Final Preparations for the Teeing areas

It is truly amazing what a skilled person on a bulldozer can do in just a day or two.  Yesterday morning we started on the new Teaching Tee, and now we are almost ready to apply the top layer of sand and laser grade the top flat.  Once the Tee is laser graded, it can then be sodded with new grass and it is finished.  We are patiently waiting for the dredging company to get finished so the lake can fill up and provide the course with water once again.  It has been since the start of November that we have not had any irrigation system on the original 18 holes because of no water.  Until we have water, we can not sod any of the finished areas of the driving range.  Since the sod will not have any roots, it will need to be kept moist for the first few weeks in order for it to get established.  One more reason we need to push the dredging company along and get them out of our hair!  Take a look at before and after of the Teaching Tee, can you tell the size difference?

Here is a shot from the top of the new mounds on the Driving Range.  TDI has been working vigorously over the last week to haul sand to the new tee top.  The sand will be spread to a 4 inch depth evenly across the entire teeing area. This will help to create an ideal growing medium for the grass which will soon cover the entire surface.

  Notice the piles of sand on the top right of the picture, and the bulldozer on the far right edge spreading the sand evenly.  In a few more days the entire tee box will be ready for sod, now we just need water!

Teaching Tee is getting a Face Lift!

Today we started work on the Teeing area in front of the Teaching Building at the far end of the range.  This tee was originally about 2,000 square feet.  After construction it will be upwards of 7,000 square feet, an increase of over 300%.  This will make it much easier for Mike Berning to give his lessons and clinics, and also allow for more grass area to hit so that divots will recover much faster.  Once the tee is finished, we will also work to shape the target greens out in front on Teaching Building to help for visualizations and targets to hit at during video lessons.  All of the work being done will no doubt help Mike be a more effective teacher and in turn help our membership as a whole become better golfers!  Here are a few pictures of the dozers starting to demolish the existing tee this morning, tomorrow I will post a few of the finished product!

Below is a look at the 30 inch pipe installation.  I posted pictures a week or so ago explaining the process, but we only have about 100 feet or so to go of the big pipe and we will be all done.  They are getting deeper as we go, notice the worker in the trench, we are almost 10 feet in the ground at this point!

Irrigation for the Tee Box is Installed

After waiting a few days for the Driving Range Tee to dry off from the rain last Friday, work has begun on installing the irrigation.  There are 18 sprinkler heads needed to irrigate the larger new tee, and all the pipe and heads were installed today.  You will see in pictures below how it looks when they lay our the pipe and wire, as well as trenching the lines.

Tomorrow the irrigation crew will run the 6 inch main line that feeds the Tee area and both the putting and chipping greens.  This should leave TDI the rest of the week to finish the tee box and move on to start shaping this body of the range!  The dredgers have also eclipsed the 14,000 yards hauled mark and are nearing completion!  We only have 4 more days to go in February so our goal of being finished March 1st might elude us.  Never fear, as we should only be a week behind.  Not too shabby figuring we were pushed back 2 weeks at the start because of permitting, and have weathered 2 snow storms along the way!

Big Day on Hole #3

Our irrigation contractor installed the main line of the irrigation on #3 today, and boy did they get a lot of work done in 1 day!  This main line is an 8 inch pipe that supplies all the water from the pump house on #3 to holes #4, #5, #6, and #7.  Originally the pipe ran through the middle of the pond, and was in a very bad area for silt collection and the possibility of being damaged in the open body of water.  It was decided during the planning of the project to move the pipe under the bridges and free it from any casualties that could occur in the middle of the water.  The pipe used is an HDPE pipe, which is bendable even at the large size of 8 inches.  This was no small task, but our contractor On Course Irrigation made it look easy.  Check out the pictures of how it all works............

Notice the man on the right side of the picture in the ditch.  This is where we attached the new pipe to the existing main line pipe in the ground.  We attached the other end behind #3 green!

This is our mechanic Danny welding braces on the bridge

As you can tell #3 fairway took the final blow of destruction today as it is now completely messed up.  Never Fear, as we will restore the fairway to better than it was before we started the project!

Drainage is almost done, Irrigation is next!

The 3,750 linear feet of 4 inch drain pipe installation is nearing completing, and now it is time for the irrigation contractor to step in and put the sprinklers in the ground.  This will take a few days to complete, and might be pushed to the weekend if we get heavy rains tonight like the weather channel claims.  The rains however will not stop the dredging crew, as we have eclipsed the 13,000 yard mark, and are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel!  I still firmly believe within 2 more weeks we will be completely finished dredging the pond on #3.  Fingers Crossed!  The course has dried out and work is starting to be much more productive.  Here are some pictures of the Range Tee being drained.......

