9th Hole Is Open for Play

The 9th hole is open for play. Please keep electric carts off the new sod. There are still ropes up protecting seeded areas these are marked ground under repair.

Course Update and Pace of Play- Episode 1: Why Traffic Jams Occur

I will be posting some Pace of Play videos form the USGA to help educate the membership on why pace of play is important and how it effects the flow around the golf course.



The sod from the 9th hole project and the small 3rd fairways expansion sod continues to develop roots and has been mowed twice although at a higher height of cut then our fairways currently. We have to slowly bring down the height of cut from what the sod farm maintains to our heights of cut at MGC. The greens are healing in from aeration and are being mowed and rolled on a regular basis. We are adding bunker sand to the 8th greenside bunkers today as well as finishing up mulching the beds around the golf course.



The 9th green and bunkers will be open for play Saturday April 26th. A decision on opening the fairway expansions will be made at the end of the week and you will be updated.

Coming Together

What a difference a month makes, Happy Easter.

#2 in March

#2 in April

Let the Healing Begin

The fairways were aerated on Monday by our contractor, Aer-Core with a tight spacing of 3x2 inches, the tightest spacing that we have done on the fairways, with very minimal issues during the process. The bulk of the aeration has now been completed, the newly sodded areas will have to be aerated once they have been established sometime in the beginning of May. The greens are healing nicely after 7 days and this afternoon's rain will aid in that recovery. The schedule for the greens is mow again Wednesday afternoon with our sand mowers, roll Thursday afternoon, and mow Friday afternoon with our Flex 21 mowers. The crew will begin working weekends starting this week getting started with our normal routines of maintenance.

The sod on the 9th hole project is starting to root and I have just been notified that the remaining bunker sand and cart path material will be delivered and the final repairs made at the end of the week. The new fairway expansion was rolled yesterday and will be mowed for the first time at the end of the week.  I want to thank the membership for staying off the sod and understanding the weather delays that we have been dealing with in regards to the project.

Thatch removed from the 9th Fairway

2x3 inch Fairway Aeration Spacing

Good News/Bad News

The good news is the project area on the 9th hole has been sodded and we will make our goal of opening the 9th green complex and fairway expansion for Men's Opening Day. The bad news is we are still waiting for 50 more tons of bunker sand to finish the project. The sand comes out of a pond in a Pennsylvania quarry which was frozen. Once the remaining sand can be delivered it will be installed and the cart path along the first hole repaired. We are also still dealing with the gremlins of the old irrigation system in the project area but hopefully the remaining leaks can be repaired today. The 9th hole will remain a temporary green and the red tee markers will remain on the 2nd fairway while the white/blue markers will be placed back on the 2nd tee. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE SHOULD YOU WALK ON, PLAY, TOUCH, OR DO ANYTHING TO THE NEW SOD. DO NOT WALK TO GET YOUR BALL SHOULD IT LAND IN THE BUNKER, FAIRWAY EXPANSION, ON THE SOD OR ON THE 9TH GREEN. Any disturbance to the sod will jeopardize the opening of the project on April 26th.

The weekend weather forecast looks great so I hope you can come out to the club and enjoy it. The greens were mowed yesterday for the first time since aeration and we removed most of the extra sand. The greens are still very bumpy but we are on our way to recovery. A reminder that fairway aeration will take place on Monday with our contractor.

An example of an Irrigation Repair

Laying the Bentgrass Sod on the Fairway Expansion

Aeration

The greens were aerated yesterday and were completed before the rain started. We used a slightly smaller tine this spring, due to the cold spring start, the greens would not have been able to handle the larger tine. I added an extra step this season with an aggressive verticut before we aerated. This additional process is possible due to the purchase of the new tri-flex mower late last fall. The greens are open but are very sandy and bumpy and extremely soft from the near one inch of rain we received. We will continue to brush and roll during the afternoons this week with the first mowing being Friday.

The construction company will be here tomorrow to fix the irrigation break in the bunker and begin prepping for sod. Our goal is to lay sod on Friday.

Aggressive Verticut

#2 Green Aertion

Course Update

We were able to mow the greens twice this week and roll them as well. The greens were also fertilized in preparation for next weeks aeration. Our plan is to aerate on Monday but weather might alter those plans forcing us to aerate during play. If your playing next week and encounter the crew aerating a green please pick-up and move to the next hole.

All of the other short turf was mowed this week as well and the course is slowly greening up. Due to the forecasted weather next week we switched gears and aerated the tees on Thursday. The crew has also worked on the landscaping this week adding pansies to the clubhouse, replacing some plant material that didn't make it through the winter, and adding some Viburnum behind 6 green keeping that area natural looking.

We had an issue on Thursday when we began to charge the irrigation system with a large leak under the renovated bunkers on the 9th hole. Unfortunately a large irrigation line runs under the left-side bunker and was compromised during the winter. A section of the liner will have to be removed allowing for the repair then the bunker can be put back together. As you can imagine I was not in a great mood yesterday but the positive is that the bunker isn't full of sand and completely sodded so the repair will be much easier to complete. Topsoil and sod should be finished next week if the weather cooperates and our goal of men's opening day, April 26th, is still a reality for opening the 9th green complex for play.

Tee Aeration 5/8 inch tine 1.5 x 1.5 inch spacing