Course remains open

Notice – due to the unseasonably warm weather this upcoming week, the golf course will remain open.  We will continue to monitor the temperatures and notify the membership at a later date about the course closing.  Please note that tee times will be limited in the morning hours due to frost delays, we ask that you do not walk onto the course until the frost has burned off.  We hope to see you out enjoying another round or two.

Thanksgiving weekend

The course will remain open through the holiday, including Friday.  Please note: the Golf Shop will be closed on Thursday, if you wish to walk off your overindulgence, please make plans to acquire your clubs before Thursday.

 

Enjoy the holiday!

 

Productive day

Although the weather has turned cold, the grounds staff still has a lot on our plate to wrap up before the end of the season.  We had a productive day, here's what we spent our time on today:

• Mowed greens
• Mowed rough
• Mowed range banks
• Mowed intermediate around fairways
• Removed seasonal flowers and pumpkins from the front entrance
• Stored the tennis court benches for the season
• Picked up all the leaves around the tennis courts
• Fertilized all the fairways and range
• Picked up sticks
• Picked up bags of salt for the upcoming winter weather
• Oil changes on equipment
• Hung Christmas lights around the clubhouse

Thanks to the crew for a job well done!

Sod installed

On Monday we removed sod from the 10th fairway that will no longer be in use and placed it on the new tees.

Sod being removed from the front of the old 10 fairway.

Being shuttled and laid on the new tee.

 

Below is a look at some of the work we did for the new tees

Removed the trees from the area.

Added soil to create the desired height.

Sodded the surface and seeded the surrounds.

 

I'm happy to note that the grass has germinated on the tee surrounds.  We have placed covers around the tee to promote more growth before the winter.  I am optimistic that the juvenile turf will survive the winter and give us a great head start coming into next season. 

 

This will be the end of the work on #10 for 2015, we will open it back up in 2016 with some minor adjustments around the green to finish off the project.

End of the season

Today was the unofficial end to the 2015 season as we cleared the irrigation lines in preparation for the oncoming winter. 

Tree planting

Last week, 16 trees were planted on the property, bringing the total to 37 trees planted over the last 4 years.  Most of the trees planted this fall were around the tennis courts, breaking up the industrial look of the tennis court fencing.

Near the courts we planted - Black Gum, Crabapple and Spruce.  On the course we planted a Beech, Maple and Honey Locust. 

 

As areas open up through tree removals, we evaluate the spot to determine if a new tree needs to be planted.  Our goal is to maintain the look and feel of FCC and it's many mature trees into the next century.  Tree planting is the ultimate 'long term' strategy to beautify the course.  Someday, your grandkids will benefit from the trees that we are planting today.

Bunker sand installation

Yesterday we started the installation of sand in the bunkers on 10, we have one half of a bunker left.  The sand was installed at 6" in depth, by spring the sand will have had a chance to compact and will be around 4" in depth.

The guys left for the day quite tired and sore, having moved 40 tons of sand around by hand on Thursday.  We have another 15 tons left to install.

 

 

Below shows the progression of the 10th hole over the last few weeks.

Pre-project, October 14

After sand removal, October 16

Bunker shaping, October 21

Sod installation, October 23

Sand Installation, November 5

 

If we dry out later today, we may be able to finish the sand installation.  Next week we hope to tackle the task of sodding the tee surface, the sod for this will be coming off the 10th fairway that will no longer be needed due to the shortened hole. 

Seeding 10 tee surrounds

Due to the great weather this week, we decided to seed the surrounds of the new 10th tee box.  We are hopeful that we can get the seed to germinate this year yet, speeding up the recover process next spring.

The area was raked smooth, seeded, then covered with straw to keep the seed moist.

 

Tomorrow, another load of sod is coming in, we will be finishing the sod work around the bunkers.