8 and 15 progress

The view from the newly expanded upper fairway on #8.  We are currently working on the tees then we will relocate the cart path by the green.

17th Green XGD

The top photo shows the 17th green a day after XGD was installed and an inch of rain.  This was one of our wettest greens and now no water on the surface.  Even with the green being firmer than ever following the rain, the bottom picture shows water still flowing out of the pipes from the subsurface.

XGD Really Works

The top picture shows our 7th green following this weekends rain.  This is slated to be drained this coming week.  The bottom picture shows our 2nd green (one of our poorest greens) after the same rain 2 days following XGD drainage and it is bone dry.

#15 Progress

The new constructed front left bunker is ready for sand and we have also widened the fairway approach and brought the fairway right into the left and right front bunkers.

XGD 17 Green

XGD has begun on 17 green and just like #2, we found water at the bottom of each drain line over 70% of the green.

#15 Green Complex Underway

Work to the 15th green include making the 2 right pot bunkers into one bunker, shrinking the front left bunker, having fairway run into the bunkers on both sides and removing the mounds behind the green.  We also are resodding the entire green complex and installing all new irrigation.
We should have the green complex done by tomorrow afternoon.

Sod Being Cut for 15 Green

After snow blowing off the sod fields so they can cut sod, our grower is getting hit with more snow today as he cuts it so we can sod our 15th green complex tomorrow.  The weather has not been great the past week with heavy rain, snow and cold.

#2 XGD Progress

Progress is being made on the 2nd green with the XGD drainage.  If you see in the bottom picture, about 14" below the surface there is water sitting under the green.  There is no way for the water to get out, especially after it rains, but now with the drainage, we can dry them down quicker.

XGD Drainage Starting on 2nd Green Today

Sodding Starting on #8 Green

With temps below freezing, we are keeping sod inside the shop at night so we can continue laying it during the day.  The crew continues to battle the tough conditions to keep the renovation moving along.  Here we are laying sod on frozen ground....thank goodness we prepped the afternoon before.

Working on 8 Green Complex

8th and 15th Hole Joint Fairway Bunker

The new fairway bunker that separates the 8th and 15th fairways and greens.  The bunker is over 100 yards long and will be very natural looking by next summer.  This bunker will only be raked by machine 1 to 2 times per week.

A Dedicated and Talented Crew

Our very talented crew is responsible for bringing all the renovation work together.   Not only do they keep the golf course in great condition, they also do great work when it comes to construction.  Without them, none of the projects we have done would look as good as they do.
Thanks Guys!

#4 Green Complex Completed

4th green complex is now complete.  The ditch by the tee gets sodded on Monday and then we start on #8.

#4 Green Complex Progress

Green complex will be sodded tomorrow.  Changes include a green expansion to the left, new left front bunker, pushing the right bunker back a bit and creating an open approach and all new irrigation.

#5 Progress

We are about 90% done on #5.  We have to sod the new tees, the chipping area by the green and the alternate tees for #6 left of the 5th green.  There was significant work done to the hole including cutting the hillside down, building new tees, shifting the fairway, killing the left rough to create new native area, shrinking the green, constructing 7 bunkers plus 2 "native bunkers" and adding all new irrigation, along with rerouting the cart path.  We will be completely done on 5 on Monday and then back to 4 to finish the green complex.

The Headaches of Construction

We own a lot of equipment to do construction, sometimes you run into problems.  The master link on our dozer broke with only 5 minutes of work left to do on the 5th green complex and now we have to wait for a company to come in and put the track back together.   Things like this slow your progress but it is all part of construction, especially when the equipment is running non stop.

Thank You Ladies Golf Group!

Once again, the ladies dazzled the maintenance staff with a generous lunch this past Tuesday.  We greatly appreciate the generous gesture and especially that some women took the time to bake desserts as well.  Thank you for thinking of us!

#5 Work Has Begun

Major work is underway on the 5th hole.  We are hoping to be done in the next 5-10 days.

#4 Work Has Begun

We began work on the 4th hole which includes a new tee complex, improved drainage ditch, new fairway bunkers and shifting the fairway to the right.  Work will begin on the green complex in the next 2 weeks once outings are finished.

Please Take Care of the Course

This year, the Club has made an effort to educate all golfers the importance of fixing ball marks, raking bunkers and replacing divots.   Doing these things only take a few seconds and go a long way in keeping our golf course in pristine condition.  Even though Arcola does not allow practicing on the golf course, there is nothing wrong with hitting an extra shot or two, but please put your divots back when you do this.  These three divots were taken today Friday after our staff did fairway divots on the entire course.  We will not do divots again until Monday or Tuesday.  These 3 unrepaired divots on the 9th hole will now take weeks to heal and will go untouched until next week when fellow members may hit into them over the weekend.  

AJGA Tournament

Day 2 of the AJGA event is underway.  Some of the top junior boys and girls from the US are here this week for a tour stop.

