New Tees #7

The tee complex on #7 was rebuilt, creating separate tees for the red, green, white, blue and black markers. The old tee was a single runway tee that was at ground level and always very wet.  Now, all the tees are elevated, squared off and have drainage.

New Green Expansion 3rd Hole

The new green expansion has been completed on #3.  The sod was taken from our 20,000 sq ft turf nursery we constructed last year and will match the green pretty closely.  The expansion will be covered after we topdress greens and should be ready for play in May or June.

3rd Hole Underway

Work is underway on the 3rd hole, which will include new tees, new situated fairway bunkers, a newly contoured fairway and new greenside bunkers with chipping areas.  This is a neat little short par 4 that will look and play differently when completed.  We are now challenging both the long and short hitter off the tee and challenging everyone on their approach shots to the green with a new green expansion.

Installing the New Pumps

What a process!  First, the 12,000 lb pump station came in on a tractor trailer, which could not get any further than the area by the 18th tee.  From there, a crane had to off load the pump station and pumps on to 2 separate smaller flat bed trucks.  From there, the 2 flatbeds and the crane had to go in reverse from the 12th tee all the way to the pump house, since there were no areas along the way for them to turn around.  Once they were situated, the crane had to place everything inside the pump house, which we removed the roof a few days before.  The bottom picture is the last picture we took since it got dark right after and much of the work was done in the dark.  The pump station arrived 6 hours late which threw off our entire schedule.

Pump House Renovation

Now that we are replacing our aging pump station, a lot of work had to go in just to get trucks in.  PSE&G had to get in to replace 2 poles and wires that were toppled during Hurricane Sandy and they could not get their trucks in to get to the poles without getting stuck.  We also had to have our tree service come in and get all the trees off the downed poles and wires.  First, we had to construct a 12 foot wide stone road about 300 feet long in order to get all the prep work done.

Further Progress on #6

The bunkering on #6 is completed and we have removed old damaged and failed drainage pipes and replaced them with an open ditch that will be used for future fairway drainage.  The ditch used to only be from the tee to the fairway bunker, but now it continues down the left side of the hole past the green.

6th Hole Renovation

A face lift of the 6th hole began in early November and it includes new bunkers, new tees, a new ditch up the left side of the fairway, cart bridges and fairway drainage in 2013 once all other work is completed.  This will not only improve the hole from an aesthetic standpoint, it is also going to add a lot of strategy both off the tee and into the green.  Also, many days when carts are not allowed out it is because we cannot find a way to get carts through the 6th hole.

Hurricane Sandy Damage

We all know the severity of Hurricane Sandy and the golf course lost over 70 trees, most notably the willow on the 6th hole and the large oak by the 3rd tee.  Electricity was lost at the clubhouse for 2 full days and at the maintenance building one phase was out for almost a month.  The cleanup for Sandy will take many months by the time stumps are removed and damaged turf repaired in the spring of 2013.