Course Changes

At Leslie, we have changed the fairway on #11. A couple of years ago, we put a cart path that crosses the fairway in front of the green. It used to be fairway right up to the path. Last month, we cut out some of the fairway and laid in rough sod.

This video was taken in February. It is hard to see, but the path cuts across the fairway.

This video was taken in May, after the bluegrass sod has been placed and the fairway was re-shaped.

This picture is taken from above the green on #11 looking back toward the fairway.

At Huron, we began to lower and enlarge the 14th tee last fall. We seeded it this spring.

This was taken April 25th, one week after seeding.

May 2nd

May 10th

May 16th

May 25th.

Next week, we will begin mowing the tee. Hopefully, it will be fully open in a few more weeks.

Restoration

The fall of the year is a great time to grow grass. This is a good thing, because we need to do some restoration of some areas, that for one reason or another, do not have grass on them.

During the senior tournament, we had a hydraulic oil leak on #1 green at Leslie Park. This resulted in three and a half lines of dead grass spanning the width of the green.

Dead grass.

We took some sod from the practice green to repair the area.

One line has been replaced.

Right before the City Championship in July, we also had a hydraulic leak on #5 fairway.

After a month, you can hardly see the area we replaced the damaged grass.

The area near the front of #4 fairway where we took the sod to replace #5. The bentgrass is growing in nicely, for the most part.

You might wonder why we took sod out of one place to put it in another. In this case, the extreme slope on #5 would have been very difficult to get grass to germinate on, without the bare soil eroding away. Taking it from #4, which is not a landing area but is pretty flat, allows me to control the soil moisture more easily.

This hydraulic leak on #3 is in a flatter area. This will probably be cut out with a sod cutter and seeded.

The end of the cart path on #9 got beaten down from cart traffic. It got some top soil and seed. It also was roped off to let the seed germinate.

The end of #4 cart path got a similar treatment.

The end of #8 path was very sandy and rocky. The top soil was added and then roto-tilled to make a better root zone.

The end of #3 was roto-tilled to loosen the soil before adding top soil and seed.

This area near #16 green has never recovered from the Traver Creek project. Hopefully, this time the grass will take.

Traver Creek Project Update #11

Anderson-Fischer brought some of the bentgrass sod for the fairways early last week.

The skid-steer with the attachment for laying big roll sod. Big roll sod is 30 inches wide and 100 feet long as opposed to the usual 18 inches wide by about 3 feet long.

The guys pulling the sod tight against the last roll on #14 fairway.

A short video demonstrating the process.

Rolls of sod waiting in the staging area.

As soon as the sod was laid out, we needed to get water on it. It is still dormant (hence the brown color) but water and warm temperatures should help to bring it out.

#11 fairway. Note how wide and flat the landing area is now.

#11 from the green. The areas that are bare soil now will be rough and will be seeded later.

The area between the north pond and Traver Road was hydroseeded with native prairie plants.

This blueish area on #12 was hydroseeded with a rough mix. The straw mulch blankets were put down after seeding with native wetland plants.

Project Update #10

The weather has finally started to turn and work on the Traver Creek project is progressing nicely. The spoil areas are starting to be finished and prepped for seed. The seeding of some areas should begin on Saturday. The contractor added a rock wall to the left of #18 green. This will give the hole some relief for shots that go long on the finishing hole.

The new berm along Traver Road get power raked.

With the delay in spring warm-up, the opening of the back 9 of the course has been delayed for two weeks. We are now targeting Friday, April 12th. 

Soil temperatures are just under 40 degrees. There is also frost about 4 inches down. This frost prevents the water at the surface of the green from draining. This means the surface is very soft and any traffic on the greens will rut the surface and ruin the smooth surface we work all year long to perfect. We are hopeful that the front 9 will be open be the middle of next week. Huron Hills is open, however, so feel free to play at our sister course. Call 734-794-6246 to make your tee time.