Still green and hot in November!
The weather has been nothing short of spectacular this week for golf. Most of the fairways fought through the two quick frosts last weekend and remain green. The sun has been out and both courses are playing plenty firm for November.
Bunker renovations on Manakin kept on moving this week in the sunny weather. The capillary pervious concrete was laid in the front bunkers on 4 on Monday. The concrete trucks pulled right up to Quail Run to make laying this 18 yards of concrete pretty simple.
3 more trucks carrying 27 yards of mix came in Thursday which allowed us to finish off the back bunker on 4, the right bunker on 6 and almost finish the front left bunker on 6. More concrete is scheduled for next week after the 30 degree nights disappear again. We hope to have 6 buttoned up next week.
New sand was hauled to the front bunkers on 4 this week and both are back in play. More sand will head to the right of 6 tomorrow and and all next week. Putting these bunkers back in to play while chasing leaves around definitely takes some coordination!
The wind has not been too bad this week but the oaks are in their mode of dropping just enough every day to make a mess. Our new sweeper implement has been running every afternoon in order to suck up anything left over that can't be blown into the woods.
Another big project this week was the final piece of the Sabot irrigation renovation which was upgrading our pump station. Pictured here is the inside of our pump control cabinet which houses all the fuses, drive and wiring for our 5 75 horsepower pumps and the pressure maintenance pump. A new drive was installed for the 5 main pumps and a new drive was added for the new pressure maintenance pump.
Our old PM pump was a simple 5 hp pump that was either off or on. It only had a 50 gallon per minute capacity so as soon as more than two hoses or 1 sprinkler kicked on, a big 75hp pump was put into action. This new 30 hp pump has a 300 GPM capacity and the drive will allow it to ramp up slowly as needed. This pump will provide some added relief for the 75hp pumps during the day.
Our old control screen was antiquated and also replaced.
The new screen is easy to read and control and will communicate back to our irrigation computer so that both systems can work together. We will also be able to monitor the pump station remotely so that it is easier to detect leaks or heads that stick on. All in all a huge upgrade for the pump station that should put us in a strong and reliable position for many years to come.
On the other side of the pump station some of the Sabot crew has been working on taking down sucker trees at the toe of the dam. This area is regulated by the state and has to be kept up with to ensure integrity of the dam.
All of the old cedar stumps were removed next to tennis this week and the green giant plantings have been completed for now. We are STILL waiting on the permit from the county to begin pulling stumps at the pickle/paddle area. We have won the lottery for the slowest engineering and county permitting process this fall. Shockingly Goochland has much more going on that JUST our pickleball project so despite leveraging every contact and angle of attack we remain waiting in the wings. The initial goal of playing paddle this winter and pickleball in the spring is still very much in range, the process has just not gone as fast as we are used to. At least the weather has been perfect for golf!