Course Notes, 4/11/2021

The old adage “April showers bring May flowers” will hopefully ring true this year, as we have received almost 3″ of rain in the first 10 days of the month. A couple days near 80 also help turf’s emergence from dormancy too! The color change in the turf from dormant brown to spectacular green has been amazing to see in the last few days. The flowering trees that dot the Elcona landscape also are beginning to pop with vibrant color, so this coming week may be a great time to snap a few pictures if you wish. As more of you come out to enjoy your golf course this month, below is an update on what our staff has been working on as well as a couple of friendly reminders.

We have began more regular mowing of greens, tees, and fairways as the warmer weather has increased the color and growth of the turf. With the forecast cooling off to more normal temperatures this week, we will continue to mow turf as needed. The long range forecast has me thinking our regular “in season mowing” schedule will begin later this month.

Greens and fairways were aerified this week using solid tines to relieve compaction and increase fresh air to the rootzone of the turf. Additional sand topdressing will be applied tomorrow to greens to further smooth them out. Tomorrow we will be aerifying tees, and later this month bringing our deep tine aerifier out to select areas to further aid in drainage and the health of those areas.

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As I mentioned above, we have had a few heavy rain events this month, and many of you have asked how our new bunkers performed. One word comes to mind: SPECTACULAR! In the above photo montage, I took a screenshot of the radar on 3/31, when we received almost 2″ of rain in 3 1/2 hours. As all of you remember, a rain event like this would leave the bunkers totally ruined and take on average 44 man hours to completely repair. The next morning, we had only 6 bunkers that needed minor repairs (pushing sand back up onto the edge) and 2 bunkers that needed pumped out due to flash flooding overtaking the drain pit. These bunkers were pumped out via the drainage system installed below ground. All bunkers were ready for play in the normal time it takes us to rake them during a sunny day, and the “repairs” needed took a single person 1 hour and 9 minutes. Those extra labor hours were used to prepare other areas of the course and perform much needed debris clean up. On behalf of my staff, a sincere thank you to your investment in the golf course.

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We have also begun detail work around the golf course as more staff return to help us achieve that. Our semi-load of bark mulch arrived late last week, and will be installed in the beds throughout the next couple of weeks. You will also see painted dots and lines out on the course to help our staff define mowing lines for this year. Our sprinklers will be edged and work will continue expanding the practice tee to the north and east. Above are pictures from our efforts to clean up the pond edges along 3 and 14, by thinning out the cattails that have overgrown in these areas. We are leaving small pods of these for wildlife habitat. Mechanical removal of these was a better option compared to chemical control, and will be much more manageable through the summer to keep an aesthetically pleasing look to these water features. By the looks of all the balls we removed, thinning these areas out will help anyone find a ball they hit here too!

5 Green from above. The right side and back will be roped off to help turf recover from cart traffic wear.

You will also begin to see more ropes and stakes out on the course to help control cart traffic wear, as the playability of the green surround rough has been a topic of discussion the last few years. The pictures above show one such example near 5 green. Much of the cart traffic around this green is right and behind the green, and any of you that have been long of the green know that the lies there are quite penal. Roping these areas off for a few weeks will help the turf recover and increase its playability. A great rule of thumb is keeping your cart 30 feet away from greens at all times, and to please heed to any roping, stakes, or signs that are out on the course. Another great rule of thumb is to please keep your carts on the paths where applicable.

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Finally, another friendly reminder to repair your pitchmarks and rake any bunkers that you are in. We are early in the season, and I have already seen the above pictures on the golf course. The Golf/Greens Committee, Tom, and I ask out of respect for your fellow member that plays the course after you, please take care of your golf course by performing the simple art of golf etiquette. Anyone would hate for their lie or ball roll to be impacted by images like the above. Repairing 2 pitchmarks and raking footprints out of a bunker takes seconds but will be much appreciated to those who share the course with you. Thank you!

If you have any questions, please email me at ryan@elconacc.com. Have a great week and I’ll see you out on the golf course!

