If you blinked you most likely missed out on the construction project of our front nine bunkers. The project lasted 11 days from start to finish. During this time we softened all the humps in the bunkers, installed the billy bunker liner system into all the greens bunkers, cleaned out the drainage and added the new sand into all the bunkers on the front nine. We hauled a total of 150 tons of pea stone and 700 tons of new sand. We also removed or made a few bunkers smaller to allow for enhanced playability and improved drainage. There are a few projects that I plan on addressing before the end of the season to improve surface drainage away from a few fairway bunkers. The day after completion, we received 2.4 inches of rain before we were even able to rake and compact the new sand. The green side bunkers performed as expected with no washouts. The fairway bunkers without the billy bunker system washed out in a few areas. I feel we can address most of the washout areas by reducing the surface flow of water into the bunkers. I am looking at each bunker to evaluate further improvements. Yesterday and this morning we raked all the new bunkers for the first time. I feel that over time the sand will firm up and play the same as our test bunker on 5 green. The photos of the front nine really show the transformation of the golf course. I am very fortunate to have a great staff that worked many hours laying new sod in the areas that we removed the bunkers. There is a seamless transition of these new areas and hard to imagine what was even done.
Yesterday was the last day for our seasonal staff, I am down to 2 employees and our equipment manager. I plan on topdressing and solid tining the greens this upcoming week as well as the approaches. We have a tremendous amount of work to in a very short time before the end of the season we will be very busy.
I plan on shutting down the on course restroom on November 2nd and we will be winterizing the irrigation system on the 8th.
I hope to see you on the golf course in the next few weeks the weather forecast looks to be very good to get in a few more rounds this fall.
Neil