Saturday, August 31, 2013

Week 2 Renovation Update

Week 2 Renovation Update

The first thing that you notice when looking at the North Course is a lot of black soil showing. Jeff Ricketts the construction superintendent from Landscapes Unlimited arrived on site to take over this project. He was previously in Louisiana and had to finish up there before coming here. Jeff arrived and it was very clear to me that he does not like to let the grass grow beneath his feet! Jeff is very deliberate and is a deep thinker but he is a mover. He likes to have everything going in stages and that is what happened this past week.

We have had Wright Outdoor on site removing trees from designated areas and as soon as the area is clear of the trees, we go in and cut/cap the current irrigation in that area and then spray Roundup on the construction zone. LU’s people follow behind us and till up the soil and get it ready for construction work. We have several of these areas across the course and they are all in various stages of the process.

We have one more day of cart path removal and then all of the cart path demolition will be complete.

Irrigation crew is moving along. As previously mentioned they have a difficult job but they are installing some new mainlines in the ground. When it is completed it will dramatically help us on the North Course to get water where it is needed.

Anytime in construction you have a few mishaps. We had one this week. All of the old pipe that was installed in 1966 is still being used and that is what we are trying to eliminate. We are not able to locate that pipe, it is purely a guess as to where it is at. So unfortunately you will hit it from time to time and if you look at this photo you can see what happens when you hit it. It took us about 5 hours to close down the system and abandon this old pipe. It is in a critical area and it was a tough job doing it when the temperatures are in the upper 90's. But we preserved and got it completed with some good teamwork from our staff and LU’s crew.


Architect Tim Liddy was in town for a few day’s this past week and we had Tim working on the 2 new putting greens. Exact locations, elevations and sizes were all tweaked. LU’s staff are putting some final touches on these greens this morning and Tim will be here next Tuesday to give final approval to the sub grade. From there LU’s staff will take about 7-10 days to complete the greens and seed them. A little later in the calendar than I like but we will have a good stand of turf on those greens this fall.

I have included some before after photos of #1 and #18 so you can see the views after some major tree work has been completed.





Notice this photo is taken from the landing area. Now you are able to see the putting surface. Do you go for it? Don't forget there is a little bigger water feature in front of you on the left side!


Some cart path work being done.


Irrigation installation of some 8" mainline pipe. Our old mains are 4". There should be a noticeable difference for us.