The Golf Course is Closed

Sunday was the last day of golf for the 2011 season.  Our staff is now making our final preparations to prepare the golf course for winter.  The final snow mold fungicide applications will be applied to greens, tees and fairways starting today.  All golf course accessories will be brought in and stored and today we are hauling the greens covers to the respective greens.  We may begin covering greens as early as Tuesday.  There are still plenty of leaves on the course.  We will keep seasonal staff around this fall as long as we can in order to get the course as clean as possible as we head into winter.

Other work happening this week, Tim's Tree Service will be here for the next two weeks taking care of tree removals and our annual tree trimming.  Red Pederson Utilities is also here and will be installing a new 10"High Density Polyethylene mainline.  This pipe will replace the old cast iron mainline that goes from our main well to the mainline by the 18th green. This is going to be a very interesting process.  The process is called pipe bursting and they will literally pull the 10" pipe through the old 8" cast iron pipe which bursts the old pipe as they pull the new pipe through.  I will have more about this project as the week goes on. 

Driving Range Project

We nearing the end of the range project. Today asphalt is being laid for the cart path and the final lift will be applied to the tennis parking lot and the drop off area.  The tee has been dormant seeded and by the end of the week the final pallets of sod will be laid.  Of course there will be plenty of detail work that needs to be completed, but we will sign off on the majority of the work by Hartman Co.at the end of the week.  Final decisions on plantings will need to be made for the gardens at tennis as well as some retaining wall and brick paver work.  We will complete what we can this fall and the remaining work will be completed in the spring. 

This has been a wonderful project.  When completed the members will have a golf practice facility and tennis facility they will be extremely proud of.  Thank you to Golf Course Architect Kevin Norby, building architect Scott Newland, Hartman Golf Course Construction and Landscape Divisions, Doboszenski & Sons, Inc, Phehal Asphalt Company, StoneScapes, West Lake Landscapes, Tennis West, Jirik Sod, Plaisteds Co., EC Design, Red Pederson Utilities, Frazier Morris Electrical and Zeeman Construction.  This project has taken quite a team of contractors to complete.  Hartman Company was the lead contractor and did a fabulous job keeping this hectic project on schedule as well as working with such a large group of sub-contractors. 

There's no doubt we will have our work cut out for ourselves next spring, but the majority of the work is complete.  Now lets hope and pray for an early spring so we can get the bentgrass seed up and growing on the tee, fairway and target greens.

Driving Range Project

The Driving Range project continues to move in a forward direction.  The retaining wall is complete, the irrigation system for the fairway has been installed, plant material on the back slope has been installed as well as irrigation and prairie grass seed mix.  The concrete has been poured for the hitting mats and the foundation for the range house has also been poured.  The next major step is to seed the fairway with creeping bentgrass and sod the rough.  By the 21st of October the majority of the project will be near completion leaving us with asphalt work for the cart path, the parking lot by the tennis courts as well as some landscape work by the retaining wall and the tennis court area.  It's great to see the project nearing completion.  Contractors will easily be here until the end of October and probably into November, but at least the majority of the work load will be behind us.

 Concrete pad for hitting mats

 Kevin Hanson from Hartman Co. Irrigation Installation Specialist

 Irrigation installation on the range fairway

 Installation of the Tennis courts hydration system

 Completed lannen stone retaining wall by StoneScapes

Irrigation system pressurized! Now it's time to seed and sod.

Bunker and Tee Construction Projects

Our staff has been very busy the past few weeks completing the construction of bunkers on 2, 7 and 17 as well as new tees on holes 7, 9 and 17. I'm pleased to say these projects have been completed.  The bunkers, designed by Ron Prichard, have turned out quite nice.  The bunkers on 2 and 17 need to be reconstructed following the loss of American elm trees in both locations.  The bunker on 7 was an additional bunker placed on the inside of the dogleg, in order to make the hole more challenging for the lower handicap player. 

