Renovation Day 97-102

The drainage project at the bottom of 18 fairway was completed last Friday.  A flowable grout was pushed through the old 24" clay tile to stop the subsidence holes.  We tried to dig a section of the old pipe up to see the depth and the clay tiles were 12' deep at the top of the pipe in areas.  We finished sodding the practice bunker at the driving range yesterday.  It was still too wet to install the drainage.  We will have that project complete shortly.  The front 9 cart paths were finished on Friday also.  We began removing the sod and back filling next to the cart paths with soil to level the edges.  

Renovation Day 94-96

It took the St. Clair staff a long time to prep the cart paths on the front 9 for the 2" asphalt over lay which started this morning.  Ted Moore, with Moore Asphalt, completed the cart paths on 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 today.  Tomorrow morning he will finish 8 and 9.  You have no idea how much of a scar the old cart paths were until you see the new cart paths in place.  Also, Mike Munie has installed all of the 24" drain tile and man holes.  The pic above is the new junction at the bottom of 18 fairway under the sycamore tree with concrete connections.  The lid will be installed tomorrow and grading the surrounding area of disturbance will be completed soon.   

Renovation Day 76-93

T&A irrigation has all of the main line complete and the new HDPE irrigation system has been hooked up to the pump house.  When we installed the "Z" pipe coming out of the pump house in '06' we poured a couple yards of concrete around the valves as thrust blocks and it took T&A a day to jackhammer the concrete out.  The old hydraulic system that was used to keep the irrigation heads down is finally obsolete.  St. Calir is now a full electric system.  Mike Munie, with Perfect Play, has begun the drainage project below 9 tee through 18 fairway.  Within the next few days he will have the man holes installed and connect the new drain to the lake over flow.  We are still trying to keep the course mowed and leaves mulched up as much as possible.  The St. Clair staff has been doing inside tasks such as installing new plastic on the green house during heavy frost.   

Renovation Day 69-75

We have started the asphalt prep for the asphalt overlay for the front nine.  We rented an asphalt mill to level the current cart paths and an asphalt sweeper to remove the debris.  After the asphalt material was removed we used a cut saw to clean the joints on the asphalt to concrete connections.  The asphalt will again be removed in those areas and filled with a rock base.  The staff has also started grinding stumps and removing the chips.  We have a lot of stumps through the course and we have almost made it through the front nine already.

Renovation Day 66-68

This morning we removed the dew from the green surfaces with a filled hose.  The spray hawk was calibrated for greens and we began spaying.  Fungicide and foliar fertilizers were applied to help continue growth as much as possible.  The greens are filling in very well.  We seeded greens starting September 16th through October 1st once LaBar and Kye were finished with construction.  We have mowed all of the greens multiple times and we are already down to a mowing height of .200", just under 1/4".  Normal mowing height is .120" - .140", so we are pretty close to a playable height.  We will continue to lower the height into November to help promote lateral growth.  T&A Irrigation has completed the front 9 and have started the main line on the back and began 11 fairway today.   

Renovation Day 51-65

LaBar has finished all the large construction areas.  The St. Clair staff is buttoning up areas that didn't get sodded with seed and straw.  The new tees on 1, 3, 7, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 18 have been completed.  Most of these tees will expand the yardage on the score card and will make the holes a lot more challenging.  We are finishing tree work and will begin removing stumps and grinding.   

Renovation Day 44-50

A lot of progress has been made since the last post.  The top pic is the seed, germination, fungicide and mow schedule for the greens.  All of the greens have been seeded except the range chipping green and the nursery at the back of the range.  We mowed a few greens for the first time yesterday, 15 days after seeding.  There are a few thin spots that will fill in and we are adding sand and seed to make them fill faster.  LaBar has finished most of the shaping through the course and will finish their detail work soon as well.  T&A irrigation has completed the front nine irrigation and will work on irrigating the range tees and chipping green this week.