Ryan

Course Notes, 3/21/2021

It has been great to see some of you celebrate the Vernal Equinox (first day of Spring!) by enjoying your golf course here at Elcona. What a beautiful stretch of weather we have for late March golf. Our staff has done a wonderful job cleaning up all the winter sticks and debris from the hellacious ice storm we endured on New Year’s Day, and we have turned our attention to preparing turf and landscape areas for the 2021 golf season.

One question I get a lot is how often are you mowing greens and other playing surfaces? The simple answer is “as needed”. Nighttime temperatures are dipping into the upper 20’s still, and combined with soil temperatures in the upper 30’s/low 40’s, growth is quite slow this time of year. Playing surfaces will be mowed or rolled as the weather and growth dictates, with increased frequencies as April progresses. More than likely, we will be rolling more often than mowing to smooth the green surfaces for play while the grass is quite slow to grow.

Other practices, such as raking bunkers, will be done on an as needed basis. The USGA again has produced a very nice video explaining springtime maintenance, which you can watch here. As I mentioned in my last post, bunker sand will be compacted as staff and schedule allow. The playability of the bunkers is one of our top priorities this season.

I am also excited to welcome back our seasonal employees beginning the first week of April as well! Their return is based on historical dates that have been determined by weather as well as budgetary guidelines set for the year. As it has been the case over the years, we anticipate being fully staffed by Memorial Day. Most of our 2020 staff will be returning, with a couple of new faces being added as well.

As March winds down, you will also notice more roping out on the golf course, for a couple good reasons. Some of the sod installed last fall for the Golf Course Improvement Project has not quite rooted fully yet, and is not ready for play. Most of this sod is located on holes 1 and 2, which were the last areas of the project. All of the new approach and fairway sod areas will be subject to aerifying, rolling, and topdressing to further smooth them out over the next few weeks. Some of the ground settling around drains are roped off for your safety, and Golf Creations will be out to repair these areas the first week of April. Additional roping will also be incorporated this year to increase the playability of the rough around greens, such as around 1 green. Reducing or eliminating cart traffic will stand the turf up much better, allowing for a nicer lie should you find yourself in the rough.

I would also like to remind everyone of some simple, but often overlooked courtesies when it comes to driving golf carts. Courtesies that should be followed all year and especially during the stressful times include: parking 30 feet away from greens and tees, not driving carts where they don’t belong (next to greens/tees and in the tall grass areas), and carefully applying the brakes so that the tires do not lock up and leave skid marks on the paths and turf. All of these help make the rough in these areas much more playable (and should be common sense) but you would be amazed at how many times I witness all of these on a daily basis. Please help our staff take care of your golf course by following these simple courtesies.

One big spring time project we have started is filling in the old practice bunker and drainage pit behind it to further expand the practice tee to the east. We have hauled in over 75 loads of fill dirt from the north end of the property to accomplish this. Over the next few weeks as the schedule and staffing allows, we will be finalizing the grade and plant new bentgrass seed. My goal is to have this tee ready for use in late June or early July.

Finally, we have a few events coming up out the course that you need to be aware of. We will be turning on our irrigation system this Tuesday, March 23, and they may be a few sprinklers running here and there as we bleed all the air our of the piping. We will do our very best to work around any play on the course but you may encounter a sprinkler running here and there. Our staff will also be out applying a fertilizer and crabgrass preventative to the roughs. This time of year, through mid April, is the best time to be applying this control for both the golf course and your lawn as well for a healthy stand of turf all summer long.

Greens aerification will take place Monday, April 5th. We again will be utilizing a small solid tine to incorporate sand into the soil, increase air and water flow into the rootzone, and relieve compaction. Fairway aerification will take place throughout the week of April 5th, again using solid tines. We will be core aerifying tees Monday, April 12th. All of these dates are weather permitting, and any changes to this schedule will be communicated to you via our blog.

