Improvements Already Saving Labor

 

After over 3" of rain the past 2 days, the bunkers on 5 look like they did before the rain.  No washouts and no puddles.  Before, we would spend at least 3 hours pumping the bunkers on the 5th hole after any 1/2" rain.  We also mowed the fairway this morning which in the past was nearly impossible for 2 days after rain events.  While there was some disruption to the course last winter, the investment is already paying dividends.

17 Tee Cleanup

 

This area has become an eyesore the last few years.  With heavy rains in the past couple of years, lack of drainage and flat terrain, the fescue area in front of 17 tee becomes thin and weedy every year.  Short term fixes were not the solution.  We are going in this week to address the area on a long term basis.  The work will involve relocating the cart path and bridge, reshaping the tee area, rerouting the ditch that is currently in front of the tee, adding all new irrigation and sodding the entire area to rough sod and maintaining it moving forward.  Time is not on our side as we have about 10 days to get this done before the Invitational on June 10th.  Being this is in front of most of the tees on the hole, we will have to get in and get it done when play is slow.  Eventually if need be we can move everyone up onto the forward tee.  We will keep you updated with our progress.

Aquatic Weeds

 

This aquatic weed has shown up once again this year in our ponds on 13 and 7.  While this weed is quite ugly and sits right below the surface of the water, it will go away in a few weeks.  I had requested a pond treatment to eradicate the weeds but once they make the significant treatment to the pond, we cannot irrigate for 3-5 days minimum.  Considering how dry it is and we will start to throw some water, a treatment is not an option at this point and we will have to ride this out.

New Gas Pump Location

 Our underground fuel tanks by our maintenance shop will be removed this year.  The NJDEP is tightening regulations on USTs and making it very expensive to keep them.  We decided to do this now because our tanks are almost 20 years old and we want to make sure we get them out before they become a cleanup issue later on.  The new location will be in the garage area between 1 and 18 where our new building is.  This will now eliminate the big truck having to drive through numerous holes to get to our shop.  Now he just has to drive down 18.  Once permits are approved the work will begin.  Hoping to have new tanks in before July 1.

Bunker Face Rehab

 

We spent the better part of this week peeling bunker sand off faces and redistributing it on the floors of the bunkers to help alleviate the plugging ball issue we have been facing this season.  This will definitely help, plus the bunker sand over the years was much coarser and starting to break down a bit.  When it becomes finer, the sand begins to get soft.  We may need to add some water to bunkers during the overnight hours to help firm them up.  Bunkers probably require the most maintenance after greens, but this year it is the other way around.

8 Waste Bunker Improvement

 Believe it or not, the waste bunker by the bathroom between 8 and 15 gets more traffic than we think.  We recently removed the overgrown fescue, trimmed back all the trees and reshaped the entire area so the bunker actually fits into the natural land form that was always there.  Before, a tee shot off 8 or 15 could surely be lost if it found this area but now there is a good chance you will find it and be able to advance it.  This definitely improved the overall appearance of the course and more importantly helped speed up play.

While the bunker is substantially bigger, it fits into the natural terrain.

Crew Crushes It Again

 

Once again our crew knocked it out of the park today.  We basically stripped off the rough sod on the 2nd hole in the morning, regraded the front of the tee and added 6 drain laterals and had the sod back on by 3:30 to limit disruption to members on Tuesday.

The old rough sod in front of the tee was basically all bentgrass that would become infested with dollar spot during the summer months.  Now, new kentucky bluegrass sod will look much better and be much more disease resistant.  The bluegrass will really pop once the fescue turns brown this summer.