Construction Crew

Duininck Golf

As we get closer to the end of the construction process I would like to thank the Duininck Golf crew. They have worked countless hours to provide us with the best possible product.

Golfer Damage

At some point during play on Tuesday, a golfer purposefully took seven divots out of the green on #8 Red Feather. It looks like it was done with their shoes and putter. The damage extends across the front of the green. Over the last four weeks, we have repaired a number of divots on greens caused by clubs. This is by far the highest number of the incidents we have ever seen in one year. 

If you see someone causing this type of damage please say something to either my staff or the clubhouse staff. A golfer that feels the need to cause this type of damage has no right playing our course.

Course Update

 

I'd like to apologize for the lack of posts in the past couple of weeks. Last week was spent aerifying the course which is a process that always seems to eat up most of my time. A huge thank-you goes out to the members of my crew for putting in the long hours it takes to complete the job. I would also like to thank all the golfers for their patience during this process.

The greens are healing from the aerification process fairly quickly. With cooler weather in the forecast, we expect this process should speed up by the end of the week.

Now that aerification is finished, we will shift our focus back to over-seeding thin areas on fairways, tees etc... This seeding will likely continue for the foreseeable future, as I would like to move out into the rough and repair areas that were lost to the drought.

As we approach fall we are beginning to prioritize our list of late fall/winter projects. Here are a few of the things we want to address:

1. Add and/or move specific irrigation heads to provide better coverage for years like we have recently experienced.
2. Improve or add drainage to some low areas on the course. An example of an area would be along the west side of the cart path running between #1 Black Bird fairway and #2 Black Bird tee complex.
3. Re-edge bunkers on the Black Bird course.
4. Raise and level low irrigation heads throughout the course.

The renovation of Gray Hawk is moving along very well. All fairway and tee box seeding has been completed and the sod work is drawing to an end. All of the greens are growing well thus far. This is the most consistent germination we have had throughout the three years of renovation work. The hot temperatures we experienced the two weeks following seeding may have slowed initial growth a bit, but the cool nighttime temperatures have helped alot. The cooler forecast for the end of this week should real kick things into gear.

With all the major tasks completed, we could use a good rain to help things fill in. 

 

 #4 Grow-in underway

 

#7 Fairway bunkers are sodded

 

#7 View of green complex from 200 yds

 

#3 Fairway just prior to seeding

Course and Construction Update

We were fortunate to catch some cool weather and rain last week which has really helped the course. The over-seeding process began last week and most of Red Feather and Black Bird fairways are complete. We have really started to see some good germination in these fairways. This process will be put on hold temporarily as we gear up for aerification next week.

 

Our aerification process will be very similar to the one we used this past spring.We will again be pulling 5/8" cores on the greens and 1/2" cores in the fairways and collection areas. In addition, we will core all the tee surfaces this fall. This is something that hasn't been done since I started at Indian Creek.

 

Construction is going well and deadlines are being met. All of the greens were seeded earlier this week and the sodding of the greens complexes will be complete by the end of day on Friday. Once the green complexes are sodded, we can really start throwing water to the greens. Gray Hawk is slowly shaping into a great golf course. I firmly believe we saved our best for last.

 

All in all, it appears we have survived the summer and are well into the recovery period. For now, let's hope for cooler weather and additional rain. Take a look at some pictures of the construction process below. I hope you all enjoy your Labor Day weekend. Football season is here - GBR!!! 

 

Sodding green side bunker on #7 Gray Hawk

 

Seeding collection area on the back of the green on #5 Gray Hawk.

 

#2 Gray Hawk green complex after sod and seed.

 

Installing a riser to match irrigation head with new grade.

 

#4 Gray Hawk green complex after sod and seed.

Gray Hawk Construction Update

 

Below are a few pictures of some greens complexes prior to sod installation. Greens were seeded today and we hope to have all of the greens complexes sodded by this weekend.

 

#1

 

 #2

#3

#4

#6

 

 #8

Cart Path

Due to the rainfall we have received and are expecting the rest of the day, the course will have cart path restrictions in place.

Irrigation Installation

 

A few pictures of the irrigation installation on the upper practice putting green.

 

 

The trailer containing all the signal and common wire for the upper putting green.

 

 

Wire pull

 

 

 Pipe and wire after pull and ready for head install.

 

Connecting signal and common wire and preparing for the install of the swing joint and head.

 

Installing the swing joint, head, and quick coupler.