Work was progressing very nicely this past Monday. All of the drainage was completed and irrigation team was starting to bring their pipe to the green site. Then the rains came. Almost 2” in the overnight storm. Luckily all of the drainage worked very well but it takes dirt a long time to dry out when you have a big rain.
This past Monday we were able to start removing sod on the greens that are going to be rebuilt. We removed the sod off of #2, 4 and 5. We are keeping #18 green alive right now to utilize some of that bentgrass sod later in the project. The mix that is under the sod is also being saved off of some of the greens to be used later. Here is a photo of #4 after the sod was removed and before we removed the sand mix.
Jeff Kennicker has been our spray tech here at DMGCC for over 10 years. Jeff does a tremendous job and is a big part of the fall projects. We identify an area that is going to be demoed and Jeff comes into the area and sprays Roundup on the turf to kill everything. You have to be very precise in this application because in many instances you are right adjacent to a putting green or a fairway that is being saved.
Here is Jeff doing one of the applications on #5.
Part of the LUI team moved over to #4 and #5 South. The old irrigation heads were removed from the area and the bulldozer is starting to move earth, shaping the new putting green on #4. They also started draining the pond in front of #5 green. They took their big back hoe and broke a hole in the dam to let the water out slowly. They worked their way down to the footing slowly letting the water out. The plan is to bring in a pump to get the rest of the water out, then next week they will start to install the new 36” drain tile in this area. There is still a lot of water coming through from under the railroad tracks so they will have a difficult situation while they are working on the new pipe install.
Here is a last look at #5 pond.
Part of the overflow structure has been broken out to lower the water level.
Wright Tree Service is continuing on tree removal. Golf course architect, Tim Liddy marked out trees for removal last week. If we have good dry weather this work will be completed by the end of next week.
Our plan is to be seeding and sodding on #2 green by the middle of next week. Irrigation should all be installed and the bunkers that surround the putting green will be completed.