Irrigation...or Irritation

An irrigation break on the 14th fairway this morning. When dealing with an older system breaks can happen over the course of the season. In order to isolate the fairway we have to shut down several holes. We hope to have the brake fixed today and be back online by this afternoon.

Minor flooding at Concord CC

One of our interns stands at the edge of the Jenny Duggan Brook which rose after the course received 3.5 inches of rain since yesterday.  There was some flooding this morning but the waters are receding with no damage to speak of.  The walking bridge on 17 and the new bridge on 7 have been washed out of place.  Our crew will return them to their original position as soon as the brook is low enough.
Also with all of the wet fairways, there will be no carts allowed on the course today.  The use of carts for Sunday will be decided tomorrow morning, we hope everyone made it through the storm intact.

Opening Up Hole 2

To the right of the 2nd hole an area has been cleared of under-story growth.  This area will be hydro-seeded next week.  The long-term plan is to allow fescue grasses to grow.

Overflow Parking Lot

The refinishing of the overflow parking lot is nearly completed.  The lot located just past the last tennis courts has been a bit of an eyesore and becomes unusable in wet weather.  An outside contractor removed several inches of soil and has replaced it with stone.  The lot will now be accessible to vehicles regardless of weather and will be a nice addition when we have an excess of cars at the club.

Fairway Expansions

Throughout the course we have expanded several areas of the fairways.  These expansion areas will create more opportunity for the high handicap players while making it more challenging for the longer hitters.  A good example is the 1st fairway pictured below.  There will now a larger landing area of fairway for those shorter tee shots, while a longer tee shot will have a higher chance of running through the fairway and into the bunker.  Holes 7, 13, 16, and 18 also have newly expanded fairway areas.

Practice Facility Aerification

The practice range and the chipping green will be aerified today. They will be closed until 10 a.m., the golf course will closed until noon.  This week the staff will be hydroseeding all the tree work and haul roads from construction.

Frost

Heavy frost this morning. Course will be close until noon for critical course maintenance. The range will open at 10. 

Fairway Aerification

Fairway aerification will be completed by the end of today. All the fairways have been aerified and will be topdressed with sand. The topdressing will hopefully be finished tomorrow.  The greens are almost healed in from last week aerification.  Next week we will begin our practice facilities.

Aerification

The front 9 greens are being aerfied today.  We will complete the back nine tomorrow. We anticipate a full course opening on Wednesday. I am looking forward to seeing everyone back out on the course.

Tree Work

Yesterday and today commenced the start of our winter tree work. We will be removing several white pine trees from various locations on the golf course. The goal of these removals is the encourage more sunlight and air flow to greens and tees in these areas.

Winter Work

A commonly as ked questuon is what goes on during the winter?  Well much of the behind the scences work gets completed.   In addition to all the snow removal; all of our tee and green equipment gets repaired and painted.  Also allbof our maintenance equipment get cleaned and serviced.  If the weather allows, the staff will work outside clearing brush and doing minor tree work.

Bunker Project Complete

The bunker project is now complete with a little irrigation work in spring as well minor sod work.  The project was a great success and we look forward to the finish product in the spring. 

Wrapping Up

Pictured is the cross bunker on number 11 being prepped for sand.  This is also the last bunker on the course to be completed.  The contractor will be wrapping up Friday after they have cleaned up everything.  The project was a great success and all that will be left will be minor sod work and some irrigation in the spring.

Bunker Project Update

Pictured left is the greenside bunker on the 13th hole.  Here the crew is working on moving the new sand around the bunker to achieve a uniform depth.  The face of the bunker has already been stripped and prepped for new sod.  Over the past weekend the renovation crew laid 30 pallets of sod on bunker surrounds on several holes.  Great progress is being made and there are only a handful of bunkers remaining to be renovated.

Irrigation Blowout

The irrigation system is getting blown-out this week in preparation for winter.  Typically we do it before Thanksgiving week, however since the bunker project is still on-going we kept the system charged for a while longer.  

