Course Update 12/21/21

I can’t ever remember irrigating as much in September and October as we did this year. In November we received some rain and then some snowfall in December before the ground had a chance to freeze. This is ideal for preventing ice buildup during the freeze and thaw cycles that are bound to occur throughout winter giving us the best chance of avoiding winter damage.

T-Bend Construction completed paving on the front nine in September. They are reserving time for us throughout the Spring of 2022 to complete holes 10-18. In addition, we have improved the approach to the tunnel and we have rerouted the path to be closer to 13 green. These will be paved in the Spring as well.

As I mentioned in September, we will be expanding our Poa annua application areas next year to include all tees and six of our greens that have the highest percentage of poa annua. These will include the Big Putting green at the Practice Facility, 1,3,7,12, and 13. Number 3 green was one of our test greens from this summer and it would seem that we’ve eradicated at least 50% of the poa annua that was there. Based on these results and the lack of any damage to desirable turfgrass we are making our decision to expand the program. We will continue to evaluate the use of this product on fairways.

We continue to make plans for a full bunker renovation beginning on August 1st of 2022 and finishing in Summer of 2023. We have secured bids from a couple of contractors with the help of Beau Welling Design as our design consultant. Heritage Links has come in with a bid of $1,239,145.50 to complete the bunker renovation with capillary concrete as the liner.

We have considered other lining options and another contractor, but I would recommend that we go with Heritage Links installing capillary concrete. Capillary concrete has been proven time again for years as a durable and extremely strong liner. We’re not concerned about frost heaving and we’re not concerned about elk breaking through it because it is so strong. We’re also not concerned about pouring concrete in cold temperatures as it is done all of the time in the North and managed with covers and supplemental heat when necessary.

In addition to the contractor price, we will incur approximately $220,000 to purchase bunker sand, sod, and for the BWD design fee, bringing the grand total to approximately $1,459,145.50.