18th Hole Before and After

The large green is now well guarded with bunkers and a new fairway bunker was added to keep the longer hitters honest.

#9 Before and After

The approach to the par 5 is a little different than before.  We all know the green is the defense of this hole, but we also put more of an emphasis on the 2nd and 3rd shots.  The 3 cross bunkers now make the longer hitter commit to going for the green and the shorter hitter must now figure where their 2nd or 3rd shots will be laid up.  We also expanded the fairway to the right behind the bunkers and also created a larger chipping area left of the green so poor shots will funnel further away from the green.

12th Hole

This is the view golfers have playing their 2nd Shot.  The bunkers on the left along with fescue that runs up the left side of the hole will still force golfers still stay right on their next shot.  However, golfers have options now from the left side of the hole and can still hit recovery shots where before they really had no options left of the fairway.

12th Hole Before and After

There are significant changes to the 12th hole, including moving the tees to the right of the cart path, removing 10 trees and adding an additional 4 bunkers to the hole.  The hole still plays as a double dogleg, but now the bunkers frame the landing areas instead of the trees.

1st Green Before and After

The big difference with the first green complex now is the new swale that was created in front of the green.  This gives the green a more elevated look and also captures a lot of water that used to run right up to the front of the green.  Also, the green was expanded forward to create more strategic pin placements.

1st Hole Before and After

#2 Before and After

The 2nd hole is now played from a different angle.  Since we moved the 9th tees out of their old location, it allowed us to move the 2nd tees significantly to the left to play the hole from a different shot line.

9th Hole Before and After

The 9th hole is dramatically different now than before.  The tees were moved to the right of the service road, making the hole a slight dogleg out of a chute.  Bunkers were added to the left side to force the golfer to hit a cut off the tee and 3 new cross bunkers were built across the front of the green to make the player have to commit for possibly going for the green in 2.  Also, a new black tee was added to lengthen the hole a bit to 560 yards.

1st Tees Ready For Sod

The first tees will be finished tomorrow when we sod the tee tops.  The new tees will not open until spring of 2014

Progress on 18

We are moving at such a fast pace that I cannot keep up with taking pictures to keep everyone up to speed on our progress.  We are 90% finished with the green complex on 18 and we still have to construct the new fairway bunker and tee complex.  We will have the green complex finished by the weekend and we are now also working on the 1st tees that are adjacent to the 18th green.  We are hoping by middle of next week we are out of this area and start working on #12.  We will do the tees of 18 in December.

#9 Progress

The 9th hole is nearly complete, with no green side bunkers and 3 cross bunkers that now front the green for protection.

Breaking Ground on 9th Green Complex

Work is now underway on the green complex of #9.  Once the cross bunkers are under construction, we will close the hole and open the 1st hole.  We are hoping to be done with #9 by early next week.

1st Green Complex Finished

Now that the green complex is finished, we will be rebuilding the tee complex in mid to late November and the 1st hole will be complete from tee to green.

#2 Before And After......

The 2nd hole is nearly complete.  We will be putting bunker sand in tomorrow and then by Friday the hole can open for play.  Over the course of the next few weeks, the old tees to the right will be removed and converted to fescue.  The dirt from the old tees will be used for constructing new bunkers on the 9th hole.

Verticutting of Fairways Moving Right Along

We should have all the fairway verticutting done by tomorrow and then we start topdressing tomorrow as well.  We got all 30 acres done in 3 1/4 days.  This is beneficial in removing thatch and stimulating bentgrass growth and giving a better playing surface.

Rest in Peace Robbie

Robbie watching over Newman his new friend.  Newman now has big shoes to fill to keep the golf course geese free.

Robbie Our Faithful Employee and Family Member is Ailing

It breaks my heart to know that Robbie, Arcola's faithful goose dog and an important member of my family was diagnosed with terminal cancer this past weekend.  Robbie was here for 5 years before I arrived and he spent those years living in the shop alone.  We immediately brought Robbie into our home and made him a part of our family and he has been the most loving and faithful dog, plus he has been committed to keeping Arcola geese free under his watch.  It turns out that only a month or so ago, I decided to get a new puppy (Newman) who can learn from Robbie and then we can slowly let Robbie retire in a few years, but sadly it looks like his days are numbered.  Now, we want to make Robbies remaining time here as happy and as comfortable as possible.  You may see us riding him around in a cart because he has trouble walking and getting his balance but still, he enjoys being out on the course and he is still very alert and sees animals he wants to chase but his body will not allow him to.  The sad thing is this came about in a matter of 2-3 days and a week ago, he was running around with me all day.  I will report the sad news when it arrives but for now I hope everyone appreciates all the hard work he has done for Arcola and all the love he has brought to our home.   Newman has big shoes to fill.

