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.