As always, if you have any questions related to the golf course, please reach out to me at ryan@elconacc.com. Have a great week and I hope to see you out on the golf course!

Ryan

Course Notes, 3/8/2021

With the warmer temperatures here for a few days this week, many of you have checked in to see what the availability of the golf course is. The answer Tom and I always give is when proper turf and soil conditions allow, we will immediately open. We do our very best to get you out enjoying your golf course as soon as we can while preventing damage to the course that lasts well into the golf season. I understand that other courses are opening in our area, but I can only speak for the turf and soil conditions that we manage here at Elcona. Currently, numerous greens, tees, fairway areas, and bunkers still have much frost in the ground, and we will not be opening this week for play. I will further explain why below.

Tom and I enjoy walking the course in the winter to exercise and discuss any needs of the course. It is a walk that I always enjoy because it gives us a chance to properly assess the conditions and plan any changes or adjustments necessary for the upcoming season. Yesterday was one such walk. Below is are a couple videos I shot on 13 green and the new bunker next to 14 green, demonstrating how shallow the soil has thawed out, even in full sun and the warmth we have experienced in the last 10 days.

The winter of 2020-21 was one that we haven’t seen in a few years: We actually had what we Northern Hoosiers call a winter! Very cold temperatures with bare ground in December, one hellacious ice storm on New Year’s Day, followed by many days of snowfall on top. Before warmer weather arrived a week ago, the frost layer in the soil was about 8-12″ deep on average, and our snowpack reached 20″ here. Melting and thawing this out takes a lot of time, especially in shaded areas. Nighttime temperatures below freezing only delay the thaw out further by refreezing what melted during the day.

Bowser demonstrating snow and frozen soil at hole 7 on Sunday. Shade prolongs thawing out of the golf course!

Why is this so important for us to decide when to open? One simple reason is for playability. We cannot get a cup cutter in the ground to move hole locations, and you certainly would not like the feeling when your wedge impacts a frozen area of sand hitting out of a bunker, although Tom may like the possibility of increased wedge sales. Another important reason is root shear. Increased cart and foot traffic on turf that has thawed near the surface but is still frozen below can rip roots to quite shallow depths, and while the damage may not be evident immediately, the impact of opening too early can last well into the meat of the golf season. The USGA Green Section has an awesome video demonstrating root shear below.

So while temperatures feel like later April, soil conditions are fall behind. This week’s temperature forecast and the good chance of an all day soaking warm rain on Thursday will greatly help thaw out the remaining frost and help us get open, as weird as that sounds. I appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter. I would like nothing more than to see everyone out at Elcona, we will just have to wait a bit longer.

While we wait out the frozen tundra, the staff and I do have areas where we can work without causing damage. Stick and winter clean up is ongoing, and we were able to grind all of our tree stumps from this winter’s tree work. Below is a slo-mo video of our grinder in action. We them remove the grindings and put them in our compost pile, where in 3-4 years they will turn into valuable soil for other projects on the golf course.

All observations are that the golf course wintered very well. One nice change I noticed is our bunkers. Normally, it would take a week or so to repair all of the sand and soil washouts from winter’s precipitation, however the above picture shows the worst washout on the course. I am so thankful for all of your support to get the Golf Course Improvement Project approved and completed last year, and I cannot wait for all of you to experience the fruits of your investment into Elcona.

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When we do open, you will be able to play out of all newly sodded areas and bunkers, except where it is painted or roped off. Golf Creations will be coming back out in a couple weeks to perform some “punchlist” items left over from the project, like repairing some settling around drains and one small liner breach on 7 fairway. These areas will be marked as Ground Under Repair for your safety. We do also have fairway sodded areas that need additional time to heal in, such as the area in front of 14 green pictured above. These will be aerified, topdressed, and overseeded to heal in as quickly as possible.

