Time Stands Still

 Mother Nature decided to give us a legitimate winter so far.  Only 10 days into winter and we already have had 3 snow events and cold temperatures that rarely get out of the 30s during the day.  We figured this into our planning before the renovation but we always expect to get work done during the winter months.  This picture from the new 1st tee says it all, machines sitting idly with little grass exposed.  Once the weather turns the corner and warms up we will be back at it again and still plan on finishing by the contracted dates.  A course that has been buzzing with activity since early September now sits alone.

Pump House Delivery

 

Santa came early yesterday as our new pump station was delivered from Wisconsin.  A multi step process to get the station off the semi and loaded onto a flat bed to get off loaded by 13.  A crane had to remove the roof from our pump house to remove the old station and set the new one.  We will not be able to check it until mid March when we can power it up, but so far it looks good!  We now have the capability to deliver water quicker to our fine turf areas during the day and get the golf course watered more efficiently at night.

Progress is Slowing

We had a great September, October and part of November, but the last 4 weeks have not been good weather-wise.  Cold temperatures, rain and now snow twice in the past week and a half has slowed our progress significantly.  CapCon cannot be poured in bunkers if the temperature will be below 35 for 24 hours and we have not had night time temps above 32 for close to 3 weeks.  Add in frozen soil and it has been difficult to finish anything.  LGR and LGI have been finding ways to at least get bunkers shaped and drained and get irrigation in the ground, but the finish work is almost impossible.  We still have 2-3 months of winter to go and we are banking on getting a lot more work completed if the weather cooperates.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Putting The Greens to Bed

 

Part of our annual ritual is to bury the greens in sand and then aerate on top of them using solid tines.  This is important for helping with drainage, thatch dilution and traffic during the winter months.  This will be the first winter since 2011 that the greens will not be open for play due to the renovation.

This year was a quiet year for aeration on greens, tees and fairways due to the renovation beginning in the fall and shutting the course down in early October.  With 5 new greens and 4 others with XGD drainage installed in October and November, we have had to be careful where and when we aerated.  The XGD greens were fine following the aeration and the new greens received minor aeration two times with 3/8" hollow tines before we covered them and buried them in sand.  Depending on weather, we should be in a good position come late March.

Day of Education and Excitement

 

About 50 members joined us for a tour of the renovation work so far.  Great to see how many members are excited with the transformation of the golf course.  Grant did a great job explaining the thought process behind most of the changes.  Now we  need some good weather this winter so we can turn the course over to the members come spring for golf!

Tree Moved Successfully

 

5 machines to move the tree from new #1 to new #9 fairway.  This tree will now be the aiming point off of 9 tees.  The tree was in perfect shape and condition and the only other option was to cut it down to open up the new tee line off 1 tees.

It finally made it to its final destination in 4 hours.

Sneak Peak at Bunker Work

 Hamish has taken the lead on providing drone footage and narration of the project so far.  While it is still in the juvenile stage, you can start to see the course morphing into Andy's vision.