Seeing that the weather has tossed a stop order on our project, as a proud father I share this:

 

 

Keep up the good work my boy!   Keep the college phone calls coming!

 



Sod update 12/6/13

The 3" pre-Thanksgiving rain was tough to overcome, keeping our predominately clay soils too wet to work with for a good part of 4 days.  On Tuesday the 3rd, with sod scheduled for Wednesday the 4th, we were able to buff out most of the surrounds to a point were we would be able to begin laying sod on weds.   We had 16,000 sqft of A1-A4 bentgrass shipped in from Southern NJ and began the installation process on the greens once again - on schedule.  The greens sod was completely installed by the contractors (DeLea Sod) team by 3pm on Wednesday.  The fact that the green surfaces were completed was a huge relief as that is certainly the number one priority area.  Irrigation installation was extensive and we all worked with and right behind Friends Irrigation getting it all done in 3 days.  Our coverage went from 6 heads per green complex to between 15 & 20, proper irrigation is will be a huge help to our success.

 

 

Me on Thanksgiving day, spent 7 hours pumping out the bunkers that were silted up due to 3" of rain.


Golf Pro Joe Laurentino commented after a visit to our muddy site : "Boy, after walking through that mud today on # 15, I REALLY realized what horrible soil the course is built on."

Rich Friend and his guys getting started on pipe installation



over 30,00 feet of wire was run into the ground

 

 

Early morning on Thursday we received a tiny bit of rain - approximately 1/10th of an inch.  Unfortunately, this was enough to wreak havoc for the rest of the installation.  Our bare clay soils acted as if they were coated in an inch of grease and made the install so difficult on 15 that we had to delay any further work as we did not want to create more damage.   16 was nearly completed as the soils there we just a little better to work on. We will need to do quite a bit of rolling and topdressing to the fairway area, but it will be fine. 

 

A large amount of pictures with captions will follow, enjoy.

 

we used a kelp/seaweed product to assist the sod with rooting, very expensive, but it works better than anything else.



15 green



15 green



15 green, approximately 9.5 pallets of 750 sqft were put in place



15 halfway



the crew worked on plywood to no damage sod that was already in place



A1-A4 sod



pallets lined up and ready to go.....wishing the sun stays out



15 just about done



green completed on 15

16 irrigation still going in as the sod begins

16

irrigation continues, sod flying

16 - cranking it out

16

15 from the landing zone

16 - very little wasted

halfway on 16

16 green  surface completed

surrounds starting / fairway too

16 -  view from 9 green

16 back bunker - view from halfway house

16

16

16

16 - progressing nicely under the eyes of GC Architect Kelly Moran (red) and Shaper Kevin Nolan 

16 from halfway house

16

16 from 9 green

16 

16

16 from behind the green

3 different types of turfgrasses were used in the sod process.  Our greens, similarly to the renovated 2 & 9, were grassed with A1-A4 bentgrass.   The fairway areas were sodded to "low-mow" varieties of Kentucky blue-grass (as were 12 &13 fairway back in 2003).  The roughs and bunker banks are being grassed with turf type Tall Fescue/Bluegrass blend and finally the mounds to the right of 16 as well as the top half of the ridge separating 15 & 16 will be hydro-seeded with a blend of fescues that will remain unmowed and beautifully blowing in the wind once matured.

 

 

Thanks again for tuning in....more to follow as we get past this next 4 day stretch of bad weather....at least the greens are done!!!

-JohnnyP IHCC

 

       

Project Update - 11/27/13

The greens project has been continuously on schedule.  The plan was to have the final grades done just prior to Thanksgiving, which is tomorrow.  And having said that, the final grades were done right on time - finishing yesterday, just prior to.....the first major rainstorm we have had in over two months.

as of 12:23pm on Weds 11/27    2.5" of heavy rain and it appears that more is on the way.

   Seems that this has been our luck this year.  As happened to the 12th tee during the Member-Guest, the rain has tossed us a load more work.   Having worked on all the clay out there for 5 weeks in bone dry weather, the fact that it is clay seemed to be a non-issue.  Dumping 2.5" of rain on clay with no turf to help filter the water was like dumping it in a parking lot.  It ran where it could, cutting into the finish grades and contaminating bunker drainage.  If the turf was down we wouldn't have any issues at all, in fact the green surfaces are firm and dry, the greens are now 90% sand and sand drains.

We are now only two steps away from completing what we can this season, but the weather will play a roll in how it now goes.  Very cold air is heading in tonight and it will freeze all the standing water.  Fortunately, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and most folks are off from work as it should be.  So we buy 24 hours of drying time.  Hoping for decent weather on Friday to get repair work under way.  Irrigation is scheduled to begin installation on Monday and the sod crew is scheduled to be here on weds to grass the green surfaces.  

 

Picture time....

  

16 bunker work



16 from the tee.  Players will now be able to often see their ball on the green.  It has been lowered 6' from the original.  This photo was taken as an aid to decide how much  the hill on the right had to move to see the green.

bunker drainage sump on 15, this hole is 20' deep and used nearly a full truckload of gravel to fill.

bunker drainage work on 16

bunker drainage work on 15.

finish grading the surrounds on 16

after the 2.5" of rain on 11/26-27

UGH !   so close......and once again the rain came hard.

Tune in again next week for more action. 
thanks, John