Parking Lot Clean Up

The crew is getting after it.  Cleaning up all the scrub and lousy under story saplings to give a better appearance by the parking lot.  A few poor trees will be removed as well and will open up some nice views. We still have to hydroseed all the parking lot perimeters this spring when the weather warms up.

Range Tee Prep Continues

Patrick O'Brien floating out the range tee expansion.  This will be the most tedious part, getting the tee nice and level before sodding.  We will need to float and rake it a few more times to get the imperfections out and then do a final roll, add nutrients and sod.  The tee will be substantially bigger come spring.

Is it January?

While everyone is excited it has not snowed significantly yet this winter, the ground is not very conducive to doing a lot of heavy work.  We figured with the moderate temperatures and lack of frost we would get a good head start on spring work by aerifying roughs and deep tining our wetter fairways.  Warm weather is coming this weekend but rain is as well so ground conditions will not improve too much. 

Carey Cup Championship

Looking back on 2019, one great memory is the Carey Cup matches that featured the best amateurs from the Met against the best amateurs from Ireland.  Three days of awesome golf by both teams and a dramatic come from behind victory by the Met to close out the Championship.  Arcola's own Trevor Randolph, playing in the final match secured the last point to seal the victory, holing a must make 12 footer on the last hole. 

XGD Nearing Completion

XGD drainage is being completed today on #6.  The process took about 11 days to do 4 greens.  This will mark the end of this project where greens 6,10,14 and 18 were addressed.  We now have 11 greens that have this system installed and will help firm up the greens quicker following significant rain events.  The key now is to continue to aerify, deep tine and drill and fill to help water get to the drain lines quicker.  This is a great tool to rejuvenate greens without rebuilding them.

XGD Underway

XGD Drainage has begun on the 18th green today.  A 2" pipe is installed on 6 foot spacing throughout the green to aid in drainage.  It takes 2-3 days from start to finish to complete 1 green.  This is a good tool to help with drainage without having to rebuild the green.  This fall we will be doing greens 6,10,14 and 18.  This will make 11 greens in total we will have this system installed.  It has really made a difference on the ones we did 4 years ago.

Verticutting Tees

We are using the Graden Sand Injector on the tees to remove thatch and get sand into the slits at the same time to help firm up the surfaces.  It is a time consuming project but beneficial in the long run.