New Look to #3 Tee

This past Friday we were able to get all the soil hauled in (and rough graded) that was needed for our project on #3 Tee.  We are splitting #3 tee up into 3 tees by elevating the middle third of the tee 18" and the back third 36".  This is being done to break up the "Runway tee" and to allow sight lines to the pond from any where on the tee.  The final grading, irrigation installation, and seeding will be completed this spring and the back two thirds should open for play by early summer.
We will also be adding a new blue/black tee for #12 and a new forward tee to #7.  All of this was done with the money that was donated by Stan Hollen and Mike Hilliard.

Clearing snow from the existing tee surface.

More snow clearing and attempting to strip top soil (it was too frozen).

Staking, hauling soil and shaping the middle third of the tee.

View from the 12th tee box.

Finishing the shaping of the middle third and staking the back third.

Finishing the shaping of the back third and hauling in some top soil for the both back tiers.

View from the 12th tee.

Willow on the Corner #8

This video is of the removal of the large Willow on the edge of the pond on#8.  It is taken from the tee so it is a little harder to see than I expected.  It didn't help that it was so cold I was shaking.  Hopefully as I get accustom to adding video we can make a few tweaks to make it better. 

Tree Competition

This series of pictures illustrates what happens to trees that are planted too close to one another as they mature. 



In the first picture you can see trees that are bending (this would have been even more apparent if I had taken a picture more in line with the ground). These trees are seeking light which is necessary to produce the food the tree needs to survive. This is a group of trees to the left of the 11th green.   

These trees are to the left of the 3rd green.  You can see the 2 trees on the right are growing to the north and one of the trees on the left is growing to the south.

These are two trees to the right of #3 green.  Here again you can see they are growing slightly in opposite directions to increase their light intake.



These trees are too close to each other and you can see some strange branching that could be have happened in response to needing more light.



In addition to staying busy removing trees, Jeff, Kerry, Eric and our faithful member volunteer Gordy Eicher have been chipping brush and burning our brush piles.

Chipping brush #4 Green

It took three of us two days to chip most of the brush from the trees that were removed on the north side of the railroad tracks.

                                                                               



  

                  The burning of the brush piles in our 3 collection sites took us about 8 days to complete.  You may be able to see the reason for how long it took us in the photo below.  There was anywhere from 1-2 feet of snow on top of the piles.



Burning brush to the right of #4

 

Continued tree work

As we have continued to make a lot of progress on our tree removals this winter we find more evidence to show that some of these trees are "at risk" trees.  You can see in these photos the cracking and cavities that are present. 

There is no doubt that is has been a wise choice to remove these trees proactively.

In this photo to the left you can see all the rotten wood that surrounds the cavity.  These trees can be very unpredictable especially if they are softer wooded trees.  Another element that comes into play is the size of the tree.  Once trees get large they are impacted by the elements (wind, lightning, rain) to a greater degree.  They also become quite heavy.  I would compare this to putting a backpack on that is loaded down.  If you are not strong enough to handle the extra weight it will effect your stability much more.  Obviously this is a slow process and at what point in the thinning of the trees trunk will failure occur, I don't know.  I have not heard of a definitive way to predict trees failure in this instance.

Golf Course Opening and Closing Stats

This is an e-mail I received from the National Golf Foundation that I thought would be of interest to you readers:

NGF 2010 Openings/Closures Summary - Market Correction of Supply/Demand Imbalance Continue



NGF tracked 46 18-hole equivalent golf course openings in 2010 vs. 107 closures, for a net negative of 61, the fifth consecutive year that closures have outpaced openings. The total net loss of 220 18-hole courses from 2006-2010 represent roughly 1.5% of the total supply. The 2010 net loss of 61 courses in 2010 represents less than one half of one percent of total supply. Considering the severity of the recession, one could argue that golf has held its ground reasonably well.


These are some of the details emerging from NGF's Golf Facilities in the U.S. report, 2011 edition, which will be released in early February:


There were openings in 29 states.


Of the 46 openings, more than 60% were daily fee


There are currently more than 80 U.S. golf course projects under construction (excluding renovations)


States with the most openings in 2010 were Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida, North Carolina and Texas


The region with the most courses currently under construction is the South Atlantic with 16.5 courses.


The total facility count at the end of 2010 stood at 15,890, 167 less than the all-time high of 16,057 in 2004. And the current number of 18-hole equivalents is 14,904.5, which is less than the number of facilities due to the large number of stand-alone 9-holers (4,382).


Please contact NGF with any questions or inquiries.