It is with great pleasure to inform you that LaBar has officially finished with their portion of Phase 1 and have moved on to their next undertaking. For those of you who are interested; they're now working on a short project with Jaeger at Doylestown Country Club. After that, they plan to go to North Carolina and build course 10 for Pinehurst.
Landscapes still has to come back for a couple of tee irrigation installs, run the 2-wire back to the shop, as well as finish the numerous punch list items for the spring when we charge the irrigation system back up. This will include releveling all heads, fixing trenches that have settled, and setting initial arcs of heads to make sure they are working properly.
The weather has finally been dry enough to use our heavy greens rollers on all tee, approach, and fairway sod that was laid during the project. The rollers smash the sod down and smooth the surface, so the sod has full contact with the soil. This ensures that the sod will start shooting roots and grab onto the soil.
2nd Assistant Tom Strosser rolling the sod. A clear line of greener grass can be seen along with the grow tarps that had been covering it. The tarps helped insulate the sod so it could start initiating root growth - even during the winter.
This picture shows root initiation on a sample from the 10th green, the last green to be sodded. (November 30th).
Week of January 16th, 2023:
Another productive week and we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We went a week without rain, and it shows in the amount of work that was complete. Multiple trucks of sod per day have been going out and we are close to getting into punch list items. It was nice to see dust coming off the cart paths behind vehicles and machines! We are expecting LaBar to be finished up by the end of next week.
Much of the work being done is on the 10th hole. The fairway expansion down the left side is complete and it was rough sodded out to the edge of the hill where we had erosion control. Digging out some stumps towards the bottom of the fairway forced us to rebuild most of the bank next to the creek and we took advantage by sodding the majority of it. The Cedarbrook staff has also been cutting brush down and cleaning up the leaves while we were proceeding with erosion control.
We are working on seeding the hillside to fine fescue all the way down the fairway where we left off from the tree work 2 years ago. The blue in the picture is Flexterra netting, which is essentially hydroseeding attached to netting. We will be running this netting down the length of the hole and the bottom of the fairway. I am told by the township this is considered stabilizing an area and we will be able to close out the permit.
The fairway/approach connection was sodded with the expansion on the right side of the fairway and will be completed in the next day or two. The amount of width gained at the bottom of the fairway will give the membership plenty of room to pick a side of the bunker if they decide to layup on the shorter par 5.
#10 Fairway
LaBar has started going through the new bunkers with a flat plate tamper to compact the sand. Flat plate tamping compacts the sand down to the correct depths desired (4" on the base, 2" on the faces) and will reduce fried egg lies.
Week of January 9th, 2023:
LaBar Golf Renovations has had a strong week! Much sod has been laid and we are starting to close out areas.
When we took the tarps off the greens last week, we had hoped to be able to roll #10 and #16 with our large greens roller. But because the root initiation didn't stabilize the sod well enough, we opted to roll them by hand. To help smooth out imperfections, water was added to increase the weight of the drum.
Colin Bowdish hand rolling the green.
Expansion work continues on the right side of #10 fairway. Labar will work from the small bunkers on the left of #10 down to the green and around the right side.
Cedarbrook staff seeding and matting #10 hillside.
#11 black tee is sodded out.
Week of January 1st, 2023:
Warm temperatures this week allowed us to pull tarps off the greens to let them breath. We are very happy with what we are seeing with the color and root initiation. #10 green and approach seen here after the tarp was removed.
#10 green and approach after tarp was taken off.
#10 green rooting.
You can clearly see where the tarps stopped in the bent grass approach area.
Week of December 18th:
Sodding and Capcon installation in bunkers are the main themes of the week. Upcoming frigid temperatures will affect both concrete production and sod-cutting at our supplier farms. We will concentrate on #10 bunkers (6 trucks of concrete) and sodding out tee complexes and fairway expansions.
The remaining tees and bunkers on #10 have been shaped by Proper Golf.
LaBar continues to work on draining, sodding and Capcon installation.