Also, it is important to understand that it will take a few months for us to achieve the sand consistency you expect here at Elcona. New bunker sand can be quite fluffy when first installed, and the excess snow fall received in February was a great first step in packing the sand down. We will be out as much as possible compacting the sand down using our bunker rake tires, as well as wetting down the sand and using a plate compactor. We also purchased newer rake attachments that the Better Billy folks recommend for sand maintenance that will help us achieve the end goal for playability. But all of this will take time. Please bear with us as we find the best combination of techniques to manage your new bunkers, as it will take some time.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me at ryan@elconacc.com. I again appreciate your patience and understanding as we prepare for the 2021 golf season to begin. Have a great week and stay tuned!

Ryan

Course Notes, 2/25/2021

If you are like me and are a native Hoosier, you probably love the peaceful setting that winter brings to our area. Go out on any morning this time of year and take stock of scenery like above. But if you are also like me, you look at the calendar and see it is late February which creates excitement for another great year of golf here at Elcona. Golf will be here soon enough, but it will take more than a few days to melt the almost 20″ of snowpack on top of the course, as well as thaw out the frozen soil. We will keep all of you abreast of the latest course conditions and when it is ready for the 2021 season to begin.

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The ice and snow on greens were a strong focus for us this month. In past years where we had ice storms and a prolonged ice cover on turf, we have had to remove the ice to prevent suffocation of the turf from harmful gas buildup. Fortunately this year the ice was quite porous and we have not observed any irregularities or damage from this winter. We will continue to monitor all playing surfaces as temperatures stay above freezing the next few days to ensure the health of them.

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During the deep freeze that was February, the staff and I continued to work on preparations for your golf course. Our tree management program has taken a different direction the past couple of years. While there will always be a few trees to remove for various reasons, gone are the years of removing 70-80 trees off of the property in any given winter, with our focus shifting to more of a maintenance approach to the trees that define the playability and aesthetics of the course. To accomplish this, a telescopic lift is rented for a few weeks to safely raise us high enough to remove lower hanging branches, any dead branches that are stuck up in the tree, and create a more uniform look to any stand of trees lining the golf course. Our goal with this rental this winter was to tackle 5 holes of trimming, and by the end of the week we will have accomplished that. This will be an important activity of our winter program going forward.

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On the days where we cannot work outside, work inside continues. We have completed 95% of all equipment objectives, both repairs and winter maintenance. One extra project this winter has been the refurbishment of the above pictured 1965 Toro Parkmaster. This piece used to mow rough and spray fairways back in the 70’s and 80’s, but now has an important role as our water buggy. All new tree plantings are watered with this machine. The before pictures showed that is was well over due for replacement of the driver’s floor and needed a paint job. The staff took great pride in this work and did an excellent job of making this piece look new again.

Please stay tuned for the latest course news and conditions. As soon as it is ready for play, you will know and we will get you out playing. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

Ryan

Course Notes, 1/15/2021

Happy New Year to each and everyone!

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The golf course is quiet and peaceful this time of year, with exception to the 12 deer that we have observed in our walks and drives. Bowser and I walk the property many occasions to check turf (and the new bunkers this year) and I am happy to say all turf is doing well. There is a fair amount of porous ice on playing surfaces, but nothing that concerns me at this point in time. Seeing all the new bunkers gets me quite excited for the 2021 season, as I am sure all of you are as well. In the meantime, below is a video I created from the best pictures and videos I captured in 2020. Elcona is such a wonderful canvas to capture, I hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoyed compiling it.

This winter so far has been about the same as 2020, weather wise. Warmer and drier than normal, with one large icy exception on New Year’s Day. As you can imagine, clean up from this has taken the majority of our time in the past 2 weeks, but if you look at it from a positive angle, we have gained about 4 loads of mulch that I was not expecting to have, and we will utilize it later this spring in beds on the course that could use freshening up.

