Dry Weather Allows Special Course Work To Continue...

Mother Nature's continued weather balancing act has been in full force this fall. After damn lousy hot and wet conditions, through much of the summer, the past two months have been an especially nice reprieve. It's been particularly dry (and a might bit windy a few days) in October, with only .9 inches of rain, and in fact the driest in 39 years, but this certainly is preferred to last October, when the month rainfall total then was 6.79 inches! What a difference a year makes! The only thing certain is that this too will balance out again at some point, perhaps in a colder and whiter winter, or a soggy spring. I hope neither is extreme, but whatever it brings we'll try to make the best of it. For now though, the favorably dry weather has not only allowed a nice extended period for fall "fast and firm" golf, but also has allowed us to continue with a number of course tasks including:

• Daily leaf processing. (blowing and mulching)
• Fairway Topdressing on select fairways (includes solid tine aeration).
• Bunker edging (I call it rip-edging as shown below).
• Drainage repair and additions.
• Fairway repair (a few small remaining spots).
• Winterizing tennis court irrigation system.
• & Applying nutrients and plant protectants to prepare turf for winter.  

 Rafa & Javier performing the daily leaf processing ritual.

Only a few summer heat/moisture damaged fairway spots remain.

Same location as above photo showing our "home-grown" sod in place. Sod should blend nicely by next golf season, once rooted and well established.
Note 3 divots in same location...Imagine if everyone did this throughout the course! 
(Remember you can "click" on photos to enlarge them for better viewing, then use your "back" browser button to return to post)

1-800 Call Otto, completes repair job in this area.
Between repairing ice damaged spots in spring and heat/moisture damaged spots this fall, he's become an expert in playing surface repair! 

 Turf areas surrounding our bunkers encroach rapidly and as much as a foot or more in some areas, over a growing season. We do not frequently edge our bunkers, preferring to allow a more natural edge to develop. Walking on these edges causes them to flatten and promotes even more rapid growth into the sand, creating a shelf which can lead to very difficult lies. Walking in the sand, rather than along the base of the grass face, helps slow this shelf development. This will be a topic I'll add to the Course Etiquette Page prior to next golf season.

Bunker Rip-Edging in progress. 

Encroaching turf is "Ripped" away (and sand shaken out) to retain original bunker shape. 

 Ripped material is gathered and removed.

 

  A photo "before" Rip-Edging Process

Same shot "after" Rip-Edging

Rip-Edging is an on-going process in that as long as turf is growing, it will continually be encroaching into the sand. Sand is an excellent growing media as the multiple pore spaces are ideal for root growth. We have 92 bunkers with roughly half green side and half fairway bunkers. Last year all green side bunkers were edged as well as several fairway bunkers. Our goal at present is to complete all fairway bunkers this fall and then all green side bunkers in spring prior to the golf season kick off. We're currently about half finished with fairway bunkers. 

Aside from this work, we're addressing a few drainage issues, topdressing select fairways (a second time), and performing various winterization tasks. I'll post about these next week. 

The Low temperatures are forecast to be fairly cool but High temperatures are expected to be near 60 over the next several days, so it's not too late to get in a few more rounds! Enjoy the weather while it lasts!

 

Finishing touches completed on #18 Bunker Project!

In just a little over a week the combined efforts of Wadsworth Golf Construction and Skokie Grounds Operations Staff have completed the Bunker and Mound Project at #18.  With great weather and a few very long days we just may have set a record for building and grassing this new complex!
Over the weekend the bunker shapes, shoulder elevations, drainage, irrigation modifications, mounded ridge shaping, topsoil placement, and most of the sod installation was completed.

Irrigation and shoulder (face) sod being installed 

Drainage in place and shoulder sodding progressing

 Topsoil replacement on mounded ridge 

Monday the sand was installed, final sodding of the mounded ridge completed, and the haul road (where all traffic was confined during construction) was tilled, leveled and seeded. Also, with areas where the fairway has now shifted from original, we replaced all fairway sod that was lifted prior to construction. There was a net increase in fairway width, and rather than bring in sod that would not match the existing fairway turf varieties, we used our "home-grown" sod, planted from cores at our nursery, which will much more closely match the existing turf varieties in the adjacent areas on #18 fairway. This is the same method as we have used with other fairway expansions (see last post), but in this case rather than grow in place we used sod available at our nursery.