Root Pruning Throughout the Course

With the dry weather of late, we are seeing where tree roots are affecting turf health, so we have spent the past day going around the course cutting roots.  The tree roots out compete turf roots for nutrients and water leading to wilted areas like you see in the picture above.

Progress on the 2nd Hole

The top picture is the before of the view of the 2nd hole from the proposed black tee.  The bottom picture is the view from the new black tee with all the trees that have been removed and the old 9th tees to the left have been removed as well.  We just have to finish up the ladies tee this week and then around the last week in September we will start work on the green complex of #2 followed by the green complex of #1.

Still Cleaning Up From Sandy

Today, we removed several trees damaged by Sandy last fall behind the 7th tee.  The top picture shows 2 maples uprooted and stuck in each others canopies behind the black tee and the bottom picture shows 3 dead poplar trees that were removed at the same time.  This is the first time we could access this area since last year now that we installed drainage and cart paths.  This will help clean up this unsightly area.

10th Approach Recovery Work

With the difficult stretch in July, we learned that we had some irrigation and drainage deficiencies on our 10th approach, not to mention it is in a pocketed location with a highway to the right.   Today we added 3 new drain laterals down the approach and we also improved the irrigation coverage as well.   Tomorrow, Tuesday we will be finishing any last minute sodding that needs to be done.  This will help firm up the approach in the future and lessen chances of thinning turf as well.

Aerification of Fine Turf Areas to Finish Today

This week, we completed the aerification of tees, approaches and fairways.  Last week, we aerified greens on Monday and then finished topdressing them on Tuesday.  The recovery has gone quite well considering we did a conventional 1/2" aerification followed by a deep tine and then a dryject.  There was a lot of sand on the greens when all was said and done and the holes all were completely filled.  Right now, the greens are about 80% healed and yesterday was the first time we used our normal greens mowers to mow.  We have been using old mowers to pick sand for the past 4 days.  I suspect the greens should be 100% healed by the weekend.
The biggest problem dealing with aerification is the sand topdressing.  Working it in the holes is labor intensive as we did a single brush followed by pack blowers to work sand around the greens.  Once this is done, it takes several mowings to remove excess sand and mowing in the mornings can become very messy.  We try to mow in the afternoons so the sand is dry and does not make a mess but this past weekend was a mess with the heavy dew and sand accumulation on rollers etc..  We are just about past this now as our new hand mowers went out yesterday to do the first mowing of grass and this will continue moving forward.
Our fairway topdressing will take place following the club championship when we verticut all the fairways.  We wait to do this as it is a stressful practice and the temperatures should be much cooler by then.

#2 New Tees

The newly relocated tee complex on #2 is almost ready for sod.  If all goes well the rest of the week we should be sodding it on Monday August 26th.  The blue tees plays about 7 yards longer at 215 yards and the new black tee (where picture was taken from) will play about 240 yards.  Of course additional tree work is needed on the hole and the entire green complex will be renovated as well.  The idea of relocating the tee was to create a better angle to play the hole from and gives us more options with bunkering around the green.  If all goes well, these tee should be open by mid September.

New Tees on 12 Completed

The new tee complex on 12 was sodded about 2 weeks ago and has already been mowed 3 times.  The new tees are located right of the existing tees which allowed us to do them during the summer without impacting play.  Once we open the new tees, we will use the old tee sod for fairway expansions or chipping areas and the dirt will be used for new bunkers.

New Member of the Arcola Maintenance Team

Here is Newman.....our newest member on the maintenance staff.  Newman is only 9 weeks old and will be Robbies understudy for the next few years.  Robbie is almost 9 years old and we figured now would be a good time to get a puppy that could learn from him.  Newman is already riding the course and seeing what we do on a daily basis, so we are hoping she will adapt well to her new home.