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Along with this clean up, our annual tree maintenance and removal has been going at full steam the last 2 weeks. Each fall, the Golf/Greens Committee, Tom Thome, and myself review trees that are considered safety hazards to members, impede proper playability of the golf course, detract from the natural beauty of the course, or impede proper turf growing conditions. The GG Committee then approves these trees for our staff to remove. Above are some pictures of this week’s work, where we removed two additional Sugar Maple trees between 10 and 18. One of these maple trees was hit by lightning a couple years ago, while the other had a severe ant infestation. Both were becoming severely rotten, had much falling debris, and were a safety hazard to anyone close to them on a windy day. In their place, 4 maple trees will be planted in a line between 10 and 18, one of which was planted in November.

While each year we remove a fair amount of trees as part of our annual tree maintenance, we plant our fair share too, in the right places. We were fortunate to have forward thinking staff members years ago plant a significant tree nursery north of the short game area. Many of these trees have been transplanted on the course over the years, and in 2021 we will be transplanting 15 additional maples onto the golf course from this nursery. Unfortunately most of them are too big for our digger, so Dogwood Hills will be visiting Elcona to perform this work. Their spade can move 7″ diameter trees, which these maples have grown to be.

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The staff and I also have much work over the winter to do inside to prepare for the 2021 season. All equipment is serviced, blades are sharpened, plaques and signs are cleaned and painted, and the shop is deep cleaned for our benefit. Our equipment manager, Steve Ott, is doing his usual magic on our large fleet and we are quite fortunate to have him at Elcona, as he is beginning his 43rd year of service here.

Elcona CC Assistant Superintendents Austin Dance, left, and Adam Morr

We also have welcomed Austin Dance to the Elcona team, as a new assistant superintendent. Austin and his wife are South Bend natives, and Austin graduated from Purdue with a degree in Turf Science. He has worked previously at the Chevy Chase Club in Maryland. We are quite happy to have Austin on our team and he is excited to be here too. When you see Austin out on the course this spring, please say hi and welcome him. Along with our other assistant Adam Morr, our team continues to grow and learn together.

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Finally, in cleaning out some older items from the shop, we came across many of the older wooden informational signs that were on property years ago, and they are pictured above. Since we do not have any use for them any longer, I would like to offer them to anyone interested in one or multiple, free of charge. Most need some paint and TLC but they are in rather good shape for anyone’s Man Cave or She Shed. They will be available first come, first serve, so please email me at ryan@elconacc.com with which signs you would like.

I hope everyone has a great, and safe January. Lots of exciting things happening at your club this winter, all in preparation for an AWESOME 2021 season of golf, food, and fellowship! As always, if you have course questions, please let me know at ryan@elconacc.com.

Ryan

Course Notes, 12/22/2020

We as a staff have begun the transition to winter maintenance in full force, while still being able to work outside on projects, such as adding irrigation heads along our western entrance with US 20. This area dries out quite quickly so the turf will benefit tremendously and look much better to all who travel by it each day.

One other large step we completed this month was preparing the turf for winter, whenever it decides to show up here. Plant protectants were applied 2 weeks ago to all playing surfaces and green surrounds to defend the plant against fungal disease. Yesterday, a heavy blanket of topdressing sand was applied to the greens, and you can see by the below picture, was thick and not broomed in like other sand applications.

4 Green, tucked in for the winter

The reason behind this is to maximize the protection and insulation the sand provides the Poa annua, the predominant grass on Elcona’s putting surfaces. The close up view with a microscope below shows how the sand tightly protects the crowns of the plant from winter desiccation and cold temperatures. This sand also promotes a smoother, firmer surface coming out of winter.

In our industry, we liken this final heavy application to putting a blanket on the greens and “tucking them in for the winter”. Bob Vavrek of the USGA has written a great article further explaining this application that you can access here. This application combined with the beginning of frozen soil conditions, it means also that the golf course will be closed for the foreseeable future until conditions permit safe play again.

What a great year for golf 2020 has turned out to be. The most rounds since 2007 were played at Elcona, and it was so nice to see many of you enjoying your golf course, trusting it to be a safe haven for you and your family to recreate. We also hit the jackpot weather wise to complete a major renovation of the golf course, something that was in doubt 3 months ago. Thank you for all of your support and I hope each of you have a Merry Christmas with your families!!

