New Overlook Pump Motor

Over the last few weeks, we have experienced a lot of problems with our irrigation pump station on Overlook.  After troubleshooting the entire system, it was determined that one of the two motors which run the pump was not functioning properly.

This is a picture of both pump motors.  The motor on the right is the bad motor, left is the good motor.  Take note the piece of metal coming out from the top of the bad motor.

That piece of metal was the top of the drive shaft for the pump.  The pump motor slides over the shaft and attaches at the top.  The pump is located down deep in the wet well, which is fed from the lake.  This drive shaft is 25 feet long, and is used to spin the pump head in the well which pulls water from the lake to water the golf course.

A crane is necessary to lift the 400 pound motor off the drive shaft carefully.  In this picture the new motor is being dropped into the pump station through the hatch in the roof.  

This hatch was installed when the pump station was built for times exactly like this!

 Waiting on the motor to be lowered down onto the drive shaft.

Lining it up perfectly.

Now the new motor is running great and the pump station is back to 100%.  Luckily this motor did not fail until the end of the summer when the weather is cooler and rain more common.  Hopefully we will not have to do this process again any time soon!

First Frost this Morning!

We had our first recorded frost this morning!  While it was not a very heavy frost, we definitely had some frost develop on the rough in some low lying areas as the sun came up early this morning.  Let's hope this does not knock off any of our lush green color for The Mountain Classic next Friday!

Step-by-Step

After what seems like a never ending project, the Tennis Pavilion is about 90% complete.  It was quite the addition to our facility, and a very access way from the tennis courts to the Clubhouse.  Take a look a the the step by step changes from start to finish!

Tennis Pavilion Nearing Completion!

The Tennis Pavilion Roof is completed and now we can add the finishing touches to the project!  With a beautiful weather forecast predicted over the  next few days we will be done by the end of the week!

Time for Fall Pre-Emergent Application

If you have played golf the last few weeks, you have more than likely seen our spray technician Brad spraying our Fall Weed Pre-Emergent.  This application will help to keep all sorts or winter weeds, especially Poa Annua, from growing in any of our turfgrass while it is brown and dormant this winter.  To cover all 27 holes and around the Clubhouse grounds will take us 3 to 4 weeks to complete.  In total we treat almost 150 acres!  Please note that this product is not at all toxic or harmful to the environment, and is a very safe to use.

Rainy Days

With all the rain we have received over the last 2 weeks, it has really been evident how much the Forebays we constructed on both sides of the pond have worked to reduce silt accumulation.  The walls help to slow the water down, which causes a lot of the larger silt particles to fall to the bottom upstream.  By trapping these dirt particles upstream, we can use our excavator to remove the silt and maintain a large area for the water to back up and drop silt.  Take a look at the picture of the Forebay after a heavy rain:

This picture clearly shows the different colors of water upstream, and then downstream of the forebay.  Upstream is much more "chocolate milk" looking, and down stream much clearer and a lighter shade of brown.  This difference in color is because the upstream flow has much more silt, and while the water is forced through the small opening, it effectively helps to settle the silt particles to the bottom before moving through.

Look closely and you will see the Upstream rocks on the right side have a film of silt deposited on them after the water recedes.  The Downstream rocks have not silt deposited on them because of the quicker moving, cleaner water.  This is encouraging evidence that the Forebay is working just as it was designed to work.