Shoulder sod complete, fairway expansion begins 

 

Sand installed, fairway replacement and expansion complete

 Haul road tilled and prepped for seeding

 The few final details were completed on Tuesday and included smoothing and compacting the bunker sand, fertilizing and applying wetting agents to aid moisture retention for the new sod and seed, and covering the seeded, former haul road with a straw blanket. This late seeding is what's considered 'dormant seeding', and germination will not take place now but the seed will be in place and will do so as soon as the soil warms in the spring. With these final few items addressed today, I guess I can say for this project,...that's a wrap!

Straw blanket in place to prevent erosion and protect seeds

 Fairway expansion at first bunker, sand smoothed and compacted

A few details about the new complex:

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the new bunkers approximately split the location of the former bunker. The new far bunker is approximately 10 yards further from the tee, and the new closest bunker is approximately 10 yards closer. A low shoulder or face separates the two, and a formidable shoulder on the far bunker gives true meaning to the term "hazard"! An off line shot entering the first bunker will have a much more manageable recovery shot. If a player challenges the far bunker and is skilled enough to carry 295 yards he'll be rewarded by a nice "kick" off the back slope, where fairway lies beyond, receiving a good amount of additional yardage.
The mounded ridge short of the bunkers is a continuation of the ridge that was existing between the former bunker and the existing grass bunker on #1 side. The sloped areas of the mounded ridge will add challenge to shots hit wide right off both #1 and #18 due to potential uneven stance. There is a generous amount of fairway and flat rough in these areas and this should only affect shots hit rather far off line.
I believe this entire new complex looks very attractive (and will of course be more so when fully established) and with design similarities of that of many of our other bunkers, these "new" bunkers blend well with our overall bunker style.

 Complex complete - Attractive but.."A hazard to be avoided"!

 Enjoy the view but remember bunkers are hazards, and in the words of architect Donald J. Ross, "Regardless of where a bunker may be, it is the business of the player to avoid it"!

Bunkers Take Shape

With perfect construction weather this week and a combined effort from both Wadsworth Golf Construction and Skokie Country Club Grounds Operations Staff, the bunker project at #18 is taking shape at a rapid pace.
My last post showed where we had removed the sand from the old bunker and began to remove sod so that the new bunkers could begin to be shaped and molded into the new planned designs.
I also showed fill material being stockpiled to be shaped into what will be a the 'bony ridge' or mounded area on the west side (#18 tee side) of the new bunkers.

Original bunker ready for modifications to begin

With most of this work completed prior to this week, Wadsworth mobilized and began to shape the new dual bunker complex and build the support mounds or shoulders surrounding the bunkers. By Tuesday the bunker shapes were taking on their new shapes and by Thursday the shoulders were in place and very close to what will be final elevations and shapes. The 'bony ridge' was also beginning to be rough shaped.


Shoulder shaping of furthest bunker begins


Bunkers "roughed in" - getting closer to final shape


Hand cutting of bunker perimeter

Trenching and drain line installation


Rough shaping of material for 'bony ridge' begins


Much progress will happen today. While Wadsworth puts the finishing touches on the shoulder heights and shapes, hand cuts the perimeter edges of each bunker, trenches and installs drain lines in each bunker floor, and further shapes the 'bony ridge', we will be re-routing and installing irrigation, installing one new section of drainage near the 'bony ridge', and final smoothing and preparing the bunker shoulders for sod. Late morning we're expecting our first sod delivery and by the end of the day we should have a portion of the bunker surrounds sodded.
Looking forward to a good day!

