Substantial Completion of the Traver Creek Project

With the laying of the sod on #10 fairway and tee, as well as the seeding of the remaining areas of rough, substantial completion of the Traver Creek Project has been reached. Substantial completion does not include the cart paths that need to be replaced, the spoil pile to the west of #14 tee and the irrigation system (which has some kinks to be worked out.)

#10 tee ready for sod.

Bentgrass sod being delivered and rolled out on #10 tee.

The tee is taking shape.

After the bentgrass sod was laid out on the tee, the contractors went to work on the bentgrass in the fairway on the front half of the fairway. This area was raised about a foot in order to facilitate drainage. They then put down bluegrass sod around the tee. This is the predominate grass type in our rough. In the next couple of days, the contractors were able to finish grading and seeded everything. Now it will need some time for the grass to germinate and grow.

I am hopeful that this tee and fairway will be open in a couple of weeks, although it may be longer before carts are allowed onto the new fairway section.

More Sod (Bluegrass)

Anderson-Fischer came in this week and laid bluegrass sod behind the four rock walls near 10,12,17 and 18 greens. This will enable those areas to be playable much sooner than if we had seeded the rough there. Unlike the fairway sod that was laid last week, this sod is the normal 18 inches by 36 inches.

The design engineer checks out the sod on #10 and calculates the area.

#12 green is to the left in this picture looking back toward the tee.

#17 green.

A close-up of the seventeenth green.

#18 green, looking back toward the tee.

The view from behind the green.

Traver Creek Project Update #8

The excavation of Traver Creek through the golf course as well as the excavation of the arrowood drain are complete. These areas have been seeded with a native plant mixture and covered with straw mulch blankets. The crossings have been fabricated and are usable. Rough grading of most of the spoil pils on the golf course is complete. There are three major piles that still need rough grading, the berm along Traver Road, the hill between #18 tee and #10 fairway as well as the hill to the west of #14 tee.

All of the spoil piles need final grading as well as seeding of the turfgrass varieties. Sod will be laid along #11 fairway, #10 tee and fairway as well as any area where haul roads crossed fairways. Some of these areas include #14, #16, #13 and possibly #18.

Golf Course staff are looking at finalizing plans for tree replacement. There are over 100 trees that are budgeted to be planted after the ground thaws.

One other major assignment will be the repair and replacement of damaged irrigation pipe and heads that either needed to be moved or were damaged during construction.

Most of this work cannot be acomplished during sub-freezing weather, so the construction crew will be taking some time off and will be back in a couple of weeks.

Here are some photos of Traver Creek about to crest above the "low flow channel" and into the "high flow channel." This allows the water to signifcantly slow down and deposit sediment that it has picked up before finally making it to the Huron River.

Near #12 green.

From #13 tee. #10 tee is the large mound of soil to the right of the creek.

Looking from the bridge near #13 tee toward the practice green.

The convergance of the new arrowood drain and Traver Creek.

Traver Creek Project Update #5

Things have been going pretty well with the Traver Creek Project. The three retaining walls were finished on Friday, November 30th.

Almost done with the north pond (#17) wall.

The wall from the north side.

The wall and rip-rap along the Traver Creek discharge from the pond.

Working on wall 2 by #10 green.

The finished product.

Seeding with native plants along the creek and installing mulch blankets.

Looking down from #17 green toward #10 green.

Starting the final wall near #12 green.

Diversion on the south pond (#12)

The view from 12 tee.

Dredging of the south pond begins.

Traver Creek Project Update

Progress is being made on the creek. The north pond is almost complete, once the retaining wall is set, the diversion of Traver Creek will be removed and it will begin to fill back up with water.

Starting the second course along #17 green.

The blocks are stored in the maintenance barn parking lot until needed.

The view from #17 forward tee.

The creek running beside #17 green is ready for seed. This picture was taken from the bridge to #18.

The cross vein in front of #10 green has been installed.

This is the plunge pool just after the bridge. You can see the bypass pump here.

The creek banks have been sloped and are waiting for topsoil and seeding. You can see the 4 inch hose running from the pump which bypasses the area that is being worked on in the foreground.

Excavators work in tandem on both sides of the creek.

The carpenters have started construction on the crossings over the wetlands. This is coming off of #13 tee. The Arrowood drain that currently crosses 13 fairway 100 yards from the green will be re-routed under here. According to aerial photos from the 1950's, this is closer to where it ran historically.

Finally, here is an overview of the work taken from behind #3 green. It is hard to make out, but I think there are around 15 machines working on various projects in this scene.

Traver Creek Project Week #3

Before I get into the pictures, let me say that some of these may be alarming. In order to complete the work on the creek, some trees and brush needed to come out. Most of these trees were fast growing Cottonwood and Willow. The brush was predominately invasive honeysuckle and buckthorn. When seeing the project halfway through completion, you see the absence of trees but not the almost 130 new trees that will be planted. We made it a priority to only remove the trees and brush that is necessary for the project. The end result of this project will be a net environmental gain in reduced sediment and phosphorous that goes from Traver Creek into the Huron River.

That being said, here are some pictures from this week.

The pond is almost fully dredged.

Cobblestone and rock walls will be installed this week along this bank.

The cobblestone being delivered.

That is a big excavator. 3.5 scoops fills up the nearly 20 yard off-road dump truck.

Looking at the bridge between #17 Green and #18 Tee. You can now see the pumphouse and barn from here.

In this picture form 2 years ago, you can see the cleared area to the left.

The view from what used to be #10 tee. The topsoil has been stripped and stockpiled. Soil from the project will be used to raise this area out of the floodplain. It will then be sodded with bentgrass in the fairway and tees. The rough will be seeded.

#10 Tee earlier this year.

The area near old #14 tee where the pond spoils are being mounded.

In this shot from 2009, you can see the valley that was filled in. It will not effect play, since this area was well to the left of where the current tee sits.

#13 Tee.

A picture of the tee from of few years ago. Notice the dense underbrush along the creek. This area will be replaced with high quality wetland habitat.

Here is the practice green from #13 Tee.

Another shot of the practice green. Notice #13 tee and #11 fairway in the background.

This picture is from almost the same angle. You can make out the large Oak trees to the left of #13 tee in the background.

Here is the new diversion ditch for Traver Creek. The previous solution of two 8 inch and one 6 inch pipe did not work as well as planned. The contractor decided to line this open air ditch with plastic instead.