We thought it would be simple fix but we found out it wont. In the past, the 12" pipe that ran alongside the 2nd green was replaced in the middle by an 8" pipe, slid inside the 12". Unfortunately, the 8" was clogged with leaves so now we have to replace 100' of 12". The good news is now this and the 8th hole will drain much better in the future but this is more work we dont need at this time.
We discovered that our bunkers were draining slower than normal the past few months on the 2nd and 8th holes. We also noticed a depression along the 2nd green where this 30 year old 12" trunk line is that these drains tie into. We see the pipe is full of water at this location and trying to snake it did not answer any questions. Now we have to dig up another area and see what we can find. May be better to run a whole new line. Keep you posted.
Over the past few days the staff has moved close to 20 spruces and hollies that were next to the 17th green. Now is the ideal time to move them. We completed the screening along the 11th tees with some spruces and we screened left of 7 green with the hollies. Today we are planting more spruces left of 5 along the fence but the ground is so soft we are making a mess. We will have to finish once conditions allow.
This is a plug from #7 green. The top photo was the plug 2 days ago. The poa was discolored for the past few weeks and as a precaution we took the plug into warm weather to see if it would start to grow. Lucky we see some recovery in a short period of time and it shows that the weather extremes this winter has taken its toll on the grass. Cold weather, followed by heavy rain followed by a rapid freeze has not allowed grass to get a break from a difficult 2018 season. Best case scenario now is to let the turf dry out and firm up and with some warmer weather we can allow foot traffic back on greens.
A sink hole showed up last fall to the right of the 8th fairway. Upon digging up the area we found 5 buried trees about 10 feet in length each along with stumps and other waste. This will hopefully solve the problem in this area and we will sod the disturbed area come spring.
Our winter staff led by lead mechanic Joe Pannuto were able to replace the collar on our mini excavator. The machine is getting old and has done a lot of work for us and needed about $9000 in repairs. Joe and the guys were able to get it back together for about $3000. Now we can get back to improving the golf course this winter. Great work guys!
