Light at the end of the tunnel!

Greetings MCC Members,

 

               It is with great joy I can announce the final week of the Driving Range project is upon us.  Everything has finally worked out in our favor, and the push is on to sod the remaining 6 acres of the Driving Range.  The last month of the project has been a challenging one and I would like to share with you a few of the things which have factored in to prolonging the Driving Range opening.

               When planning the Dredging and Driving Range project last summer, it was an optimistic goal that all the work would be completed by May 1^st.  This date was chosen as a best case scenario, but also to give us a goal in which to strive to achieve.  Like most construction projects, we have endured many challenges over the last 6 months.  Weather events, slow drying silt from the bottom of the pond, a shortage of sod trucks, equipment failures and permitting have all played roles in delaying the project.  There is still a half an acre area in the back corner of the range that has yet to dry out and solidify completely.  Two weeks ago a bulldozer could not even navigate through this soft area without getting stuck.  Weekly rains are also no help to this drying process.  It seems like every time we have been blessed with a week of good weather to work the dirt, it rains just in time to wet the soil and set us back a few days.  At times the rains have even negated all the progress made and forced us to spend valuable time re-doing things which were already completed. 

               While the silt removed from the lake took longer than expected to dry, it also delayed the process of installing the irrigation and drainage in the range.  Once the drainage was finally installed a few weeks ago we were able to withstand the rains much better and not lose all the progress we made during dry days.  Last Friday we finally completed the irrigation system for the Driving Range and connected to the main line water supply.  A total of 85 irrigation heads were installed and have the ability to water all the new sod that is being layed this week.  An industry wide shortage of tractor trailer trucks used to haul sod has made it difficult for the sod farm to deliver our grass in a timely manner, and also forced our project to come to a standstill.  One or two sod trucks do not pose a problem in most cases, but when you need 30-35 trucks to deliver 6+ acres of grass in a week’s time, scheduling becomes an issue.  Combine this large order of sod with a shortage of available trucks, and it creates a very challenging, and no doubt frustrating situation.  When I was informed a week ago that the sod farm had 35 trucks lined up for delivery over the next 5 days I emphatically said “Bring it on”!  The sod installation crews have been doing a great job of laying 6 to 7 sod trucks a day, or the equivalent of an acre and a half of surface area.   After a week of sodding we are now about 90% finished and await 3 more trucks Monday morning that will finish the job. 

               Once the Driving Range is completely sodded, all the grass will need rolled, fertilized, and some minor patch work in places that did not survive.  This work will be done by our staff over the next month to finish up the project, but will in no way prolong the opening of the driving range.  We will now focus all of our efforts on hole 14 and restoring it back better than before.  Sod has been ordered for the end of next week and I feel that you will start to see progress every day.  I apologize that restoring this hole has been moved down the priority list as other problems and projects have arose. 

               All in all I feel this was a very successful project, and that the club has improved in many different areas because of it.  Our Driving Range is now one of the biggest and best in Georgia, the new wall on #3 adds beauty to the golf course, the fore bays on both ends of the lake #3/#13 are already doing a great job of retaining silt, and the lake itself looks as good as ever now that it has been completely dredged.   In closing I would like to thank the membership of Marietta Country Club for your patience, understanding and support through this long and tedious project.  It has no doubt been an inconvenience at times over the last 6 months, but the light is getting very bright at the end of the tunnel.  With just a few more days of hard work ahead, everything will be back to normal and the new club amenities can be enjoyed by all.

 

Thank you,

 

Mark Hayes

Grounds Superintendent

Rock Wall on #3 is Finished!

The rock wall in front of #3 Green has been completed, which means all 27 holes are now open!  The construction of the wall was a very long process through planning and permitting, but once the permits became official we wasted no time in finishing the project.  The company we hired to build the wall did a great job, and reinforced the wall multiple ways to ensure long lasting strength.  From start to finish it took exactly 3 weeks to build from the ground up, back fill and sod.  Our staff was in charge of the finishing work of back filling the wall, installing drainage and sodding.  This took us 4 days alone to finish the process, but the work turned out great.  I would like to say THANK YOU to one of our members, Mr. John Davis.  Mr. Davis was kind enough to help send a Semi-Truck to Alabama to pick up the Zoysia grass sod used to finish the area between #3 green and the wall.  Due to a trucking shortage, without his help we could not have finished #3 or been able to play all 27 holes last weekend.  Please tell Mr. Davis Thank You next time you see him for his generous act!  Take a look at the pictures of the wall from start to finish.........

May 1st!

Today is May 1st, and I am very sad to say that the project is not yet complete.  This day has long been our goal to for opening 27 holes and the Driving Range, but many different factors have made our goal unobtainable.  Recent weekly rains have slowed the drying process on the last 50% of the range, and even the Bulldozers doing the work continually get stuck while trying to finish up.  Please know that we are still diligently working to put everything back together, and still hope to have all 27 holes open some time in the next week to 10 days.  I do believe that everyone will start to see a lot more progress over the next 2 weeks.  Saturday, we will start to sod the remaining damage from the haul road on #3, as well as finish #8 fairway.  After this area is sodded, TDI will then start laying sod in front of the new range tee.  The plan is to sod as much of the range as possible next week.  We should have over half of the range complete by the end of next week, and the rest will be soon to follow.  Once project we have been busy with is stabilizing the banks of the creek on #13 fairway.  We have chosen to repair the stream bank with big boulders, weighing 2,000 to 3,000 pounds each.  This should help to keep the bank from continually eroding over time, and also add a clean and aesthetically pleasing look to the stream.  Take a look at the pictures below and see what you think.  I plan on showing a complete chronological timeline of photos once the project is completed.  We still have one more side to go!