Hartman Companies was contracted to complete the shaping of the bunkers and install the drainage.  All of the finish work, the irrigation changes, the installation of the burlap bags, the rough grading and the sod work was all completed in house.  My main goal was to make sure the bunker shaper was able to construct the style of the bunker to look exactly like the other bunkers we built in '02-'03.  Even though Prichard has designed all the bunkers Hartman was not involved in the renovation and we needed to insure the new bunkers did not take on a look of their own.  I have to say Hartman did a great job as did our staff.  A special thank you goes to Assistant Superintendents Nick Folk and Rick Krause for their leadership with these projects.

Construction Update

Progress for the Driving range/tennis project continues to move in a positive direction.  Yesterday Tennis West signed off on the sub-grading for the location of the tennis courts.  Hartman Construction is now complete with that phase of their responsibility via the tennis courts.  Their efforts can now be completely focused on the completion of the sub-grade work on the range and bringing the tee surfaces to grade.

Topsoil has been removed and stockpiled and although we excavated more than we anticipated an estimated additional 1000 cubic yards will be required to complete the job.  Plaisteds Company has begun the process of hauling the additional topsoil required for the job.

Although the photos don't show it, we're really not that far from thinking about irrigation installation.  Sticks of PVC pipe have already been glued together and are now awaiting bringing the sub-grade to grade and shaping of the fairway and target greens.

Installation of the Lannen stone retaining wall has also begun.  Stoneworks Co. has begun installation and with only 3 days into the job, they are making excellent progress.  Footings and pouring of the foundation for the new range house will hopefully begin by the end of next week and construction of the building is slated to begin the week of October 3rd.

This job has required a lot of subcontractors due the various jobs required to be completed.  Currently we have as many as 7 contractors on sight and maybe an additional 2-3 will be required before the project can be completed.  Its quite the process to see it all orchestrated by Hartman.

Bunker Renovation

This past week our staff stripped and re-sodded four bunker faces.  Bunkers where turf was replaced was on two fairway bunkers on 5, the approach bunker on the left of 9 and the first fairway bunker on the right of 16.  The turf on these south facing bunkers was in tough condition thus forcing us to replace the turf.  Rooting of the sod will take a few weeks.  In the mean time the bunker faces will remain Ground Under Repair and will be roped off.  Please do not walk on the faces of these bunkers!  Once rooted properly we will then remove the rope.

 

Bunker on 9 prior to stripping

 Stripped bunker

Sod being laid

The sod consists of a majority of Creeping red fescue (varieties are Epic and Shoneline).  By placing a fescue blend on the bunker face we are placing a turf species that will be better able to tolerate the drought conditions which the south facing slopes natural will have.  This turf is also very consistent with the species of grasses that exist on the bunker faces surrounding all of our greens.  Additionally on these particular bunker we will not be allowing the shoulders of these bunker to grow to seed head height.  All of these bunkers will be mowed on a regular basis and will ultimately become a very dense stand of turf.

Course Projects

It's that time of year, the time when the grass starts slowing down and growing a little less, play begins to slide and we start gearing up for projects on the course.  West Lake Landscape was here this week to begin work around the 10 tee house.  The old timbers that surrounded the flower bed were removed and replaced with a lannen stone wall.  This was a quick and simple job for them and the end result is fantastic!  The look is consistent with other lannen stone work throughout the course.  The next phase will be to replace the old blue stone with red brick pavers.  That work is also scheduled to be completed this fall by West Lake Landscape.

Randy Boe from West Lake

                                        
Over the course of the next few weeks we will be working on multiple projects on the course.  The first one will be to replace some existing turf on a few fairway bunker faces.  The current quality and condition of the turf is less than ideal on the fairway bunker on 5 double bunker, the lower bunker on 5, the approach bunker on 9 and the 1st fairway bunker on the right side of 16.  We have sprayed and killed the existing turf and beginning next week will will strip the sod and replace it with new sod.  The most difficult aspect of this operation will be removing the sod from the steep faces.  Once removed we can then easily lay new sod.

