It is project time!
The weather has been perfect this week so we have been off and running with a variety of projects all around the property. Monday the drill and fill contractors were on site and we ran through the Sabot back nine greens. These machines drill down into the greens profile 12 inches and then dry sand fills up that column. Check out a video here.
The dryject then followed behind the drill and fill machines to put even more sand through the upper layer of the back nine greens. Both of these procedures will help us ensure great water and air infiltration as we call these greens "new" next season.
With the contractors out of the way on Tuesday afternoon, our team worked quickly to strip the top half inch of sod off the greens. All 60,000 square feet of turf was stripped and gone by Wednesday afternoon.
The crew from Glenmore did come and help us roll up #10 green. We put the rolls on pallets and they took it back to rebuild their nursery green. Otherwise, our 30 year old L93 bentgrass now rests in peace up to the left of 1 Sabot.
The removal process leaves millions of open sand channels from aeration, ready to take on new roots from the Pure Eclipse.
Our first load of sod arrived Thursday morning and covered 10 green and half of 11. We have to work in truck loads which carry about 10,000 square feet of turf each. Next week we will squeeze 5 loads into four days (sod farm can only cut Monday and start delivering Tuesday) and hopefully be finished by Friday.
10 green Pure Eclipse bentgrass in its new home. A few 80 degree days will have these roots moving quickly.
A few modifications are in the works in front of the sod. The left collar here on 16 was expanded. Work to the bunkers and approach on 16 will be done this spring.
The big works comes on 12 green where we will work to raise up the swale and make this green more playable and fair. The old organic layer is removed and we'll use new greens mix to float out new slopes here in the middle of the green.
We shot the existing grades, put them on a spreadsheet and then Andrew Green helps us with the modifications. The white numbers are arbitrary numbers based on the laser level. From there we can find percent slope and begin to maximize the area around 2-2.5% that allows for a fair putting surface. We'll flatten out the right and left side of that middle area so that balls just don't rolling off to the left and into the stream. More here next week.
We jumped into a few bunkers on the Manakin early this week because we knew the excavator would be tied up on 12 green later on. In the budget for this year is to finish renovating all the bunkers on 2, 3, 8, 9 and 10 Manakin. Two other bunkers that weren't in great shape because of gravel contamination were here on 11 green and the front left bunker on 6 green. Those bunkers were excavated and then we stole any decent sand that was left in 8 fairway bunker and 10 fairway bunker and put it in 6 and 11. A quick bandaid that will get us through another year for those bunkers. Capillary concrete is set up for the next two Thursdays for 10 fairway and 8 fairway bunker.
Joe has been hard at work behind the clubhouse, getting ready for the Terrace renovation. He has removed the old canopy there which we will now use for an outdoor eating area for our staff. Taking this whole piece apart and transporting it has been tedious but will be worth the trouble!
It has been a busy week! The leaf color is at its peak and they are starting to fall faster each day. We'll have all day tomorrow to get things cleaned up for the nice weather this weekend and then it is back to the big projects on Monday!