Ryan

Course Notes, 11/22/2020

2020 has been a year that has tested all of our abilities in some form or fashion on how to accomplish our goals successfully, and November has been no different than the 10 months that proceeded it, with abnormally warm and dry weather conditions. These conditions all fall have been perfect for completing the Golf Course Improvement Plan and I again cannot thank our staff enough for their tireless efforts in accomplishing our goals this year.

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Golf Creations came back last Monday and Tuesday to lay the last 2 acres of bluegrass sod surrounding the newly constructed bunkers. There was sod left over, so our staff used it to complete the area behind the new practice bunker. In total, it took 8 weeks to complete all changes to the golf course. The project has now entered what is called the “Punch List” phase, where the design committee will walk each hole with Golf Creations, and any small item or area that needs tweaking will be completed by their staff. Our staff has a bit of fairway sod left to lay on 1 and 4, and then the road begins to prepare all the new sand and grass surfaces for member play in 2021. I will blog more on how we will accomplish that later on this winter.

The staff and I have been working on other things on property as well in the last 2 weeks. Leaves came down hot and heavy before Veteran’s Day, but have been all swept or mulched up now. We also performed our annual fall deep tine aerification on greens, for the first time using our own aerifier! The process involved 1/2″ holes punching 9″ deep, with rolling and a smoothing layer of topdressing sand applied afterwards. I am quite thankful for the membership’s continued support and investment in equipment to better maintain the golf course. A video of the process is below. Our winterization of the golf course continues this week with application of plant protectants, and after Thanksgiving a heavy blanket of sand and fertilizer to both protect the plants from winter injury, and give them the food necessary to begin 2021 on the right foot. I wrote about the steps we take to prepare putting greens for winter and why we do it in this blog post.

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We also are beginning in house project season, and our big project is expanding the practice tee north and east. The plan is the fill in the old practice bunker and the pit behind it to create an additional 5,000 square feet of hitting surface. The first step is taking fill dirt from our north field and hauling it to the site. My goal is to have this tee ready for use in the middle of 2021.

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Dogwood Hills was also out this week to plant 3 trees from Elcona’s tree nursery on areas on 12 and 18 approved by the Golf/Greens Committee. Dogwood will return next spring to plant more trees from the nursery before they become too big to move.

As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to me at ryan@elconacc.com. From my family to yours, have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be thankful for in these challenging times!

Ryan

Course Notes, 11/8/2020

What a beautiful start to November, with record amounts of sunshine and warmth. As Tom always tells me, these days are “bonus days”, so hopefully you have been able to take advantage of them and enjoy a round or two. Our staff will continue to blow and remove leaves as a main focus.

The team from Golf Creations took advantage of our bonus days and finished shaping, spraying Better Billy polymer, and adding sand to all bunkers. As a reminder, all sand and newly laid sod areas (fairway and rough) are to be played as ground under repair and will be for the foreseeable future, given the forecast. While you may enter these areas to retrieve your ball, please do not hit your ball out of these to protect your investment in the golf course’s future. This sod continues to grow new roots, but is not yet firmly established in its new home.

Also, please do not drive on the new sod or around the ropes on the golf course. This sod will be better off and establish much quicker without the wear and tear of golf cart traffic to deal with. Thank you for your cooperation with this.

We completed the winterization of the irrigation system last week. One challenge this dry weather will give us is keeping the sod moist. You will see us out and about with sprayers and water tanks this weekend hitting hot spots and dry areas. One good thing about this time of year is the lower sun angles, which limits the intensity of drying turf out.

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It truly is exciting to see the finished look of a sprayed bunker, especially with sand added. While the bulk of Golf Creations’ staff and equipment has left Elcona, they will be back Thursday and Friday to lay the remaining 2 acres of bluegrass sod surrounding the new construction. The front 9 will be closed those days to allow their staff to complete this in a timely manner.