Approach bunker on 9 where turf will be replaced

Future 7th tee

Other projects will be the construction of tees on 7, 9 and 13.  Our first job is to haul fill to raise the fill pads.  for the blue tee on 13 we need to raise the height a least 6 feet.  This we require close to 150 cubic yards of fill.  When complete the tee on 13 make this hole play to a distance of 603 yards.  Wow!  The tee on 7 will provide the players a slightly different angle to play this par 5 dogleg.  From a maintenance position it will provide us with an additional tee to move the markers and reduce the wear and tear on the existing white and blue tees.  The addition of the white tee on 9 will provide additional length as well as a slightly different position for players to position their shots to the fairway.  I really like this tee and I think both new tees on 7 and 9 will be a nice improvement for white tee players.

Future 13th tee

                                           

Bunker Work

String trimming of fairway bunker faces

The day after Labor Day our staff started the process of mowing the tall fescue from the bunkers.  Mowing of the tall fescue is a process that is typical fall maintenance practice.  For the next two months of the season all 99 bunkers will be cut on a regular basis.  Since some of the varieties of fescue growing on the faces have clump type growing habits, there are some voids that are visible on some of the fairway bunkers.

In an attempt to have the grass fill in theses voids we will be making regular fertility applications to the bunkers.  Applications of soluble fertilizer will aid with thickening the density of the faces and reduce the voids.  Over time we will create a thicker denser face.  This will not allow the ball to roll back into the bunker but it will provide a better lie and reduce the chance of having the ball settle into those voids.  Transitioning the bunkers for a whispy un-mantained look to a manicured look takes time and will not happen after one cutting or one fertility applications.  These transitions take time and patience will be needed.

Soluble applications of fertilizer

Regular mowing of bunker capes

A few bunkers have way too many voids and the application of fertilizer will not be enough to fill the voids.  On those bunkers we will strip and sod the faces.  We have identified about 5 fairway bunkers where we need to re-sod.  We are hoping to begin this process very soon.  The stripping of the existing turf will be the most difficult process, but the end result will provide a more consistent playing condition as well as visually more pleasing.

5 fairway bunker will be re-sodded

Driving Range Project

Last week we began our Driving Range and Tennis project.  The tennis courts to be replaced have been removed and demolition of the trees has begun.  Hartman Company is overseeing the construction of the range project and Tennis West will be overseeing the tennis project.  Many subcontractors will be on site for various jobs as well.

Once the tree removal process is complete the dirt work part of the project will begin.  Hartman is currently removing all the existing top soil from the old tee and stock piling it for use on the new tee.  The top soil from the the fairway will also be removed and set aside for future use.  A lot of changes are taking place at this time, but once the dirt movers begin, then you will really see the changes take place.

Sodding Green Surrounds

Over the years, since the course restoration was completed in 2003, areas next to the green edges have become contaminated with a mix stand of grasses.  Creeping bentgrass and poa annua have crept into the rough surrounding the greens.  If a players ball comes to rest in one of these grasses and not the bluegrass, they end up with a really difficult lie.  Our goal over the next week is to identify these areas and replace the contaminated turf with new bluegrass sod.  We also have some areas where the turf is quite thin for one reason or another and those ares will also be replaced with bluegrass sod. 

Family Tradition

Long-time employee at Minikahda, Assistant Superintendent Johnny Jarosz, has 27 years experience on the Grounds Department alone.  That doesn't include his years of service to the club, first as a caddie, then at the bag room and also a short stint washing dishes in the kitchen.  Minikahda is in his blood and quite frankly is the only place he has ever worked.  Now for the first time all three of his boys are working here at the same time.  Neal (20), Cole (17) and Seth (14) are all caddying at the club this summer.  Neal, an Evans Scholar, and Cole are highly qualified and skilled caddies who are highly regarded and frequently requested by the members.  Seth is in his 1st year and by the sounds of it, is a quick study.  I've got to say, its pretty cool to see these three young men out here working together.  I know Johnny feels the same way. 

Seth, Cole and Neal Jarosz