#4 Bunker Liner Project

Both bunkers on hole #4 were a bit more challenging than expected. As described in the previous entry, the greenside bunker had major ground squirrel damage. Along with the ground squirrel damage, the greenside bunker needed quite a bit more drainage added to sufficiently handle the amounts of water that feed off of the hillside in the winter months. We decided that it was best to add the drain lines adjacent to the slope of the bunker. This would prevent much of the water to reach the bottom of the bunker and instead redirect downhill ultimately flowing into the nearby wetland. Aside from the extra drainage and ground squirrel damage, everything else went as planned in the greenside bunker.

































The fairway bunker on #4 seemed like everything was going great. This was until after the bunker liner had been installed and sand was almost filling the entire bunker. I noticed that there was an area in the middle of the bunker floor that was very soft, wet, and potentially problematic. The idea of leaving a poorly drained site in a newly renovated bunker was unacceptable so we began to repair the problem. We started by removing the new clean sand from the top of the bunker liner exposing the soft area. This area was mapped out and cleared for repair. We used a carpenter razor blade to cut the liner fabric to expose the saturated area. It was soon after, that we realized the problem. This was an existing low area where excess water would sit and have no area to run off. This area needed to be either re-graded with the slope to feed into drainage or drainage needed to be added. Since this area was mere feet from the nearest drain line, we decided to re-shape the area making the low spot's slope decline into the drain line trench. Once we removed the dammed area, the moisture fed into the drain line and was dry the next day. This immediately solved our issue so we stapled the liner back in place and continued to pour sand to finish the bunker.

Ground Squirrel Rejection Experiment

While inspecting the greenside bunker on hole #4, we came to a conclusion that it has won the award for the most ground squirrel damage to a bunker's edge on the entire golf course. This bunker sits very close to the native grass which is a prime location for the ground squirrels to dig their tunnels. #4 bunker shows this fact very well. Most, if not all, of the tunnels are created within 2' of the soil surface. With this idea in mind, we decided to take the trench digger and excavate a channel around the bunker nearest the native edge where the ground squirrel tunnels are located. Once the channel was dug to about a 3' depth, we decided to insert a vertical layer of heavy wire mesh fence. The idea is to prevent the ability for the ground squirrels to dig towards the bunker edge. With this wire mesh in place, they will be stopped dead in their tracks and be forced to turn around.

Deep Frost

This morning there was a three hour deep frost delay for the golfers. This is much too late to keep the crew at work so everybody was sent home early. I enjoyed my very cold day off.

#3 Bunker Liner Project

This was a bit difficult to believe, but all of the bunkers on this hole went very well. There was nothing unusual or difficult about any of these three bunkers. It was as simple as removing the sand, installing the liner, and loading the sand. All of the original edges were also untouched. The only area that needed a bit of attention was a bit of buildup on the fairway edge of the fairway bunker. For this, we packed a pile of DG on the edge to raise the slope and covered it with the bunker liner. This can be seen in a couple of the bottom photos.

Topdressing Greens

With temperatures staying moderately cool and grass still growing, the greens speeds have been slightly declining. It is a perfect time to topdress the greens. Our topdressing schedule stays fairly consistent and the weather has been perfect for the addition of sand. We judge the amount of sand we apply by look and feel of rate applied. There isn't a designated calculated rate set previous to topdressing. We know that we want to topdress moderately light so we play with the settings on the topdresser a bit before applying sand to the greens. For this particular day, we used the Turfco SP1530 pull-behind topdresser with kiln dried sand. The door setting was on A.5, spinners were set to full, belt was on the turtle adjustment, and drove in 1st gear high or 3rd gear low. This gave us the right rate at which to apply sand. After the topdressing process was complete, another crew member would use a small Club Car Turf2 Carry-All cart and drag the sand in with a cocoa mat. The cocoa mat that is seen in the photo is very light weight so a bag of seed is used to weigh it down to drag in the sand more efficiently. The greens are then watered for 4-6 minutes depending on the angle of the irrigation head. After a few days of rolling and mowing, these greens will be at the ideal firmness and quickness we are looking for.

Soil Sampling

A standard procedure on all golf courses should be the bi-annual sampling of soil areas. By taking a basic soil probe, the soil content is extracted from the ground and placed into a ziploc bag to be sent to the testing department. It is important to extract the soil in random and distant areas from each soil probe. It is also important to remove the grass plant and thatch area from the sample. In this particular soil sample, we were testing for base cations, Ph levels, and available nutrition on our driving range tee. The entire process only takes an hour or two, and gives very valuable information on the needs of the grass plant. It can be a bit costly, but is very well worth it if it can be afforded.

#12 Bridge Handrail Renovation

One of the most beautiful settings on the golf course, this bridge on #12 turned out amazing and really improved the quality of the experience to play a round of golf at The Preserve.