Bunker Project Moving Quickly!

We now have 9 holes completely finished, and are on the home stretch with the last 9 holes.  Holes 4, 5, and 6 are now almost completely shaped and looking good.  Next week we will begin to work on rebuilding the bunker on hole 12, while the rest of the crew installs the sod and bunker liner on holes 4, 5, and 6. 

Here are the green side bunkers on hole 5 with the sand and liners removed, ready for shaping

Here is a look at the beginning of the new fairway bunker on hole 6.  This bunker is located on the right side of the fairway, just past the left fairway bunkers.  This bunker will play mainly as a target bunker, and was located primarily for the long ball hitters.  As you can see in the picture, drainage is very important or it will hold water after each rain!

Tree Shade Update!

Now we have removed all the trees behind the Teaching Tee and the results are beginning to show! 



The far end of the tee is now getting some really good morning sunshine, and we should start to see the health of the turf improve!  The building will always block sunshine, but now that the trees are gone we should be able to improve the entire surface of the practice tee.

Teaching Tee Shade Project

This winter one of our projects is to remove shade from important turf areas.  One of the areas we struggle with the most is the teaching tee on the far end of the driving range.  You can see in these pictures what it looked like before we started the project.

The sun comes up behind these trees each morning.  It takes until noon each day for the tee box around the building to get any full sunshine.  

These large pine trees have grown so tall they block the sunlight for over half the day.  To help increase the sunlight we will take out a section of these trees to allow the sun to directly hit the entire teaching tee.  

Here is a look at the start of the project and the instant impact it has shown.  You can see the gap in the trees were we have removed a few pines.  This gap is allowing direct sunlight to reach the corner of the teaching tee.  Our plan is to continue removing trees as we work towards the teaching building.  Once a few more trees are removed the tee will get direct sunlight and we should see the overall health greatly improve!

COLD!

As most of you are well aware, this first week of 2018 has been COLD!  This picture shows the large pond between holes #3/#13 starting to freeze over!  The part of the pond directly in front of Buddy is frozen about 2 inches thick, and you can see only about one-third of the pond is still open water.  It is not very often in Georgia you see the ponds freeze on top!

Despite all the cold temperatures, we have actually moved along very swiftly on the bunker project.  The dry conditions have helped the machines work with the dirt and not be too wet or muddy.   More updates and photos on that to come!

New Rotation

Greetings MCC Members,     

                                                                       

            We are glad to announce the bunker project is progressing steadily, Overlook is finished and now it is time to move across Stilesboro Road and start on the original 18 holes.  All of the Overlook bunkers have been filled with sand and it is fully open for play.  The next phase of the project will start on holes #14, #15, and then moving to #17, and #13.            

It is our intent during this construction to stay out of the way of golfers as much as possible.  So, as we move to the original 18, we will use a different rotation to keep your golf round from being affected by the project.  Starting this week, the new rotation will be to play holes 10-12, and then holes 4-9 to complete the “front 9”.  The Overlook will then serve as the “back 9” to complete your 18 hole round.  Holes 1-3 and 13-18 are currently under construction, and will have one or two holes closed per day.  The holes that are under construction will change as the project progresses, and will be indicated in the Golf Pro Shop when you sign in.  As we will be working on these holes, we ask you respect that the holes are “closed” and do not play them.  

           

Thank you,

Mark Hayes                                                                                         Mark Kenline

Grounds Superintendent                                                                           Grounds Chairman

Stephen Keppler                                                                                 Larry Kunin

Director of Golf                                                                                            Golf Chairman

Overlook Finished!

We are glad to announce that we are finished with the Overlook bunkers and they are completely open for play!  It took the crew about 3 days to fill all the bunkers with the new sand, and now they are full and ready to go!

Moving on to holes #14 and #15!

This week the crew crossed Stilesboro road and started on the original 18 holes.  We chose to start on holes #14 and #15 because it was the farthest from our maintenance shop, and we are trying to work inward towards the shop.  This way we can fix the damage incurred during the project, and hopefully the crew will not have to travel across those holes again as we progress towards completion. 

Buddy looks on as the lead shaper works on #14 bunkers

Here is a picture of the bury pit the crew dug to place all the old sand.  After the project is finished they will push all dirt on top of the sand and create a small hill.  We will then seed the area with grass so we can grow it back in.  A "bury pit" like this is helpful to reduce the time it takes to travel to dump the excess material.  It is also very beneficial to limiting the traffic of the large equipment and preventing any further damage to the golf course.