New Greens Maturing

 

We had our fingers crossed on Wednesday when we aerated the 5 new greens.  Some of the new greens were sodded in late September while 4 and 9 were done in early to mid October.  We were able to pull 3/8" cores this first time and will repeat the process right around Thanksgiving before covering the greens for the winter.  The course will reopen mainly based on the health of the greens, but we must also consider the new tees and fairway sod as well.  

Moving Trees

 

The large Sycamore on the right of the old 9th fairway will now be relocated to the left of the new 9th fairway.  This will create instant framing of the left side of the fairway before it turns up the hill to the new green.  The tree will be hand dug a week or two before its short journey only 200 yards away.  Lets hope for dry weather to be able to drive across the 2 holes.  Stay tuned for progress pictures of the move.

A U.S. Citizen

 

Congratulations to Alberico Gomez for becoming a United States Citizen!  Alberico has been part of our team for the past 7 years.  Every morning he makes sure the tee markers are set properly and all details are just right around the tees.  Way to go Alberico!

Moving Along

 

Everything is a process when it comes to construction.  Irrigation is going in around the new 4th green, which means now the surrounds can be finished along with the bunkers.  Same in the bottom picture, our staff is starting to sod the low mow areas around the green on new 9, Cap Con will go in bunkers on Friday and rough sod started today.  The irrigation main has to be brought up to the green area to finalize the last 3 laterals of irrigation on 9 fairway.  Not to mention we have to move the large tree on new #1 to new #9 before anything else can be finalized.   Progress being made every day, sometimes it may be hard to see.

More Progress

View from behind of the leveled back left of 3 green to create a hole location.
 

View of the newly sodded 16th fairway.  A lot of places to hit it off the tee, but you need to be in the right spot.

A good sign that we have mowed and rolled the newly sodded 1st fairway.  Now we can start to topdress it to help level it and firm it up.

New 4th green sodded.  Green is about 20% bigger with more hole locations and less penal if you miss it in the wrong spot.  If you still go long it will be difficult, but not impossible.

More Progress

 

The Arcola staff is sodding the last 38,000 sq ft of the new 16th fairway.  This will be one of the last items on the list to complete on this major change to the hole.

LGR is leveling the back left of the 3rd green to create a new hole location.  With our speeds, we could not use this portion of the green.  Once we get the green where we need it to be, we will then install XGD drainage in the green, making this the final green to have drainage installed.

Maintenance Starting on New Greens

 

Now that we are starting to mow and roll the new greens, one of the most important steps is to bury the green in sand and broom across, filling in all low spots and imperfections.  Once the sand settles in, our plan is to aerify the greens in the next 2 weeks to allow us to better smooth out the surfaces.