Renovation Work Starting Again Shortly

We are nearing that time of the year again.....the fall and that means more renovation work will be beginning.  Last year we started in September and had a near perfect fall weather wise to get almost 5 holes done.  This year our event schedule is quite busy until the second week of October which will leave us very little time to get anything done.  So, we are going to try to start a bit early with projects that will not disrupt play but will allow us to get some work done before October.  We will be updating you with schedules when we set them.  This is our 5th hole which will be getting a major face lift come October.

Pay Me Now or Pay Later

Chicken Pox?  Dollar Spot Fungus?  Nope, ball marks on our 11th green.  Like we do every few weeks, our staff went and plugged out ball marks on the 11th green and filled them with soil  and seed.  The 11th green is only 2+ years old and the first year we opened it, it was as hard as a rock and tough to hold.  Now that it is maturing a bit and accumulating some thatch and organic matter, ball marks have been a problem.  With the majority of the golfers playing it at 150 yards, it is hit quite often and ball marks are left behind.  It is not uncommon for us to find 20-40 unrepaired marks on a weekend morning.  So, we are faced with brown spots all over the green or doing it this way and having sand dots all over.  While they will eventually heal, it is a playability issue along with an etiquette issue.  It makes our golf course look like a public course.  I have always said, it takes 5 seconds to fix a ball mark or you can wait a month or two for it to heal.

Nice Week for Maintenance

Now that the Arcola Cup is behind us, we have 2 weeks until our next big event and this was the perfect week to heavily topdress greens, approaches and chipping areas.  Our plan with the approaches are to let the sand sit for the week before mowing again on Friday and hopefully we get the thunderstorms they are predicting today to help wash it in.  On the greens, we are using our old greens mowers to mow for a few days as the sand will dull the mowers and this way we will protect our good greens mowers.  The speeds will slow a bit as the mowers are only picking sand and not cutting any grass so by the weekend we will be much better.

Rain Is Over, Start Preparing for the Arcola Cup

Now that the heavy rain and humidity are almost behind us, we turn our attention to prepping for the Arcola Cup this Friday.  Today we are using tow behind blowers to help dry the green surfaces so we can start double cutting.  With the high humidity and rains the past few days, our normal green speeds of 12 are no more now that the greens are lush and soft.  We will be getting green speeds back to normal in the next few days but we have to be careful that we do not stress them out as they are still soft.

Bluestem Plugging

Today the maintenance staff planted 600 little bluestem plugs in native areas, ditch banks and bunker edges.  These are small native grasses that will accent these areas, and also do not create the playability issues we are facing right now with our new fescue sod.

Venting Greens This Week

This will be the 2nd time in the last 2 weeks that we have vented greens.  Normally we do this every 2-3 weeks but with our busy tournament schedule this season, we have had to push them off.  With the Arcola Cup on the 18th and a busy August, we will probably do them again once before the August Clambake and the AJGA tournament the week of August 11th.   This process allows gas exchange in the soil and oxygen into the root zone.

The Difference Between Seeded Fescue and Sodded Fescue

In the center of this picture, you will see where we sodded a tree stump in the native area on #4 hillside.  This entire area was killed and seeded several years ago and you will see how the area around the sod is thin and playable, yet the sod is thick.  This too will thin out with lack of rainfall, heat and the use of growth regulators/herbicides.  Until then, we must be patient and we will do what we can to make the areas playable in the meantime.  Again, the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

Not All Native Area Weeds Are Bad

This is milkweed, located to the left of the entrance driveway.  While it is a weed, it does produce flowers and they are beneficial to monarch butterflies.  We usually leave these alone and let them flourish.

Hydraulic Leak on Several Greens

What started out as an important maintenance practice turned into a nightmare.  We started verticutting greens yesterday and this morning and during the verticutting, a hydraulic seal blew out on one of the reel motors.  There was no way the operator could see the leak as grass was covering the green after each pass.  Once we started to blow off the greens and clean them we noticed the leak and immediately stopped the machine.  The greens effected were #3 bottom photo, #5 middle photo and the 7th green.  We usually do this practice several times per year and this time it caught up to us using a 15 year old machine to do it.  The lines will turn yellow but will not effect putting but will be unsightly.  There is little we can do now, as the heat of the oil is what yellows the turf so now we will have to wait it out.  We will do our best to get these areas back to normal.

Another Invitational in the Books

The final morning prep for the Invitational goes off without a hitch.  Many thanks to my crew who had to get water off the course late Thursday morning in preparation for the noon tee times and then worked until 9pm last night and be back into work at 4:30 this morning.  Mother Nature did not cooperate on Thursday but gave us 2 great days on Friday and Saturday.

Invitational Practice Round Going To Be Wet

3/4" of rain fell this morning on top of almost 3/4" from Tuesday evening and the golf course was soaked.  By the time the rain stopped at 10:30 we had standing water everywhere and had to have the course ready for the first groups off 1 and 10 at noon.  We were able to get all bunkers done, greens rolled twice and mowed once.  We are hoping to have green speeds back in line for Friday and Saturdays rounds.