Turf/Phase 2 Update

The last bunker to be worked on by Turf Masters has been roughed in. The right greenside bunker on 18 has been changed. We have reduced the square footage by eliminating what was the right portion of the bunker, that received much less use, along with the typical issues of contaminated sand and compromised drainage. The new bunker, similar to 9 cuts a little more into the area around the green, guarding the front right portion of the green. A smaller hazard, but one that will arguably be more effective in penalizing wayward shots. Looking forward to the completion of this area.

Progress on 18 has been slowed due to wet conditions

The final piece of Phase 2 is a renovation of the teeing area on 3. Par 3 tees receive the most damage with the amount of divots that are taken. Of the four par 3s here, the third hole has the smallest square footage, particularly since the gold tees were moved back to the 165 yard deck.

There used to be 3 relatively small decks for the blue, white, and gold tees. In its place, a large, single tee deck is being constructed, starting from the back of where the blue tee was going to the front of where the gold tee was. Where the old tees were 400-500ft2 the new tee will be around 4000ft2. This massive increase in hitting area will provide much more flexibility in the yardages that can be played from. More importantly, the tee will allow us to have divot free areas to play from. The increase in rounds over the last 5 years puts a beating on the smaller tees. Coupled with the gold tees being moved to the tee deck that used to be used by the whites left little room for areas to hit from without divots, or even a stance that was on turf.

What was the Gold, White, and Blue tee decks. White tee was the largest at appx 550ft2

New Tee will be around 4000ft2

The new tee will be sodded in a similar fashion to how the Driving Range Tee was two years ago. We would like to hope that the record breaking rainfall that delayed the opening of the range tee will not repeat and that we can open over the course of the summer. Patience will be needed, though a reminder that this timeline differs from the tee on 9 that was seeded in 2023. A sodded tee will allow for play sooner. We will be diligent in our agronomic practices, specifically in mind with incorporating bentgrass and ryegrass as overseed to complement the bluegrass sod. A core aeration and topdressing along with a well thought out fertility plan will encourage the maturation of the tee.

Looking forward to sharing progress on this one. Very exciting, and hopefully a taste of what we can achieve elsewhere on the property in the future. While the sod roots and matures, an area set up with an artificial hitting surface will be played from.

4 Green

Turning our attention to the rest of the property. Things are looking good! We have been hoping to remove the tarps for a couple of weeks now, but the weather keeps preventing us from doing so. With overnight temperatures getting as low as -7 on Friday Night we are going to put the blanket back down. The turf looks very green! What I am glad to see is that there has not been too much growth to this point. We want to keep things hardened off until we are consistently above freezing overnight before getting into tarp removal and eventually mowing. With large temperature fluctuations, lush turf can be vulnerable to these cold nights. As I write this post we have snow on the ground! The forecast next week does not show much sign of improvement. Some daily highs only getting to 2-3 Degrees and multiple nightly lows 2-5 degrees below zero. And more snow! In any case, some of the crew has returned and we are busy getting ready for the golf season.

Large Practice Green. Heavy topdressing in November still present. Seems to have helped.

8 Green