While this is all in progress we have (at least) four other projects in the works including:

• Fairway expansion at #8 (the approach area near the "stacked" right green side bunkers).
• A drainage collapse at #11 (18" clay tile line, left side rough) where we've added additional tile in this area (desperately needed), and planning to add more, while we're making the repair.
• Repairing (sodding) some of the haul road area adjacent to the Forest Preserve west of hole #13. Much of this sod is the harvested sod from #18 bunker area.
  
• Removing brush along side the Grounds Operations Center/Paddle Complex entrance road, placing fill material and grading in preparation for additional Paddle parking stalls.

I'll blog about these projects, and more about the new bunker complex at #18 as soon as possible.

Rains End Finally! - Bunker Project Underway

You'll see (or may already have seen) some of this same information in my 'Clippings' column in the Nov. Skokie News, so some of this may be a repeat, but there is certainly other information that is exclusively covered here.

The rain this month has made it quite miserable for trying to get our fairway aeration finished (just 2 to go though), leaves mulched and processed, a small drainage project on No. 11 addressed, and the bunker and mounding modification project on 18 underway.

One word pretty well describes October. Saturated! Yes, that about sums it up. But if you’re interested in the details for the 31 day month, according to the recordings of our on-site weather station, the total rainfall was 6.79 inches, and we received measurable precipitation on 22 days. Evapotranspiration, which is the process whereby a plant (turfgrass, etc.) uses water for general growth and cooling processes (it’s similar to our perspiration process), was at a mere 1.35 inches so the “excess” moisture that was available to thoroughly saturate the course was 5.44 inches! This is a lot of extra water considering that the average rainfall for October is a low 2.7 inches (the only drier months are January and February) and to add further insult, with rain 75% of the days, there surely wasn't much opportunity for any significant drying!

As November begins we've finally had a few sunny, breezy days and Tuesday this week we were able to return to preparing for the planned modifications of the No. 18 fairway bunker area. We previously removed sand from the existing bunker and began some sod removal but then the rain began and saturation followed delaying our progress. Hopefully a bit cooperation with weather will allow us to make some good progress in the next couple weeks.

No. 18 Bunker & Mounding Project

Last month the Grounds & Greens Committee in consultation with our Golf Architect, Ron Prichard, (and after final approval from the Board of Director’s) decided to move forward with a modification of the fairway bunker area on the right side of No. 18. This area I am referring to is the bunker and the area west and between No. 1 and 18, where you may recall we lost several trees in a storm two years ago, and is now wide open and rather uninteresting. After much discussion it was decided to rebuild the existing bunker (moving it closer to the green about 10 yards), adding an additional bunker west of it (just slightly closer to the tee) and placing a series of small mounds or a “boney ridge” (as Prichard calls it) west of this bunker in the current wide open space. These bunkers and mounding or low ridge, will provide better hole separation, better visual direction, sufficient challenge to all levels of play, and should improve the aesthetics of this area which has change so markedly since the storm.

The complete construction process includes:

* Removing existing sand from bunker
* Stripping all sod from entire work area
* Isolating irrigation lines and drains in construction zone
* Strip and stockpile topsoil
* Shape bunkers and place soil filled bags for perimeter shaping
* Install bunker drainage
* Haul fill material for mounding or low ridge (approx. 25-30 semi-loads needed)
* Shape fill material
* Replace and final grade topsoil
* Restore irrigation and drainage
* Sod entire area


Sand removed and hand stripping of bunker face Sod begins


Sod removal continues & re-used on course where needed

Stripping and stockpiling topsoil for later use on mounds

Importing of 'fill material' for "boney, mounded ridge"

As additional fill material is imported for the "boney, mounded ridge" we'll soon be shaping the bunker faces or shoulders and the general perimeter outlines of the two bunkers. In general the first bunker will start at approx. 250 yds out (from the championship markers) and extend to approx. 265. The second bunker will start at approx. 270 and extend to approx. 290 yds. The distances from the regular markers are 237 - 252 for the first bunker and 257 - 277 for the second. These are approximate distances and may need to be slightly adjusted due to large drain lines in the area that we need to retain in their current location.

I'll keep you posted as progress proceeds.