Greens Aerification Completed

The greens aerification started on Sunday evening.  This year the greens got aerified with 1/2" solid tines on 1.5" spacing, followed by a deep tine and then a dryject.  There are a lot of holes and sand in the greens which is beneficial.  Now the goal is to get them healed as soon as possible.  Even though our mowing heights have been very low this year, we were never able to generate good green speeds, but that should change once the aerification heals.

New Tees Ready for Sod on #12

The new tee boxes on 12 are ready for sod and we are hoping to have them sodded on Monday and Tuesday.  Now that the weather has given us a little reprieve, we have been able to finish up these tees and start the new tees on #2.  Once the tees are ready to open, we will close the old tees, use the tee sod for other areas on the course and use the dirt for new bunkers on the next 5 holes we are doing.  A special thanks to my crew for doing a great job on the tees.

Braving the Heat During the Arcola Cup

With 100 degree heat today and a major heat wave all week, the maintenance staff has been working hard to keep the golf course alive.  Above, the staff prepares the greens for the afternoon wave of golfers in this years Arcola Cup.  Our normal green speeds of 13+ for this event are a distant memory as we got the greens rolling around 11 today.  This week we only single cut to take stress off the greens and they still stressed all week with the excessive heat and humidity.  This morning at 4:40 it was 82 degrees outside.  Grass does not have a chance at night to catch its breath when the temps stay in the 80s.

Heat Taking its Toll on Poorly Drained Turf

This is a picture of an area of our 17th fairway.  These brown areas are where water sits all the time and especially in June of this year where the rain was relentless.  Now that we have the heat and high humidity, these areas are stressed and thinning due to poor root systems and the heat makes them wilt easily and turn brown.  Of course it is a catch 22, if we over water them to prevent them from wilting, we will encounter other problems like fungus that will kill the areas all together.  It is best to lightly syringe to take the stress off and eventually it will grow out.  The best solution is to add drainage to this area so we stop the water from sitting for prolonged periods of time.  Also, we have a lot of localized dry spots on other fairways where the turf is brown and stressed since the soil is hydrophobic, meaning it cannot take up the water, it actually repels it.  Even though we are throwing a lot of water and using wetting agents, the problem has not subsided.  We will need to address thatch issues this fall to allow water to reach the root zones easier.  This is a tough stretch of weather where we are either facing stressed turf from all the wet June weather, fighting fungus off and now fighting localized dry spots.  To say the least this season is going to tax my pesticide and fertilizer budget, my labor budget and my sanity.

7th Hole Before and After

The before and after of the 7th hole.

Poa Reduction Program Working

Top photo shows a yellow patch of poa on our 5th fairway that is regulated with Trimmit and all the bluish green leaves you see are bentgrass plants taking over the patch.  We have been doing this for 4 years now and our bentgrass populations on fairways have increased by almost 30-40%  Our 5th fairway is probably 80% bentgrass right now with the majority of the poa right in front of the green where all the carts cut across to go to the next tee (bottom picture).  Also, the lack of drainage near the front of the green is also a good place for poa to grow and when we renovate the golf hole we will address the drainage and traffic issue and hopefully remove the rest of the poa you see.

Before and After of the 6th Hole

The top picture is the 6th hole before we renovated it.  The biggest change was the loss of the large oak tree on the dogleg that blocked a high percentage of second shots.  Instead, we added 2 additional fairway bunkers to the right to help protect the dogleg and also added a front right bunker that protects a good portion of the green from this side of the fairway.

July 1 Storm Pictures

Top pictures are the ditch on 6 taking as much water as it can handle and even though the ditch is 5 feet deep, the water is still almost over the top of the bridges.   The bottom picture is the bunkers on 7, regardless of how good the liners work, the amount of water that came still slid sand off the faces.  The bunkers would have been much worse had the liners not been installed.

July 1 Rain Storm Continued

The top picture is the front of the 6th green during the rain storm.  2" of rain in almost an hour was epic and no drains or ditches could keep up.  But the bottom picture is of the 6th fairway 2 hours after the rain stopped and not one puddle.  What a difference the drains made along with the ditch.  My only concern now is the forecast for the next few days of storms with high humidity.   Poorly drained areas are sure to suffer if we get more rain and the humidity and night time temps remain high.
Also, every single bunker on the course was washed out during this storm, including the new bunkers that have liners.  It will take us a good day or two just to get the bunkers playable, not to mention all the debris that washed out of streams, ponds and ditches has to be cleaned up as well.