Over the last few days the continued focus has been on finishing the green surrounds and getting them sodded. To date we have now finished greens 1-5, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18and the practice green. We anticipate finishing the rest of the greens by Tuesday of next week and appear to be headed for a seeding start date of next Friday or Saturday. We expect the seeding to require two - three days for the greens and another three days for the fairways. The plan calls for us to start on greens by Friday and move right into fairways by Monday of the following week. There is an outside chance we may start on some fairways by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.
In preparation for seeding, today my staff began to make a final sweep through the greens and fairways that are complete. We are putting a microscope to every little detail to make sure things are in order by the end of next week. We are focusing a lot of our time around what will be the new collars and approaches to ensure there are no issue during the grow-in. Any little imperfection could lead to scalping of the turf and result in set backs - something we desperately want to avoid in order to open on time next season.
As for the tees, a 100 meter track star would have difficulty keeping up with the pace MacCurrach is demonstrating. As of this evening the only tees not shaped are 1, 8, 10, 12, and 7. Number 1 and 8 are scheduled for tomorrow and I expected all the tees will be cored out and the sub-grades laser leveled by Saturday. We already have 4 complexes that have been re-irrigated and expect most of the remaining complexes to be completed by the end of next week. There is a great deal of tie-in and sod work that will have to be done before seeding of the tees is a go, but there will be 20+ bodies solely focused on that next week so it should come together very quickly. Looking through my crystal ball, I see us seeding tees the first week of September.
On the design front, the shaping of the new bunkers on 3 and 18 fairways is expected to get underway tomorrow afternoon or Friday at the latest. I can't wait for all of you to see what the finished product on #18 will become. When complete, I believe #18 will become the signature hole of this historic renovation.
