We started out the week very slow and muddy from last weekend’s rain. By Wednesday, Landscapes Unlimited were able to really start moving and doing some dirt work again.
Irrigation mainlines are now 100% installed and working! Victor and his staff are tasked with unhooking old lines and hooking up new ones to our existing network of pipe. While this sounds like a monumental task, I can tell you that this crew has really started to impress me with their workmanship and efforts. I believe they should be close to completion by the end of October.
There is a huge push to complete #17 tees. They were about 2 days from completion when the rains came last weekend. Today they will be doing the fine grading around the tees and they should have them sodded on Monday. So the only tee left to build will be the black tee on #3. Tees are looking very good. Some of them are growing well under the covers but we have decided it would be in the best interest of the club to sod bentgrass to 2 tees on each complex to expedite opening in the spring. I have ordered the semi load of bentgrass sod and our staff will be putting it in place next week. I applaud this decision and I think it will be a very good choice to help with the opening next year.
Here is a photo from the side of #17 forward tee.
Jeff Ricketts and his staff are now really poised to start knocking off the bunkers. There are several different crews doing different items that have to come together to make the puzzle work. There is one person doing the rough shaping of the bunkers, another crew comes behind and installs the new tiles to the bunker complex. Then Daniel who just came up from Florida (he is having a hard time adjusting to the cool weather) is now sitting in a small mini excavator and he is working with Dye architect, Tim Liddy to build and shape the features of the bunkers. Once that is completed there is a crew that does the fine shaping of the bunker complex and makes sure everything is up to the look of a Dye bunker. Then a crew comes in and starts to install drainage on the inside of the bunker. Then the part that everyone is waiting for will start to happen. Bunker liner will be installed and then the Pro Angle sand. So in next week’s update I should have some photos of this happening.
This is a photo of #1 greenside bunker being edged.
Here is a rough shape of #1 Fairway bunker.
On #3 the world has really changed! If you remember in the drawings that we showed during the town hall meetings, there is a lot happening to this hole. The entire right side of the green surround is being taken out and moved behind the green to a new mound. That mound will be used to screen University Ave. from the green. We had a pan scraper in that area yesterday and he made a lot of progress. He has a little work to do on Monday and he will be out of the way. Then the dozer will do the rough shaping, a new cart path will be installed behind the green. I have ordered some evergreen trees that our staff will plant hopefully next week to really hide all of the traffic and noise behind the green. Prior to all of this work happening our maintenance staff removed all of the sod in that area. The bluegrass sod was moved to cart path edges so we do not have to buy some of that sod. The bentgrass sod was saved and moved to a clay tennis court. It will be re-installed as soon as there is a place to lay it.
A photo of our staff moving some turf.
The cut being made to the right side of the green.
Mound behind the green being shaped.
A lot of progress was made this week. The president of Landscape’s Unlimited Construction Company was here to view the progress and he reiterated that they are committed to finishing strong and do a great job. Also the president of Landscape’s Irrigation Division came along and was very happy how they are progressing on the irrigation side of the project.We are working on this project 7 days a week. It takes a huge effort on everyone's part but we are committed to finishing on time and on budget.