The #11 blue tee was drained, had mix installed and was sodded. It adds roughly 10-15 yards to the tee shot but creates an incredible view. Note that the new blue and black tees are the only changes on the 11th hole in this phase.
Landscapes will be taking the holiday week off and will be back the 2nd week of January to complete #11 black tee, #10 tee complex and a few rough heads on #10. Power and communication wire from #15 tee to the shop are being laid that will allow the central control unit to directly communicate with new irrigation. Remaining satellites on the golf course have been switched to Rainbird and the Ewing team will help with building the database over the winter.
Week of December 12th:
This video shows how drainage works with the new concrete liner on #10 greenside.
Week of December 5th:
We have received over 1.5 inches of rain since finishing #10 green. Although we have not lost any days, we are concentrating work on areas close to paved cart paths so not to drive heavy equipment across soft and muddy ground. Because of this Capcon installation and other projects have slowed.
Aerial view #10 green.
View of #10 green from fairway.
#10 green is top-dressed by Tom Strosser.
#16 and #10 greens will continue to be top-dressed by pushing a spreader across the green. This requires the sand to be dry. Even with tarping, the pile of sand at the shop still gets wet during rain events. It is delivered dry; the trick is to keep it that way.
The fairway bunkers on #10 are starting to take shape and demo work has begun on the new 10th tee and 15th tee complex. As with the bunkers, tee work is being prioritized closer to cart paths to limit damage. Tee pads shaped by Jaeger have drainage and 6" of mix installed. Topsoil is then redistributed around the tee pad.
This video shows #10 Green Plate Tamped by CCC Staff as the sod is going down
Weeks: November 21st and 28th:
As of November 30th, the 10th green, our last greens rebuild, is complete! Our team worked through the rain to get the grass back down and the sod flat plate tamped.
#10 Greens mix install.
USGA greens specifications suggest a 4 inch gravel blanket and 12 inches of sand-based rootzone mix, but feedback from superintendents is that the lows of the greens stay wet and the highs dry out too quickly. One adaptation the USGA is supporting and that superintendents, architects and golf course contractors have implemented is "variable depth greens"; instead of a uniform 12 inches of mix, highs of the greens have less and the lows have more – e.g. 8 inches in high areas and 16 inches in the lows. As was done at Merion, we are installing a blend of variable depth where the majority of the green has 12 inches of mix and the lower areas, typically the front where water is running off, has an 4 additional inches of mix. We have also upsized the piping in that low area from 4 inches to 6 inches to drain water faster.
Drainage installed on the new 10th green. Notice the subfloor on the front of the green is slightly lower than other areas.
Gravel layer install.
Smoothing of sand layer.
Sodding of #10 green.
Sod finished Thursday morning in the rain.
Paul Roche from Golf Water visited the course again to stake the new irrigation for the 10th hole (not including the tees). The Landscape crew went right to work and worked the majority of Thanksgiving weekend to get the green complex irrigated and have begun work on the fairway.
Week of November 14th:
The 10th green demolition was completed by the Cedarbrook staff allowing work to continue on hole #16.
Jaeger Kovich starting to shape the green.
Day 10-13 Update (10/27-11/2):
The view across Wissahickon Creek from the clubhouse has been improved and the “tee chute” for the new 10th tee is being cleared. Trees have been removed down the left side of #10 to improve the player site lines and shot value.
A drone view of the new "tee chute" at hole #10 will provide a subtle right to left dogleg allowing players to shape their tee shot from the black/blue tees into the natural roll of the fairway. Days 7, 8 & 9 Update (10/23-10/26):
Tree work for the 10th hole has begun. The half dead oak tree near 9 tee complex has been taken down and most of the trees associated with the tee shot coming out of the hillside have been removed. Shreiner Tree Care will continue to work down the 10th fairway, thinning out the wall of trees blocking the view onto the other side of the golf course and shading the 10th fairway in the morning. The general area of the new tees will be the large rocks that are in the hillside. Once the trees are out, Jaeger and the Green Committee will determine location for the best angle.
