Progress Report

Excuse my absence from the blog spot, we have been trying to squeeze every last second out of the precious time we have this fall. I am sure many of you are wondering were things stand:

Greens: The grow-in of the greens is going superbly!!! We have just completed the second hand topdressing application just today. We continue to mow the greens 5-6 days a week right now and are slowly lowering the heights as the grass plant can take it. The collars are filling in rapidly.

Tees: The tees look amazing at this point. We have mowed all of the tees some 8+ times already and anticipate mowing the first tee any day now. I heard a rumor that "because the first tee was seeded later than the rest, it won't be ready next spring", let me say that it is simply not true. The first tee looks great and will no doubt be ready when we open next year.

Fairways: All of the fairways have been mowed multiple times except number 17 which was mowed for the first time today. What few thin areas there are, are filling in steadily. I am very pleased with this aspect of the project.

Bunkers: We have made the turn for home with the bunkers. We have completed all the bunkers in the 7-11 section and the 12/6/14/15 area of the course. Currently, we are working on the 3rd and 17th holes and anticipate finishing the bunkers early next week.

This has been an exciting time and I appreciate all the wonderful comments some of you have shared over the last few weeks. I see the excitement building in YOUR eyes and that exists us to get this renovation done and over with so we can return the course back to you as soon as possible.

Remember the Fire!!

None of us will soon forget the events of August 27th when the old polo barn went up in flames. One of the headaches created by that blaze was the contamination of the large stockpile of Pro-Angle Bunker sand.



This pile of sand (approx. 900 tons or 1/3 of the project total)has since been moved out of the fire location and re-located to the lower parking lot near the tennis courts. In an effort to make sure the sand is free of any fire debris, your CCD team first removed the outer two feet of the entire pile and that sand was discarded. Don't worry, the insurance policy does cover the replacement material. The remaining sand is being run a 3mm screen to make sure there is no additional debris embedded deeper into the pile.



The machine in this picture has been brought in from the same sand mine where our greens and tees mix was blended. This machine is very effective removing any "junk" that may still remain. I am happy to report that the first 200 tons that have been run through the machine have come out perfectly clean and we have begun to use this product in the construction.

Staples No More!!

I thought this picture would be an eye catcher!! To date, we have completed removing the staples on 21 of 71 bunkers on the course and this photo shows just how many staples are in the old bunkers. By our counts, we estimate that there are 9 staples per every square foot. That means a single 2000 square foot bunker contains as many as 15,000 - 18,000 staples, maybe more!!

The Klingstone work continue again today with an antcipated application to the 7th fairway bunker sometime around lunch. When complete, all the bunkers on holes 7-10 will be complete.

Klingstone and Pro-Angle Survive the Down Pour!!!

Great news to report today! Last week we applied the Klingstone product to five bunkers and installed the new Pro-Angle sand in them. Although we did that test bunker on #6 earlier this year, yesterday was the first large scale test of how the two products would hold up to a good downpour. The course received 1" of rain during the day yesterday. 0.4" inches came as a steady rain the morning, but later in the day we got hammered with 0.6" is less then 15 minutes. One of the hardest downpours I have seen in some time. I am happy to report that there was not one single issue with the 5 completed bunkers.



The Klinstone product is sprayed directly on to the soil using compressed air and a standard garden hose.



While the Klingstone is still wet, a light (1/2") layer of the Pro-Angle sand is placed throughout the bunker. This helps the sand, native soil, and klingstone become one cohesive unit.



Here is the right side green bunker on #8 this morning. It's just the way we left it the day before!!!



Here is the right side approach bunker on #10 this morning. Again, nothing has moved!!!