Maintenance Mayhem

Wow! After a 3 day holiday weekend the club was closed on Tuesday. The golf course maintenance gang went to town with a wide open golf course. Numerous important tasks were completed while taking advantage of no golfers.

The ongoing  task of Bermuda suppression was done around our greens in the zoysia collars.  This is an extremely important task to have ample time for the product to dry on the leaf before having foot traffic walk through it and walk on the green as it would harm our  bentgrass greens. For this reason, this practice is a challenge for us to do during play days so Tuesday was perfect!

Tree work was also on the hit list. We removed a pine tree next to the cart barn that was causing debris issues in the cart barn drain. A dead elm tree at the maintenance facility was removed as well. Last but not least the famous Oak tree on hole number 18 was limbed up significantly and shaped a little bit. 

Bunkers made the cut too! We are experimenting with some rubber based paint to color our black liners white so when exposed they are much easier on the eyes. The bunker behind 6 and a few bunkers at 12 green were done this time. We plan on continuing this process when time allows, but this is another hard task to get done during play days. I have been waiting on transportation of white bunker Sand to maintain proper Sand depths in bunkers. After four weeks we are supposed to receive a load this Friday, so we will be addressing bunkers very soon.

Putting greens were also vented. Once again this process helps exchange gases within the soil and promote root growth at this time before summer sets in. We followed up with a smooth roller and a light top dressing on Wednesday. Our sanding rate was a little heavier than I would’ve liked but greens will be great for the weekend.

Finally, on Tuesday we started sod prep to repair poor areas in fairways. Prep was finished on Wednesday and sod was completed today on Thursday! Please avoid driving through these areas or walking through them. They will be pretty soggy for the next week or so to get the turf rooted in.

Our landscape bed rehab at the bogey hills clock near the practice green is complete! Great work by our horticulturist, Jeny, planting a variety of plants for a new upgraded look!

The Hangover

Over the weekend mother nature threw a little party and things got out of control. We received over 2 inches of rainfall starting Saturday night ending early afternoon Sunday. The bunkers got trashed and we were forced to clean up the mess on Monday.  The crew worked really hard and had the bunkers put back together after a combined effort of nearly 60 man hours.  The good news is our bunker liner system we installed throughout the renovations continue to save us from silt contamination during washouts. This will prolong the life of the sand and save us labor and money in the long run!  The bad news is on a different subject, we were unable to mow any rough today.  This will put us behind for the week, but we will catch up as soon as possible.  Thanks for understanding!

Outta Here!

It’s official! Our contractor has finished shaping their last bunker and are packing up!  Another demanding couple of days of work and our BHCC team is close to the finish line.  Sod and sand on #13 and drainage and liner on #5!

High Gear

Another busy day as we are locked into high gear this week!  The BHCC squad worked on drainage, liner and sod on hole #13.  The shaping crew worked on hole #5.  Tomorrow we will be laying out a lot of sod!

If bunkers weren’t enough we are replacing the roof and gutters on the pumphouse too!  

Quarter Acre

Another exciting day!  More drainage, liner and some sand in the bunkers  on #12.  Even better was the delivery and installation of over a quarter acre of sod in one day.  With this much area we had Midwest Turf come in and give us a hand!  At the end of the day most of the greens complex was finished.

While sod was going down trenches were dug for drainage and irrigation work on #5 and #13.  The future bunker on 13 will be located where the old irrigation line was and has to be moved.  A drainage line was trenched for the same bunker. 






#5

Doubling Down

Two more bunkers were completed today minus installing sand.  We are going to wait till tomorrow morning when the ground is firm from freezing temperatures overnight.  Everyone stuck around a little longer including our contractors today.  We made a huge push to get the entire complex in final grade form to start sod work tomorrow.

Big progress every day this week, tomorrow’s update will be flashy so check back!

Two Down Tuesday

We knocked out two of the six bunkers at #12 greens complex today.  One other bunker is completed with shaping and ready for drainage first thing in the morning!  Planning for another great day on Wednesday!

Still Kicking @ss

We continue to push towards the finish line!  More progress made over last few days!  Hole #6 is now complete aside from some sod work.  Hole #5 was still a little too wet so we jumped up to #12 green complex.  A huge transformation is currently taking place and I can tell already this one will be my favorite new look on the golf course. 

#6

#12 (hard to visualize from photos)

Significant Progress (A Lot of Photos!)

We finally caught a window of opportunity this week.  While it was still a short window, it’s significant because the sod fields were finally open for business.  We received zoysia sod for the first time in over a month!  

The guys really worked hard and was able to complete drainage, liner and sand in two bunkers at #6 green.  Then we completed the sod work around the same two bunkers on #6, the fairway bunkers and green side pot bunker on #5 and the left side fairway bunker on #12!

Our contractor completed the shaping of the final green side bunker on #6 and the right side fairway bunker on #12.

#5

#6

#12