Ryder Cup

The greens at Medinah #3 (host of the Ryder Cup this week) are primarily 007 - the same grass planted on our new greens. They planted a mix of 007 and 1119 (a cultivar used more in the Midwest and west). The greens you see on tv will be very similar to ours once they are grown in. Notice the uniformity in color and absence of grain that you often see when the pros are playing on A1/A4.

Irrigation system

Working on another leak at 1 tee. We have been having a lot of leaks on the golf course of late. Almost all of it has been in the smaller 2" glue fittings. These leaks are starting to show up because of the age of our piping and the recent use of the system to water greens. We didn't have too many leaks this summer because we really weren't using the system because of construction and all the rain. Once we seeded and really started using it a lot they have been popping up.

Rip rap 14

Working on improving some of the rock areas on 14 with some of the leftover rip rap from the range.

Range

The drainage , irrigation, and rough shaping has been completed on the range. The rest of the shaping on the range should be completed in the next week or so.

Rough

The rough is looking a little "rough" right now. It is dry and this is the time of year when the Bermuda gets long and leggy, it tends to scalp every time you mow it. I have not been watering rough in order to save our good water for the greens. I don't want to have to turn the well on and contaminate all the good water we have in Horne's lake with sodium. Even though the 007 is more tolerant of the salt when compared to our old grass, it is still very young. It wouldn't have a good effect on the seedlings. This is like how infants are more susceptible to harmed by things than adults. Once the grass grows out of its infancy stage it will be able to handle stresses.

Drainage PT1

The drainage is going in on the range tee as we speak. We will finish the drainage, install all the irrigation and then prep for sod. The range tee is the most labor intensive part of the range project and the rest of the range will be done quickly after the tee is done.

Irrigation at the club

The lightning strike at the tree near the putting green at the club did a number on the pipe in the ground. This is a picture of a 2" pipe that just got blown apart. We are working at making all the needed repairs.

Topdressing greens

We topdressed all the new greens yesterday. This will help the grass fill in and begin to smooth out any minor imperfections.

Range

The range is coming along good. We are working on the tee top first so we can get the new cart path in and the tee sodded ASAP.

Greens

The greens are coming in good and have had 3 mowings on them already. The only questionable area is on the front of 14. This area has washed out a few times and is slow to develop for that reason. This might be the one area that we will have to plug from the nursery - not a big deal.

Greens

Greens are coming in great.

Range

Here is a pic of the hole we are digging at the range to produce clean fill. That white pipe on the left is about 3' down...that tells you how deep that hole is, about 30'. We will fill this with the sod and gravel fill that isn't an ideal base for the tee.

Progress

The greens are starting to thicken up, the bunkers are starting to get some sand and the range is well under way. Everything is looking on schedule at this point.

Bunkers

The bunker on 16 is ready for drainage and liner tomorrow. The slopes have all been fixed on 16 with fill to eliminate the deep sand on the slopes. They will haul all the dirt they dig out from the drainage ditches to 17 to reuse on the slopes on that bunker. This process will continue around the course until all the bunkers are done (greenside bunkers).

Mowing greens

We mowed a couple of the thicker greens today for the first time. It is important it mow the new grass as soon as possible so you can start training the grass to move horizontally versus vertically.

River brush

Working on cutting down all the native on the river. We have to go through with the brush cutter on the tractor then come in and get all the tough to get areas by hand.

16 green

Here is a picture of the back right of number 16 green. There were some areas right along the sod line that got contaminated with material from outside the green during one of our many downpours since we mixed this green. I wanted to see how they would come in before making the decision to dig the top inch out in these areas, install new mix, tamp and re-seed. Any of these areas that have any chance of being a problem in the future I want to get fixed before we have full grass coverage.

Range

Starting range work today.

Washouts

Re-seeding some washout areas on 13, 14, and 15. Hopefully in the next week or so we get enough coverage on these areas to prevent any future washout.

The bunker construction

Bunker construction is well under way. Most of the bunkers are dug out and they have started repairing all of the slopes in the bunkers so we don't have 2 feet of sand in the faces.

There is more fill work than we expected to correct the faces but at least the fill material is a quarter of the cost compared to the bunker sand. You have to fill the faces with either one - and doing it in the sub base will result in a properly constructed bunker.

Seeding

We finished seeding the final 4 greens yesterday -#7,4,3,2. Hopefully we will stay away from the heavy rains for the next couple weeks until we get some grass on them to protect from washout.

Nursery

Put the first mowing on the nursery green yesterday.

Cutworms

I am seeing some cutworms on the greens that were seeded on the first round. I will put down a granular insecticide application today to prevent any damage to the seedlings.

Bunkers

Almost all of the bunkers have been dug out and we are starting to work on fixing the steep slopes and beginning drainage work.

Range

We installed a valve to shut off the range and still keep water to PG2 during the range construction. We will finish up all the prep on the irrigation system this week before we start tearing up the range on monday.

Can't catch a break

Had a blowout in the rough on #8 last night. We are going to have to get this fixed ASAP since we need water on the greens for the new seed - as if we didn't have enough to do today.

Weeds

There is quite a bit of yellow nutsedge around the greens. This is from all the watering we have been doing to establish the seed and the sod. This is a weed that usually comes up in wet areas during prolonged wet stretches. It is easily controlled and we will spray for it in the next week or so, once we have one or two mowings on the new sod.

Grass growing

The greens are coming along nicely. The areas that we had to back and refloat the washouts are a little behind the rest of the green but have germinated. We are just in a holding pattern, waiting to get enough establishment that we have some cushion from heavy rains. Once the grass starts to take hold, washout isn't as big a concern.

Baby

Ryan and his wife had their first new addition this weekend. Everyone is home and healthy.