Even though the project is a little behind schedule, we are still seeing improvements every day.  We are all anxious for the project to be over and for the club to be running at its normal capacity once again!  We are going to put our nose to the grindstone for the next few weeks and deliver the best product possible!

Dredging is finally over, now the race to repair the damage!

Even though the weather outside today is terrible, there is still something to celebrate.  We are officially done with the dredging portion of the project!  All of the dredgers equipment was removed over the weekend and we are now focusing all our efforts to repair everything destroyed during the project.  As our staff works diligently every day on what seems like endless projects, the list of things for us to fix is getting smaller and smaller.  Some of the things we have worked on over the last few weeks include installing a drain on the left side of hole #3, repairing the new silt retention dams on both ends of the lake on #3, sodding and landscaping around the bridges and haul roads of #3 pond, and also working on #14 and #16.  This has left our crew with a balancing act of both maintaining the golf course, as well as working on restoring the course from the project.  We have done this by simply splitting up our staff into two different crews.  The construction crew, headed by our Senior Assistant Lyle Curry, will focus on the dredging repair and see that everything gets fixed properly.  The daily maintenance crew will be lead by Chase Newman, our Second Assistant.  The maintenance crew is vital to keep up with the growing demands of the golf course which increase more and more as temperatures rise.  As we move on more into prime golf season, we want the golf course to not be forgotten.  This temporary division of our staff will help us to be more efficient, as well as ensure we do not lose sight of any piece of the MCC property that needs our attention.  Take a look at a few pictures of our crew in action over the last few weeks.......

I think Max is the only one relaxing after sodding a whole truckload in one day!

Dredging moves across the street to lake #15!

Now that we have completed the big lake on #3, we have relocated the large equipment to the lake on #15 and begun the last part of our dredging project!  The plan is to dredge out the silt in the coves of #15 lake on each side of #14 green.  Take a look at the picture below and it will help you get a good idea of the 2 areas being cleaned out.

This picture was taken from between the tee box and green on hole #15.  The yellow piece of equipment closest to the camera is the pump lowering the water level.  We currently have the water 2.5 feet low, and it looks like this is all we will have to lower the pond to be able to complete the work.  By keeping the water in the pond we can ensure the safety of the fish and wildlife.  Notice on the left side of the picture is a large excavator used to dig a hole in the rough to the right of #14 green.  This hole will be filled with the silt from the pond, and then covered back over and sodded.  All of the dirt removed from the hole was transported along the cart path on #14 to help level out the abrupt drop off from cart path to playing surface.  If you look on the right side of the picture you will see the large 60 foot reach machine we used to dig out lake #3.  This machine is currently located in the cove between #14 green and #16 tee box.  We have begun the project on this portion of the lake, and will finish it before moving to the other side of #14 green.  This process should only take a few days, and we are hoping to be finished by the weekend and the predicted thunderstorms!  With some favorable weather we should be able to complete the entire dredging of lake #15 in a few days!

Here are some closer up picture of the process we will use to dredge the smaller cove on lake #15.  I will post pictures of the work in action to further illustrate the process in the days to come.

Here is John in the large excavator working dredging the left cove of #14 green.  It is a tight fit for such a big machine, but they got about 30% of the material removed in just one day!

  

Large Forebay is nearing completion

Over the last 2 days our staff has been busy trying to put back the dirt around our new dams.  This was a very tough process, but we had some help from some big pieces of equipment.  At the end of the day today we were able to get to a point where we felt the banks could withstand the forecast rain.  Fingers crossed that we don't have to re-do what has already been done after the rain storm!

This is how where we had to leave the Forebay before the rain set in.  Let's hope that we do not have too much to repair before we get a chance to put the sod down and finish our project!

Grassing has begun!

Finally I am proud to say that the grassing has started on the driving range tee and mounds.  This is definitely a good sign that the project is on the way to completion!  The grass being installed is 419 Bermudagrass, along with some Zorro Zoysiagrass being installed around the chipping green.  To date we have completely sodded our larger 2 tiered teeing surface, the mounds behind the tee, teaching building tee, all around the chipping green and new driving range bunkers, and about 75% of the haul road on #8 fairway.  All in all we have installed 15 tractor trailer loads of sod, which when all laid out covers a little over 3 acres!  Not too bad for 4 days of work!  Once TDI starts to get the remainder of the driving range shaped out, the sod installation crew will return and finish the work.  Take a look at the big rolls of sod and how they are installed........

I agree the grass does not look very green and lush, but this is because it is starting to come out of winter dormancy.  After a few weeks of drinking lots of water and soaking up the sun, this 419 Bermudagrass will be green and growing once it wakes from its winter slumber!