Bunker Project Continued

The completion of another major portion of the bunker renovation is almost complete.  The two fairway bunkers on the 14th hole have been combined to make one larger bunker.  Like the other bunkers the drainage and subsurface were reworked and the irrigation will be adjusted to the new bunker shape.  This bunker will be completed shortly, once the sand has been added and the surrounds have been sodded.  We have been very happy with the progress made so far and are looking forward to the completion of the bunker renovation project.

11th Fairway Bunker Renovation

The overhaul of the fairway bunker on the 11th hole will be completed shortly after Thanksgiving.  The bunker has been moved further back some 20 yards, by removing area from the front and adding it to the back.  New drainage has been added along with the relocation of irrigation.  The changes made will make the hole a little tougher for the longer hitters, while being more forgiving for the novice players.

Bunker Project

The picture shows the fairway bunkers on #1.  These three bunkers have been stripped completely and floors totally rebuilt.  Progress on the entire project has been great thus far despite the weather.  Early next week the 14th and 11th fairway bunkers will be completely reshaped. 

Bunker Project Continues

The bunker project continued this week holes 17 and 14.  The picture shows drainage work being done for a new out fall drain.  By early next week we hope to be into 17 fairway drainage and bunkering.  A new cartpath will be installed to the left of the fairway bunkers on 17.

Hurricane Sandy

Huuricane Sandy left its mark on Concord.  Throughout the course we lost about a dozen trees and have debris all over.  The course will be closed today for cleanup and we hope to reopen tomorrow.  This picture is to the left of the 2nd fairway.

Bunker Renovation Update

The renovation project has been proceeding nicely these last few weeks.  Currently the renovation crew is on the 16th hole, having already completed almost the entire front nine.  The bunkers look great and the playability is excellent.  We are looking forward to having the back nine bunkers be repaired as they have had more issues with playability and drainage than the front nine. 

Pictured below is the completed bunker to the right of the 5th green.

Bunker Renovation

The bunker renovation project got underway today.  Mcdonald and Sons, based out of Maryland, are the contractors that will be spearheading the renovation project.  They have over 25 years of experience, in which time they have worked on top courses throughout the country and developed a reputation for excellence. 

The renovation will consist of removing existing sand, regrading subsurface, fixing drainage and re-edging each bunker.  A.A. Will high density sand, found at clubs such as Kittasett Club and Charter Oaks CC, will be added when the subsurface and drainage are corrected.  Reshaping and resoding of bunker faces will be done as needed.  Upon completion we are looking forward to having some of the best bunkers in New England for years to come.

Irrigation Wiring

The picture shows the irrigation satellite on the 9th being re-wired for new electric valves.  The valves will be utilized for mister irrigation on the 8th greenside bunkers.

Drainage Basins

On 14 fairway the staff leveled several drainage basins which were too low and mowing had become difficult.   The surrounding turf was removed and the basins were raised to grade making mowing easier.  Five basins in all were completed.

Aerification Complete

Today the staff wrapped up the finishing touches on aerification. The picture shows the fairways being topdressed before dragging the sand in.  The greens and approaches are almost healed in and should be in great shape by the weekend.

Aerification Update

All of the greens and approaches have been aerified,  topdressed, brushed and rolled.  The back 9 tees have been aerified and cleaned, and will be topdressed tomorrow.  All 18 holes will be open tomorrow.

Back Nine

Yesterday, the staff finished greens and approach aerification on the front 9.  Today the back 9 will be closed.  We hope to have the majority of the greens completed by this afternoon.  We will be rolling and brushing the greens on the front today, the back tomorrow.  With good weather we hope the greens will be healed in in a few weeks.

Front 9 Aerification

The putting green in front 9 will be closed today for a aerification.   The staff will aerify greens and approaches; with seeding and topdressing to follow. 

Aerification

An update on aerification:  Greens, approaches and tees will be aerified the week of September 10th.  The process should take a few days if the weather cooperates.  Fairway aerification and topdressing will begin the following Monday.  The course will have nine holes closed each day in order to expedite the process.

Irrigation

On Sunday we had an irrigation break on the 8th hole.  As you can see there is a lot going on in this picture.  The break has been isolated and will be repaired today.  The repair will simplify the amount of fittings to hopefully prevent this from happening again. 