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Our staff has been balancing leaf blowing and removal with laying bentgrass sod. Our efforts focused on holes 1 and 2 this week. I especially am proud of the new look at #1, the staff did an awesome job completing this in 2 days. When the weather becomes a bit more seasonable, we will finish our bentgrass sod work on hole 4.

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Our irrigation modifications are complete as well. Hole 5 needed all new wiring with the fairway bunker shifting south a few yards. Steve Ott and Paul Gleissner did an outstanding job with all of these modifications, both planned and unplanned.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me at ryan@elconacc.com. Have a great week and I hope to see you out on the golf course!

Ryan

Course Notes, 11/1/2020

While the calendar look to make a close on the 2020 golf season, the weather forecast has a different agenda.

It is looking like a great week for you to visit Elcona and get in a final round or 2 for the year. The back 9 holes will be open and available for you, and as a reminder all sand and newly laid sod areas (fairway and rough) are to be played as ground under repair and will be for the foreseeable future, given the forecast. While you may enter these areas to retrieve your ball, please do not hit your ball out of these to protect your investment in the golf course’s future. This sod continues to grow new roots, but is not yet firmly established in its new home. Thank you for your cooperation! Another reminder is to be cautious Tuesday and Wednesday if you venture out, as we will be winterizing the irrigation system those days. High pressure air is used to remove as much water from the underground piping as possible. We try to always have a visual on what holes we are working on but cannot be everywhere at once.

Some of our staff’s main focus will continue to focus on leaf removal, via mulching or sweeping. Leaves that are swept are piles and taken to our compost pile, where they will break down and someday be useful soil for new plantings around the property.

The following Monday, November 9th, we will be deep tining all greens, creating root channels for 2021, providing fresh oxygen to the rootzone, and allowing for better winter drainage. The golf course will be closed that day.

The Golf Course Improvement Project is entering its final couple of weeks. Tom, Tom, and I continue to be impressed with their attention to detail and willingness to work together to achieve the best outcome. The sodded areas are rooting down nicely on the back 9, and we are mowing and topdressing them weekly to further smooth them out for 2021. Below is a summary of the combined efforts of our team and theirs:

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Hole 1 took final shape, and is ready for polymer, sand, and sod. We spent a lot of time with this design given the challenge of draining rain and water run off in this area. The fairway bunker had its back two-thirds removed, and the remaining sand area stayed roughly in its same location on the hole. Fairway sod will be expanded slightly behind the bunker. The green complex received a nice facelift, removing the back bunker and expanding the front bunker slightly on both sides. A large amount of bentgrass sod will be laid by our team this week around this bunker to create an island bunker that will be quite visually appealing along the club drive to all who visit. Stay tuned for its final look.

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The bunkering on hole 8 was altered slightly to increase their visibility off of the tee. The left bunker was expanded towards the tee to accomplish this, while the right bunker moved a couple yards closer to the tee. Mounding was added behind this bunker, to hide the expanded cart path that will be added here in the Spring 2021.

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Hole 7 received some much needed upgrades in shaping. Our goal as a design team on this hole, as they were for all, was to keep the visual effect off the tee of a large sand area blanketing much of the hole, fix the maintenance opportunities and poor drainage, and ensure these bunkers had easy accessibility for all members to get in and out of. The first two fairway bunkers were reduced in size a bit, and kept in their same location. The major change on 7 was to the grouping of 3 fairway bunkers roughly 80-90 yards from the green. These were combined into one larger sand area, with mounding added on the north side to accentuate the new bunker. Both greenside bunker areas stayed in their same location, with the left two bunkers being combined into one new bunker.

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The bunkers on 2,3,4,5,and 6 were sprayed with Better Billy Polymer, and are all ready for sand and sodding. The bunkers on 1,8, and 7 will be sprayed this week. Bluegrass sod will begin to surround the front 9 bunkers later this week. Our staff continues to do an awesome job cutting and transplanting bentgrass sod to areas where we are expanding the fairway and approaches, like this work on 2 pictured above.