Can you tell the difference in these 2 pictures?  I was trying to show the difference in the material at the bottom of the lake currently, and also after it has been dredged.  Pictures are hard to portray how much material is actually being removed from the lake.  Before being dredged this area of the lake was only 6-18 inches deep when full, after it has been excavated it will be 4-6 feet when the lake is at full level!  The new fish are going to love all this new space and water, and so is the golf course!

Pipe Installation

This weekend TDI started work on installing the pipe that runs across the Driving Range.  This pipe is in place to carry the water the flows over the spillway from the pond on #9, and dumps it out into the woods on the opposite side of the range.  This water eventually winds its way down the left side of #8, into the lake in front of #3 green.  The old pipe is a metal, 30 inch corrugated pipe that was installed when the course was first built in 1989.  The original pipe has reached its useful life of approximately 20-30 years and is in need of repair.  When planning the Dredging project it was determined that one of the fundamental flaws of the driving range for the long term was this metal 30 inch pipe, so it was included to be replaced.  At the end of the work day Sunday, 200 of the 575 feet of new 30 inch plastic pipe had been installed.  If no rain is to fall in the next week they should be near completion of this part of the driving range project by next weekend.  Notice in the photos how deep the pipe is in the ground, this pipe is half as deep as the original pipe that will be removed!

We have officially hit the 10,000 yd mark!

I am proud to announce that we have finally hit the estimated half way mark of the Dredging part of our project.  One would agree that we have had a very hectic last month full of ice storms, record low temperatures, and little sunshine.  The project has continued to move forward and is starting to take shape.  It has taken longer than anticipated to get to this 10,000 cubic yard mark, but things are looking up.  The Dredging crew has started to dig into the mouth of the lake, and the are pulling out much more sandy/gravel sediments than the sloppy mud.  This should help to improve our load quantities, which will speed up production.  Let's hope this coming ice storm does not keep us from reaching our goals!  We hauled a record 900 yards last Saturday!  Let's keep it up!  Here are some pictures showing a rough timeline from the start of the project to where we are now......

 It is very hard to tell but he is digging in at least 4 to 5 feet deep silt from here on out!!!!!!

A Typical Saturday Afternoon at MCC

This was the view yesterday around 11:00am from the Teaching Building.  Notice the dump truck dumping silt from the pond, while the bulldozers push it around and help it dry out!

Tee Top is Coming to Life!

         It seems like just yesterday we were getting started with the dredging project.  Since December 19th, many changes have taken place to the grounds of MCC, most importantly the lake on #3,#13, and the driving range.  Now that both contractors are on site, it feels like our project gets a little closer to completion everyday.  The Driving Range Tee is rough graded, and Bob Cupp has given his blessing for the work to proceed.  The next step is to install the drain pipe, followed by the irrigation.  The drainage will be installed starting on Monday, and the irrigation is scheduled to be installed the following Monday, February 17th.               Bulldozers and Excavators have pushed and mixed the dredged material from the pond which has been drying for the last month, and found that it is drying and almost ready to work with!  This is great news for the progress of the project, and means we should be still  on track to finish around the first of May.  The big push is now on the Dredging company to finish hauling the last of the material.  I would estimate they have 25% to 30% of the surface area of the pond left to dredge, but to date have only removed approximately  9,000 cubic yards. This could change over the next few weeks, as the crew will be digging at least 4 to 5 feet deep the rest of the way.  Take a look at the picture and you can see how much we are digging!

Take a look at the irrigation heads in front of Stephen.  These heads represent the original grade of the chipping green, and show how much sand has been sprayed out of the bunker and accumulated over time.  As referenced by Stephens leg, the bunker had raised up to about 12 inches over time!

Here was the view from the teaching building this morning!

Tricks of the Trade

Notice the concrete being buried at the bottom of this pit.

Ever wonder what happens to concrete and tree stumps when you do projects like ours?  Generally, a common practice contractors will use is to create a "bury pit" and place all unwanted materials inside the pit.  Once the pit is full and compacted, it is tamped down firm and then back-filled with dirt and smoothed over.  If done properly, bury pits can be a very effective way to dispose of material, and cost much less than hauling it off site.  The trick is to bury things deep so they will not settle out.  Tree stumps and organic matter, when buried deep enough to eliminate oxygen, will never rot or decompose.  At least not in our lifetime!  To date we have hauled a little over 8,000 yds of silt to the Driving Range, and the Tee is almost half way to being rough shaped!  Take a look at the driving range when you get a chance, you will start to see it taking shape!