One Week to Go

I wanted to give you a quick update on where we are with the project.  Today the course finally started drying out after the rains over the weekend.  Unfortunately, it looks like more rain is heading our way tonight.

With a drier golf course, we were able to use the tine harrow in the rough.  The tine harrow is a heavy metal drag that helps to lift dead plant material and thatch off the soil surface.  Once the harrow loosens the material, we are able to blow the debris out into the deeper rough.  This is a great tool for preparing the soil for seed. 

Tine Harrow on #1.

We are also in the process of leveling areas throughout the course.  Most of the time we are dealing with sunken trenches on our irrigation main line.  With the soil exposed, it is easy to locate all of the problem areas that need to be raised.

Irrigation trench leveled on #1.

The remainder of this week we will continue to work on the above mentioned items.  We are working to get all of our irrigation issues taken care of before Monday.  Today we replaced another valve that was leaking on #2.  By Monday, irrigation should be ready to go for the grow in.  We also brought in a contractor to clean out several of the drains in fairways (#4, #2, #9) that have been slow to empty.  

After aerification and dragging, most of the rough will not require any type of scalping.  There are a few areas, primarily around bunkers and tees, that still have more vegetation than we would like to see.  Most of these will be push mowed and bagged to remove the dead material.

Assuming weather doesn't slow us down, tomorrow we will begin stripping the dead sod off of the back tees.  Eventually all of the tees will be stripped, however, with six more days until the shutdown we are trying to keep the course as playable as possible.  Tees will be the most labor intensive portion of the project.  Stripping, leveling, and sodding 75,000 sq. ft. of tees in a short amount of time will be our biggest challenge.

And finally we will continue to touch up any remaining grass in the rough that was not killed by the three applications of Roundup.

Bottom line, all is well.  We are on schedule and working through the items we need to be dealing with prior to seeding and sodding.  We can't control the weather so we will deal with whatever we get.  Looking forward to Monday!