Our infrastructure is very complex. We have a lot of wires, pipes, tile and utilities in the ground. All of that has to be located and identified before dirt work or irrigation work can begin. We had a couple of people doing that job. Once areas of disruption are painted out, then you have to go in and kill the irrigation in that area so you can excavate the soil or shape it. Many areas were done this week to allow the dirt work to start.
We then sprayed all of the areas where they wanted to start work with Roundup to kill the turf. It was then roto-tilled and then the dirt moving people were off to a start.
We made a couple of waste areas where debris and bad soil can be taken to. Haul roads are marked out and work started. Our first goal is to build the 2 new greens on #8 and #14. We are trying to save and move as much Bentgrass sod as we can. We went immediately to #6 North fairway because this was an area where we were moving some bunker and then a lot of Bentgrass could be moved to that area. The bunkers were removed in that area and cut so you could see the green from your tee shot. New irrigation was added back and it is ready for sod. This short video shows the area.
Most of our efforts are on #14 green. Many trees were designated to be removed in the new construction area. Wright Outdoors came in and have been working on tree removal all week in designated areas. Topsoil was stripped off of the area of disruption and then the dirt moving started.
At the same time we had Elder Corporation in to do cart path removal on this NE9. All old asphalt is being taken out and new concrete paths will be added back, very similar to last year.
Then on Wednesday the rain started! A huge 2” rain was the first one, that stopped us for most of Wednesday. We did get some work in late that afternoon and then spotty showers plagued us for the rest of the week. Now it is Saturday morning and we just received another 2” rain that we did not need! So pray that it stops and we can start back at it.
Here is a video I took yesterday afternoon on #14 North. A lot of dirt has been moved. The new green has been cut down and some new mounding is being built to the right of the hole to help hide the look to University Avenue when you play the hole.
I will try to do weekly updates every Saturday. I will be using video and photos to help you see our progress. Even though the rain stopped us and slowed us down we are ahead of where we were at 1 year ago. So that is encouraging. Leibold has committed a tremendous amount of people and resources to help do the job correctly.
I took a before photo shot of #13 green North before the trees were removed. Then an after look when they were removed. It looks very stark but remember there will be mounding behind the green to help framing in the green. A lot of the trees were ash trees and some of them were hollow on the inside.
