I mentioned it before but I would like to say it again, I am very proud of the efforts that our maintenance team put in the last 2 weeks. Not only have they maintained the golf courses but they have worked a lot of extra hours helping to build the wall on #12.
On the wall we were able to drive all of the tie backs into the bank to secure the top of the wall. This required us to drive steel plates over 2’ under the ground level. These plates were 3/8” steel that measured 2’ x 2’. First we had to build a tool that attached to concrete breaker to see if we could drive them. It took several different trial and error attempts but in the end we succeeded. Every post had to have a tie back that was installed 12’ back into the bank. Then a ½’ steel rod was installed into the plate and a hole was drilled at a specific elevation through the post. Then a washer and nut were placed on the outside of the posts and tightened.
Once rods were in place we started the major tasks of back filling the wall. Again we had very specific instructions on how high the material was to be installed and what we had to use. First the entire inside of the backfill area was wrapped with a non-woven landscape fabric. 2’ washed stone was used to backfill up to 18” from the top. Again fabric was placed across the top of the rock and then soil was added to the top. It was a very laborious and tedious job but in the end we great luck in getting it all into place.
North Course Superintendent, Nate Tegtmeier waiting to drive plates in.
South Course Superintendent, Tim Sims and Patti Henry from Elder Corp driving plates.
Backfill Layers
When we were up to grade the final job was to cut off the tops of the posts and install the top cap. We finished this on Wednesday afternoon of this week. Quite a process in a very short time period. End result is a beautiful bulkhead that can be seen from several different holes.
On Thursday our staff headed to #8 fairway and finished grading and picking up the rocks on the fairway expansion. We then did a dormant seeding on the fairway and then we covered it with a special
erosion netting.
Andy Rhylander drop seeding fairway
Straw erosion control being installed.
During all of our work this week Leibold also made some major end roads. Almost all of the tees are now built. Good thing because on Friday we had a semi load of new Bentgrass sod arrive from Chicago and our staff sodded several different tees. We will finish this morning sodding #10 tees. By doing this we will have 2 sodded tees on every hole to play from next spring. We are also are seeding and covering all of the other tees as they become available to us.
#7 Tees
The major irrigation pipes that were bored under #12 last week were attached to the North pump station on Wednesday and Thursday. We are now connected once again to both pump stations and that is a very comforting feeling since we have only had 1 station for over a month. While it was not needed it is just good to have it in the rear view mirror.
New bunkers were built on #11 fairway and #11 green during the later part of this week. Dozers and excavators moved to #7 green on Friday. Also a new greenside bunker was built on #6 green and sodded on Friday.
Overall this was one of the best weeks of the project. It is great to work with some true professionals that work very hard at their trait.