that is ready for the 2017 golf season.  We appreciate your cooperation and as always, if you have any questions, please contact anyone in the pro shop, or grounds department.  Thank you.

Course Update for September

Sorry, I'm a little late for my September course update, but since our seasonal staff left to go back to school, it's been hectic around here.

September has always been a transition month were the first half of the month still feels like summer and the last half starts to feel more like fall.  This past September was very similar.  The only real difference was that we missed several good chances at some rain.  As you were likely aware, we had a minor drought over the past few months.  Several heavy downpours have missed us to the south, east and north, leaving us with only 2.3" total for the month.  This is about half of what we average during September.  The lack of rain didn't help our irrigation water supply issue we've been dealing with all summer and left us still hoping for a big pond filling rain.

Aside from the weather, several noteworthy projects were completed during September.  Our annual fall greens aeration was conducted on September 13th and 14th.  As usual, our staff did an incredible job and I couldn't have been happier with the finished product.  The other big project that was going on was the pond dam project on #3.  Based on the amount of questions and comments I received during the project, there seemed to be a considerable amount of interest.  Everyone seemed interested in the process and were excited to see the finished product.  For those who are interested in more information about this project, I've written a more detailed blog post that can be found here.

#3 Pond Dam Construction Complete

Pond dam before project.

Last Friday, Lowry Construction officially completed the dam reconstruction project on #3, and the #3 tee complex was reopened for regular play on Saturday October 1st.  Over the past month, this project has been the source for the most frequently asked questions while I've been on the course.  It's been exciting to see the project progress from beginning to end and we couldn't be happier with the final product.  Since not many people got to see the daily progress like I did, I've decided to share some pictures I took along the way.  Hopefully you'll find them interesting.  Enjoy.

Once dirt and limestone rocks were removed,
the contractor chiseled into bedrock
to prepare for weir footing.

The footing was chiseled 2' into the bedrock,
then a rebar frame is installed.  

Once the rebar was installed, concrete for
the footing was poured.

The footing cured for almost a week, then the wall forms were installed and
concrete was poured.

After 3 days, the formed were removed and we had "a wall in a hole"
as one of our members put it.  At this point it's still hard to visualize
what the finished product will be.

With all concrete work completed, the contractor got busy installing the clay
on either side of the wall.  Starting to look like something now.

All of the limestone that was discovered early in the project was reused to
stabilize the pond banks and give the downstream side more character

Finshed the project just in time to get a big rain and fill the pond behind the weir.  Couldn't be happier with how it turned out.