Vandalism

When you're on the course you may notice on the first, second and third green some unusual marks.  This damage is from a bicycle.  These marks will need a little TLC over the next few days but should recover.  It is unfortunate but certainly not uncommon on golf courses this day in age. 

The course is in great shape heading into the last few weeks of summer.  We are prepping for our big fall member guest and then aerification.  My apologies for not posting in a while.  The site is going to get updated and posts will continue weekly. 

Dry-Ject

To the left is a picture of the 5th green. A company came today and dry-jected the green before we aerified. The dry-ject process involves forcing a high pressure water blast fracturing an aerification hole. The holes are then filled sand to a depth of several inches below traditional aerfication. The process helps increase water infiltration and adds sand deeper into the profile.

Greens Aerification

Greens and approaches have been aerified and topdressed over the last two days. We will begin the process of aerifying tees and fairways next week. The staff will continue to topdress fairways after aerification. I am hopeful with good weather, proper water and fertility; the holes should heal in a few weeks.

Moving Day

With the maintenance building nearing completion we were able to start our move today. All the members of the grounds staff pitched in with moving equipment and materials, assembling shelves and organizing rooms. A good deal of equipment was moved today and we are planning on moving the remainder over the next week or two.

Hydroseeding at GMC Building

Areas around our new maintenance building were hydro seeded today. A native blend of fescue grasses was applied to the hillsides as shown in the picture. The grass plants will help stabilize the banks. The landscaping around the buildings will be completed in the next few weeks.

Cutting greens

Today we cut greens for the first time in 2012. The course will open on Wednesday at 12pm for the 2012 season. If winter should return over the next few weeks; the course will be closed for a few days until conditions can improve. Looking forward to seeing everyone on the course in the next few months!

Covers Removed Today

With the forecast in concord to hit 70 degrees; the staff removed all the covers from the greens and tees. The turf underneath looks great and will have a nice head start in the spring. If the colder temps return, we will put the covers back on in the evenings for an extra layer of protection.

Stump Grinding

The tree removal along the front entrance has been completed. Today the stump grinding began on the larger sugar maples. The grindings will be removed and the holes will be filled in with soil and seeded. The stumps located in the planting beds will be mulched in preparation for new plantings this spring.

ABW (Hyperodes) Traps

Today we installed five pitfall traps around the course. These traps are designed to track annual bluegrass weevils that are moving from the treeline/roughs towards the fine turf areas. By counting the adults captured it will give the staff an advantage and an idea of populations for this upcoming year. Pitfall traps are an integral part of Integrated Pest Management Program and will help us prepare for any necessary course of action.

Front Entrance Tree Work Continued

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The tree work along the front entrance was continued today. Several smaller trees near the entrance house and along the paddle ball courts were removed. Many of these trees were locust trees; an invasive species in this area. The remainder of the tree work will be completed by Friday.

Front Entrance Tree Work

Tree work was started today along the front entrance. The sugar maples lining the driveway are being removed because of their extensive rot and decay. All of these trees have lived well past their life expectancy and growing environment. They posed a safety hazard to all entering and exiting the property. It is unfortunate for their removal, however it was something which needed to be addressed. We will begin adding new plantings along the driveway starting this spring.

Lifts installed in GMC

Work continues to progress in the Grounds Management Center. Drywall is almost complete, painting has started and equipment has begun to be installed. Today two lifts were installed in the maintenance area.

12 Irrigation Project

The staff just finished installing our irrigation main connecting the 13th hole to 10, 11, and 12. The original main line ran through what is know the grounds management center. The piping will allow us to keep the necessary water pressure to feed this end of the golf course.

EMC Construction

Today the interior walls of the Environmental Management Center were being erected. Once completed we will have finished areas for washing off equipment, refueling, and mixing/storing of chemicals and fertilizers.

Pouring 2nd Floor

The 2nd deck (equipment storage) is being poured today along with the floor of the EMC building (mix and load area). An estimated 7 concrete trucks will be needed to complete the pour. By tomorrow the floor should be strong enough to walk on. It will reach full strength in 7 days.