Parking Lot is Paved!

This Wednesday we had the chance to pave the new parking lot and get closer to completing the project!  The crews showed up after a few weeks off and added 6 inches of crusher run, which is a form of gravel.  Next, they came in with a large road grader to smooth out the surface and prepare for the asphalt.  When pouring the asphalt, they had to roll it constantly to flatten and harden the surface to help it cure.  After about 4 hours they had completed the pour and the lot was left overnight to harden and cure.  Thursday and Friday our staff has been hard at work to repair all the piles of dirt around the edges of the lot and get it ready to seed.  The seed and straw mat we put down will help to hold the dirt and stabilize the steeper banks.  In the middle of September we will install landscape plants surrounding the new lot to help hide and beautify the new area.  Here are a few pictures of the paving in action!

This guys job was to roll the light colored gravel and pack it very firm, then he rolled all the hot black asphalt to pack it smooth!

Here was the first pass with the asphalt machine!

Here it the entrance to the parking lot after it was all paved.  Now we will work to finish all the dirt piled up around the curbing and get ready for the landscape planting this Fall!

Here is Colten working on smoothing out and packing all the dirt left over!  We are on the home stretch and will be done in the next week!  Once the we get the lines painted in the parking we will open it up for daily use!

Tennis Court Resurfacing

This last week was a busy one up at the Tennis Center.  We had a company come in to re-surface 6 of the tennis courts, and installed new lines on 4 of those courts.  This process had many steps, but ultimately it involved adding about 2,000 pounds of new clay to each court.  I will try to show you a few before and after pictures below.

The first step was to remove all the old lines from each court!

Then they scooped up all the old loose Clay and debris

The nets were also removed before adding the new clay

Here they are rolling the lines to help assure they are flat and completely secured

Hammering the new lines in!

Here is a view of court 1 after they are full completed.  All new clay, lines, and the net replaced!  Time for some matches!

Curbing the new parking lot!

After waiting a few weeks to get the contractors lined up, we are finally ready to start curbing and paving our new parking area.  Today the company was here to form up and begin pouring the concrete which will make up the curbing around the perimeter, and also provide a "gutter" for the water to drain off.  This work will be completed tomorrow afternoon, and the asphalt company will come in next week to start laying gravel and paving.  Take a look at the pictures below to see the curb company in action!

Please be careful on Putting Green!!!

This morning we noticed some marks on the putting green.  After a closer look, it was determined that someone had been practicing putting, but stood in the same place and did not move their feet for a long time.  Obviously the person was trying to hit the same length putt over and over, but in doing so it damaged the grass badly.  In the hot weather, the bentgrass which the greens are made up of has a hard time surviving each day, let alone when it has a person stand in one place for a prolonged amount of time.  Please take a look at the photos below, and the damage that can be caused by standing in one place while practicing putting.  This is not a good sight for a superintendent and can be very challenging to get damaged spots healthy again!

This set of foot prints is so bad you can almost see where his soft spikes were!

Please help us out and move when you are practicing putting!  There are never 2 putts the same in a round of golf, so why would you hit 100 of the same putts when practicing!  

Verticutting Fairways

This week we had a company come it to help us out with our fairways.  This machine is called a Verti-Cutter, or a vertical mower.  The verti-cutter works by spinning multiple blades on a vertical axis to cut into the grass canopy.  These blades help to remove unwanted old grass tissue and also reduce "thatch".  Thatch, which is a common problem with Bermuda grass fairways, can accumulate and cause the turf to become "puffy" and "spongy" over time.  By removing the thatch each year it helps to encourage the grass to grow in laterally, creating a tighter, denser surface to play golf.  Take a look at the picture to see what the turf looks like after the verti-cutter comes through.

These lines are where the blades cut into the turf canopy to remove the thatch and cut the rhizomes and stolons of the bermudagrass.  Cutting these areas encourages the grass to grow more rapidly and actually increases the leaf area of the plant.  After recovery we will have a much better surface on our fairways than before!

                                        Buddy was even enjoying watching this machine work!

So far all of the original 18 holes on the golf course have been completed.  We will finish Overlook next week

Rain last night!

Finally!  We received a little more than a quarter inch of rain last night, and that is enough to make this Golf Course Superintendent cheer!  We have been extremely dry and hot the last couple of weeks, and the rain last night was sure a big help.  Look at this tree it even removed naturally on #6!

This tree was a mess to clean up on a Sunday morning!  Our staff was happy to work on it after some much needed rain!

New Parking

Parking is a problem we are facing more and more as the pool opens and the Club becomes more busy.  If you have driven into the Club in the last few days you have probably noticed some work being done.  On Monday, a company arrived to begin the process of removing trees and clearing the last available space we have to use for more parking.  After removing the trees and hauling off the excess waste, we began grading the area to flatten it so it can accommodate as many cars as possible.  Take a look at the pictures to see what it looked like before, and what it looks like in its current state.  We are about half way done...

This was before we started the work on Monday.  This space was full of large mature trees, but not much else.  The loader did a great job of removing the trees without causing any damage to any surroundings.

Now that all the trees have been removed, we will work on shaping the area to make it flat enough to be an effective parking space.  Once the surface is finished, we will install trees around the perimeter to hide the new parking lot and ensure a pleasant sight when entering the Club entrance.  Please stay tuned for more updates on the parking project!