Concrete Forebay Installation

We are currently building the forebays, or silt retention dams, at both ends of the pond.  The smaller forebay near #8 tee has been completed, and we will be pouring the footer for the large forebay tomorrow.  The larger forebay is located at the mouth of the lake, and will serve as both a silt collection wall, as well as a walk path for golfers to cross the creek.  The dams are made of concrete, and it takes 3 days to complete each wall.  The first part of the forebay construction is to excavate the area of the creek where the wall is to be built.  In our case, we had to dig 10 feet down from our grade at the top of the wall, which meant a very large hole!

Notice here Lyle starts to dig to the top of the footer.......

Once the contractor showed up to dig the footer, things got a little messy.....but the hole was dug!!!!!

Once the footer was dug out and before the concrete could be poured, metal re-bar was installed for strength and integrity.  Notice the hose in the bottom of the picture pumping the concrete in to the footer.

The next day, after the footer is poured and drying, the wall portion of the forebay is framed and poured.  The workers in the picture are finishing off the concrete that has just been pumped into the forms.  The next step will be for our grounds crew to back fill the wall with the dirt removed and put the creek back to the way it was originally.  This work will start on Monday, and we are on track to finish the large dam at the other end of the lake next week.  More pictures to come!!!

 

The Dredging is Over!

I am very proud to announce that we have finally reached the final day of the Dredging of Lake #3 and #13!! We began the project on December 19th, and have now officially finished on March 13th, a total of 84 days, exactly 12 weeks.   This is actually very close to the timeline we had originally planned for the dredging portion of the project, but permitting can actually be to blame for missing the March 1st deadline.  We were held up 17 days to begin our project, and finished 13 days past our goal.  Not too bad considering we endured 2 record setting ice storms and the wonderful holiday season!  This entire process was a learning experience for all, and I am sure I can speak for everyone when I say how glad I am to be done messing with the lake!  Now is time to put everything back together that we have messed up over the last 3 months!!  The push is on for TDI to finish the range and get our golf course at MCC back to normal!

Here is the big excavator taking out the last few loads of silt

Cleaning up and repairing the haul road.  What a mess!

Kiss this big track truck goodbye!  We don't need it anymore!  Whoo hoo!

The Home Stretch

This weekend of March 8th and 9th is now behind us, and one thing is for certain, we are still dredging the lake on #3/#13.  March 1st was originally our goal to finish the lake, but unfortunately a combination of set backs has prevented us from achieving our goal.  The good news is that we are very close to being finished, and the dredgers will have the contracted amount of silt hauled to the range in the next few days.  From here on we will begin to repair all the lake banks, as well as clean up the "haul road" we have created up #3 and #8 fairways.  I can not tell you how great it will be to finally put it all back together and have a 27 hole golf course again!  The nice sunny weather has definitely helped the drying process with our dirt on the driving range, and we should be able to start shaping the remaining areas in the coming weeks.  Take a look at the following pictures of how they are excavating the remaining material in the lake.  The large machine is sitting where the old grassy island was at the beginning of the pond, and the truck is hauling the dirt back and forth from the loading site....

Notice how deep the lake will be now in this area.  Where the long reach excavator is sitting is the original elevation of the lake, which was above water even at full lake level.  The green truck is about 9 or 10 feet tall at the top of the cab, and now after being dredged would be completely under water if the lake was full.  This will help our irrigation water holding capacity immensely, and also provide a much more aesthetically pleasing view of the lake while playing golf.

Concrete kind of day

Today on the driving range our contractor was able to get all the foundation poured for the new artificial hitting mats, as well as our new turnaround/parking area.  After all was said and done, it took 4 trucks of concrete to complete the entire area.  The first truck was at the club by 9:00 am, and the last one finally finished dumping concrete around 5:00 pm.  All in all a very successful day for our project, as a lot of work was completed ahead of the anticipated 100% chance of rain that is forecast for tomorrow.  Notice in the photo below the new pad for the artificial hitting mats.......

Here is a picture of our turnaround being poured.  Notice the center island, this is where we will place the Centennial Clock and Time Capsule. The plan is to lay bricks all around the center section, and also form a small brick wall around to form the bed.  After the clock is set in place and time capsule buried, we will then finish off the circle with flowers to add a nice touch.  

I snapped this photo today and I feel it captures the state of our golf course right now pretty well.......

I know this winter has been one of change on the golf course.  Rest assured it will all be over before we know it!

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!