I for sure can begin to see the end of this project within the next 2 weeks, which will make this an 8 week project in total. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me at ryan@elconacc.com. Have a great week and I hope to see you out on the golf course!

Ryan

Course Notes, 10/25/2020

What a beautiful show Mother Nature has put on outside this past week. I was pleasantly surprised how vibrant the colors were given the dry August and September 2020 brought. The warmth in October also allowed us to have a successful aerification season and heal in all signs of it quite quickly. There are still some great days in the forecast for you to enjoy your golf course, and we hope to see you out as we continue mulching and sweeping up all those beautiful leaves when they fall off of the trees.

The new bunkers that the team from Golf Creations have completed got their first real test from a quick, heavy rain last week, and I can proudly say the design and shaping of these bunkers held firm with no standing water or sand washing down from the edges. These are a great improvement to an already great golf course and our team and I thank you for your investment in its future! All work performed last week is summarized further below.

While the golf activity on the course has began to dwindle down, many jobs need to be accomplished before the real cold air shuffles its way here. Besides all of the extra work needed to be done with the Golf Course Improvement Project, leaf clean up consumes most of our time in the next 4 weeks. Ballwashers and other water features are pulled in for the year. Two major jobs ahead for us include winterizing the irrigation system, which will take place November 2-4. If you are out on the course these days, please heed caution as sprinklers are automatically turned on and off during this process.

The greens will have their annual deep tine aerification performed on November 9th as well, weather permitting. These 1/2″ holes, penetrating the soil profile about 8″, create three advantages: additional channels for spring root growth, aid in relieving any deeper compaction within the rootzone soil profile, and extra drainage capabilities for ice/snow melt to prevent ice formation on the plant surfaces. The greens are rolled immediately after being aerified, and these holes do remain open throughout the winter for the above mentioned reasons. For the first time, we will be doing this in house, thanks to our purchasing a deep tine aerifier this past March.

Golf Creations was a bit hampered with last week’s rainfall and muddy conditions, but they accomplished additional shaping on holes 1-4. While conditions did not allow for any polymer to be sprayed, the drier forecast will allow them to spray this week. Their focus will be finishing holes 1-2, and rough shape holes 8 and 7. Our goal is to have all bunkers rough shaped by the end of next week.

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Our team continued irrigation work where fairway bunkers moved farther down the hole, on 2, 4, and 5. 7 is the last hole where we (knowingly) have modifications to work on with this project. A special thanks to Steve Ott and Paul Gleissner for their hard work on this end of the project. Others on our staff have worked hard on sodding fairway and approach improvements, and they have done a tremendous job. Thank you Adam, Ron, Bob, and Jeff for your efforts here.

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The bunkers on hole 3 are ready for polymer. The front left bunker was removed, making way for the back left bunker to be expanded slightly and lowered so that it is more visible from the tee. Later this fall our team will slide the approach more to the left. The back bunkers had no performance issues with shaping and framed the back part of the hole quite nicely, so liner and sand were installed here as is. One of our goals that Tom, Tom, and I have as a design team is to create beautiful visibility off of each tee, and I believe we have accomplished that greatly.

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The right greenside bunker on 2 was shifted a bit to the left, with the left greenside bunker eliminated and being replaced with a grass swale. Fairway sod will be added to the left to create another small run off area, similar to others we have added on the course. These bunkers will be ready for polymer by the end of Monday.

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The shaping on hole 1 has been one of the more dramatic improvements of the entire project so far. The fairway bunker is being reshaped and downsized to allow proper collection and drainage of all the water that runs down the fairway and hilly areas surrounding it. The greenside complex had its back bunker replaced with a grassy swale and one singular bunker surrounded by fairway grass, ultimately becoming a similar look to what was created on 14. Stay tuned for its final look!

If you have any questions, please reach out to me at ryan@elconacc.com. I hope you are enjoying the transformation of your golf course as much as I am. Have a great week!

Ryan