The season is sneaking up on us after a relatively calm winter. The covers are still on for now while temperatures still fluctuate vastly over the next couple weeks. We have been pretty busy this winter and expect to be for the foreseeable future. The irrigation system installation will crank back up this coming week and we have already begun work on the 2nd hole. Some needed rains this winter have at least recharged the surface ponds; lets hope the underground aquifer got some recharge as well.
We will continue to monitor the turf under covers for the next couple weeks; this along with long range forecasts will be what determines how we proceed regarding an opening date for the greens. The 20 year average for opening has been April "12.7" which seems like a reasonable expectation at this point; realistically it might be a little sooner unless the weather dictates something else. We will keep you posted as we figure it out.
Tanto Irrigation worked on irrigation installation until December 6th and was able to get all of the mainlines installed, connected to the pump stations and a few greens done. They are slated to be back installing by Wednesday barring any unforeseen snags and I would expect them to be here into June if weather is beneficial for installation. Closures will be similar to last year while work is occurring; we'll do our best to give you as much of the course as we can without putting contractors at risk. For a large portion of the spring we will be running 2 irrigation systems, the old one along with the new one.
2nd Hole:
The 2nd hole is underway! It is a construction zone so please stay completely off the hole. There are open trenches, heavy equipment and material deliveries that will be coming fast and furious; the last thing we need is to be stopping to direct onlookers never mind the risk of entering the area. We installed all erosion control this past week, our architect was here on Thursday to layout the various features of the hole and work commenced thereafter. Country Golf has started stripping and stockpiling the topsoil, constructing the detention area and disassembling the one wall that is being removed.
A lot of time, money, planning, engineering, design work as well as permitting and negotiations went into this over the past few years. A common question in the last 12-18 months has been why are we
doing the hole over? If you weren't here all the way back in 2018 you might not know that much of the hole before and after the walls was flooded 24/7 even during dry times. At one time there was a pipe that allowed water to flow through a neighbor's yard without an easement. This pipe allowed much of the water from that watershed to flow off property. When the connection failed in early 2018 water became "trapped" and backed up onto the golf course. The club worked tirelessly to come to an agreement with the neighbors that allowed us to regain access with an easement to the outlet; that easement was finally recorded in December of last year. The neighbors, in good faith, allowed us to reconnect about 3 years ago with the understanding that we would create some drainage structures, reconstruct the green and perform some other maintenance. Once it was reconnected it allowed the water to flow out again alleviating the flooding; keep in mind this was allowed because of our intention to rebuild the green and install a detention area. This green had also been identified as one of the worst agronomic challenges on the property. The USGA Greens Section has been to the course at least 5 times in the last 25 years and each time has recommended reconstruction of this green and a few others including the 10th and 12th holes. I expect the rough shaping of the green complex along with the drainage structures, bunker and detention area to take the better part of a month if weather cooperates. Tanto Irrigation will install the new irrigation once the green is roughed in. Sod will be utilized in the surrounds and some native plants will be utilized in the detention area to give it some character and make it a feature. Once the green is built it will be plugged with plugs from a number of greens on the course. This will ensure that once it has grown in that it will match the other greens on the course in appearance. We will select greens on the course to harvest plugs from; this process will involve aerating the selected greens with 1/2" cores and spreading them on the new green surface. At this time I expect it to take about 5 greens worth of plugs to create the new surface. The plugs will be rolled, topdressed, covered and tended to throughout the coming months. The new green will need adequate time to create a deep root system to make it through the summer. The green will not be in play this summer at all and AT BEST would hope for a mid/late fall opening. Only patience and time will tell. We will keep you updated with photos as things move along over the coming weeks.
