Unfortunately for us the weather still dominates how we are doing. The week started off on a very positive note. We were able to complete a lot little pieces of the puzzle and we are getting closer to installing some turf on some holes.
The 15th green has been rough shaped and is waiting for some dry weather to move forward with it. We have 1 more tree to remove in that area and once the sod is moved off the fairway the earth moving will start on this hole. The fairway turf will be moved to the 8th hole and become the new fairway on that hole. Drainage tile has been installed to the left side of the hole and once major earth work is completed the remaining tile will be installed.
The new 15th green rough shaped.
The 8th green will have the mix installed this weekend. Irrigation has completed 50% on the 8th hole. They too should have it all installed by Sunday afternoon. Hopefully the seed will go down on the green by midweek and sod should also be going down on much of the hole. If we have a good dry week you should be able to see that hole really take shape by next weekend.
The 8th tee was moved to the north slightly and while that was being done we hit another phantom irrigation pipe. That had to be repaired on Friday and work will commence back again in this area on Saturday morning.
The 9th hole really took on a new look by Friday. The wall was the determining factor on how fast we could get this hole going. The major dirt work on the lake has now been completed. The wall has been completed. A new overflow pipe was installed in the dam to control the water level of the lake. Special anti-seep collars were installed to keep it from leaking. These are then encased in concrete before backfilling. We installed 2 air diffusers in the bottom of the lake to provide an oxygen rich environment for the fish and to help control algae blooms. We also installed a couple of fish hideouts for the fish to hangout. Tim Sims, South Course Superintendent did get stuck in a muddy area in the bottom of the lake. I think one of his boots is a permanent part of the lake.
Anti-seep collars on the overflow pipe.
The new 9th green laid out.
Tim stuck in the mud.
Fish Hides
Once all of these things we done we started to fill the lake up. 2+” of rain and some irrigation quick couplers put a lot of water in the lake in a hurry. This lake should holf approximately 3 million gallons of water, so it will take a little time to fill it up.
The tees on #9 have all been placed and shaped. The new green has been staked out behind the wall. We should have it rough shaped early in the week for the architect to look at. Drainage lines will now be the main focus for the LUI crew. There are some major lines that have to be installed across the 9th hole to capture water coming from #10, 13 and 14. All of these holes will have some of their drainage going into the lake on #9.
Irrigation has continued to work despite the wet weather. They are mainly working off of turf areas and they can work through wet conditions. 75% of the new main lines are now installed. One of the big parts of this phase is to get a larger irrigation line to the 16 hole. A new irrigation line was fused together with HDPE pipe in the middle of the week. It takes a very special machine to fit and fuse this style of pipe together. The machine was brought over from Lincoln, Ne. and below is a photo of the fusion taking place. A large boring machine will bore under the road and install this 100’ long pipe this upcoming week.
All of the cart path removal has been completed. On Monday a few more trees need to be cleaned up and then this part will be completed. After 4 years of construction it is very nice to say that we have these wrapped up and we will no longer need to do it.