Day 41 and 42 - Only One Remains!!

Over the last two days the prep team has been working full tilt on the remaining four greens they had to prepare for sod. As of last evening, #'s 7, 9, and 10 where complete and ready for sod. The crew even got a head start on the new 17th complex. Today, there are a number of bodies working on the new 17th green in hopes of having in ready to sod the surrounds tomorrow. Below are a couple of photos:



It looks like it's a long way from sod ready, but because it is a new site the machines can do most of the work. All the other greens had to be prepped by rake and shovel.



The old cart path that ran behind the 17th green and along the 18th tee has to be removed in order for the new 17th fairway to be placed. In the end, there will no longer be a cart path in this area, something I believe will be a cleaner, more elegant look.

Day 38-40 - More Finish Work

We continue to press toward a seeding date this week. On Friday of last week, we sodded the 11th, 6th, 14th, and 8th green complexes. This only leaves the 7th, 9th, 10th and 17th to get ready before seed can go in the ground. Regardless, we expect to now start the seeding process on Thursday of this week and will wait a day or two for the final 4 greens if necessary. I still believe these greens will be prepped, sodded and ready to go by Friday of this week. It look like we have terrific weather heading into our seeding date.

The tees continue to move along at an exceptional pace. By the end of today, the only tees that will be left to shape should be on hole number 12. They will be doing the shaping work on #'s 1, 7 and 10 today and the drainage on number 8 and 6. I expect to start laying sod around some of these tees by the middle part of next week.

The locations of the new bunkers on hole #3 and 18 were defined over the weekend. Brian Slawnik of RGD worked on these designs all day Friday and Saturday - until the rains came - to get this work done. This was an important step as now all the fairway lines can be hard painted and identified as we head into seeding the fairways late this week or early next week.

Lots to do this week before the seed goes in the ground so I gotta run. I can't wait to see green tinge just 14 days from now!!

Days 34-37 - Finish Work Continues!!!

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.

Days 31-33 - Starting to Put Things Back Together!!

Forgive my absence for the last few days, it has been a fast paced couple of days.

In the last couple of days we have plunged deep into the first stages of repairing the golf course. On Wednesday we took delivery of the first truck load of sod to begin repairing the green's surrounds. We managed to get #'s 3, 4, 5 and half of 2completed with the first truck. We are anticipating another truck to arrive any minute and it should be enough to finish the 2nd, 12th, 13th, 15th, and 16th holes. That would make 8 holes that would be complete and within in an hour could be ready to seed. We will continue to wait for as many greens as we can to seed at one time. I'm still hopeful that we will be able to accomplish somewhere around the 23-25th of August.

On the tee front, it is a lightning fast pace. The tee placements and coring out of the tees is complete on all but 7-12 and number 1. There are a couple small adjustments to made on the 6/13 complex but that will be completed today. I think all playing groups will find great satisfaction with the placement of these tees. Being able to witness it first hand, I can tell you the architect on site is very aware of the wide range of skill level that exists in our membership and is placing the tees accordingly. The forward courses will be a great enhancement to many members playing experience.

I will try to post some finished photos later today, but have included one very important photo below. The photo shows a hard edge that is created just prior to the sods placement. We call this "Keying-In" the bluegrass sod. Why is this so important? Many times is the past golf course just laid the sod at the same soil depth that the collar would be grown at and it created a damming effect that prevent surface water form exiting the green. By lowering the edge around the collar, we ensure that the soil layer that comes with all sod, will not impede the flow of water. It seems so simple but can be very problematic if not done correctly.



(The green will be on the light colored sand. The collar will be on the raised soil area and the sod is placed between the hard edge and existing turf.)