Fall Projects: Tee Renovations and Cartpaths

Finally, October has arrived.  The grind of the summer golfing season has finally come to an end.  Once Oct. 1st hits, the "switch" inside my head gets flipped.  For the entire summer, we spent all of our time trying to keep the golf course looking and playing its best.  For most of September, we were working diligently to not only keep the golf course playing well, but also completing all the agronomic practices necessary to ensure that we have a successful 2013 growing season (aeration, topdressing, fertilizing.)  Now that October is here, we are switching gears one last time.  With the very limited staff we have remaining on the grounds crew, our focus is now on tackling and completing the projects necessary to ensure that we are continuing to make improvements to our rapidly aging golf course.

Of course, the first of these projects is the continuation of our tee box renovation process.  Just a quick refresher for everyone, the reason the old tee boxes are being rebuilt is:

• They are nearing 50 years old.  Bentgrass that grows for that long, without any aeration or topdressing, accumulates a TON of thatch (soft layer of decomposing organic material just below the surface.)  This has created teeing surfaces that are extremely soft and spongy, don't recover from divots very quickly, and don't drain very well.
• They are very unlevel due to settled out irrigation trenches and years of frost heaving.
• Some are mis-aimed or improperly aligned, and now are positioned poorly due to tree growth that has encroached into the line of the hole.
• They need brought into the 21st century.  Times change, and so do terrain features, golfing equipment, and golfer attitudes. 

The new tees are being built out of a sand rootzone (old bunker sand in our case.)  Growing bentgrass on sand will create a firmer and faster draining surface, faster recoving divot capabilities, and the ability to add sand topdressing to continue to level out the surface. 

We started on Monday with the renovation of 17 tee.  We extended the blue tee box about 15 yards further to the front to allow for some of you shorter hitting guys to get your tee shot out there a little further, and thus give you a better chance of getting your second shot over the Cole Creek Grand Canyon.

Removing the old tee surface from 17

New sand cap on the black and blue tees on 17.  Notice how much further
the blue tee extends to the front than the old tee used to.

Next on the list is 15 tee.  This tee also extended about 8 yards further off the front to make this long, tough par 4 a little easier to play from the white tees.  Also, the black tee area went back about 5 yards and was built up into a seperate pad to create better visibility off the front of this long tee box.  Lastly, we will be adding (thanks to an additional member sponsorship) a small cart pulloff area along the length of the tee box along with a small concrete block retaining wall.  This will help get golf carts a little further out of the way of this highly used road that my maintenance staff travels dozens of times a day coming and going from the shop, as well as help eliminate the "dirt curb" where golf carts pull off the path with two tires and park in the grass.

Old tee surface removed from 15.  The elevated back tee pad was built
from the material carved out to build the cart pulloff and retaining wall

Next on the list is 8 tee, which is going to involve some major reworking:  a new cart pulloff area to park by 7 green as well as a new path closer to the tee on 8 (all will be done in concrete, again, thanks to an additional sponsorship from a member), also a new alternate tee will be added on the other side of the cartpath underneath the cottonwood tree.

After 8 we will be doing 2 tee, which will involve moving the entire tee box to the left about 6 or 7 feet to help take the huge cottonwoods on the right side of the beginning of the hole a little more out of play.  Next, 3 tee will be done, it also will be moved to the right to get it a little further away from the creekbank that is rapidly eroding to the left of the tee.  Concrete cartpath will also be poured from 2 green down to and around 3 tee.  Lastly we will be doing 1 tee, assuming we have time left this fall.  If not then it will be done first thing next spring. 

The last project on our list this fall is pouring concrete cartpath along the retaining wall on 14 tee (again, thanks to another sponsorship from a group of members.)

If you haven't picked up the point here, the ENTIRE list of projects that you just read about is being almost entirely sponsored by some of our generous members.  To those of you who have made a monetary committment to the betterment of your golf club and the continued improvements to your aged but still spectacular golf course, I personally and sincerely thank you. 

Lastly, as always, please be patient with us as we tear up some of the golf course this fall.  This golf course is old and it definitely is at the point in its life where things have to get a little worse before they can get a lot better.  Please excuse our mess.  The skid steer we are using for the tee demolition as well as carving out new cartpaths is a rental that we pay for by the week, so it is probably going to look like there are a lot of things going on at once in order to get as much use out of the rental machine as possible.