GCIP Groundbreaking Ceremony and Week Three

GCIP ground breaking ceremony prep with six gold shovels.

GCIP chair, Mike Meindertsma addresses the very well attended

 event with 30 members, management, staff and the press.

 

President Michele Cerny thanks the group for their attendance today and Steve Hammon for his leadership and passion for the golf course renovations.

Green committee chairman, Brandon Theophilus talks about the committee and board partnership and fortunate the club is to have Renaissance Golf Design and The George Lay Company as our GCIP partners.  

It was a fabulous turnout!

Mike, Todd Stern project foreman from the George Lay Company, Steve and Brian Slawnik from Renaissance Golf Design.

Brandon, Todd, Steve, Michele, Guy, Brian.

Back to the renovation pictures!

Three green expansion with the greens mix installed and final shaping has started. 

The construction company is prepping the areas of disturbance around many of our tees.  The sod will be stripped off, the tee will be reshaped, laser leveled, irrigation heads lowered then resodded and open for play soon after.

More fairway expansions, this one is left of 12.

Irrigation has been installed on our new nursery green.  Next up is smoothing the outside perimeter with topsoil, then we will be sodding the outside edge with Kentucky bluegrass from around one of the tees they are prepping, like the photo above.  This nursery green will be sodded with the grass from Kalamazoo.

This is 400 ton of greens mix delivered to the club house parking lot.  They have three orange haulers, one shown here in the background.  They have a very light foot, they are quiet and and are extremely efficient with a cool turning radius when they dump. 

Besides having the Kalamazoo CC sod being shipped up next week, this is the other amazing part of this renovation.  Many of our current fairways are being shortened for better site lines and playability.  The area right of 10 green was marked to be turned into chipping area vs. rough.  

Removing the rough grass on the right of 10 green.

Rough grass removed and we used it to sod over the tree removal/stump areas that didn't grow in very well from last falls tree work.  

Just like that, from Kentucky bluegrass rough to soil then transported sod from 11 fairway.  Roped, watered and waiting to be plate compacted and mowed soon.

Kind of odd but my eye keeps catching this one unique spot.  Just at the top right of the approach on 17 where the bunker slope, the expanded approach short grass, a strip of future rough along the approach and bunker, green bank rough, the future collar and the expanded green all come together at the top.

10 approach expansion and it been sodded already.  The left side bunker is being expanded into the approach to match the right bunker.

 

Kalamazoo CC Site Visit & GCIP Week 2 Progress

Click on the link below and redirect to YouTube to watch the video from my site visit to Kalamazoo Country Club.  This is where we are getting our 100 year old greens sod from for our expansions.

https://youtu.be/hICjJ3dOQSM

Working through the site logistics cutting, stacking and hauling the greens sod with Lyle and John.

Lyle Young from Young Turf Services, John Fulling Director of Property Operations Kalamazoo CC, Me, Not pictured GCIP Committee Chair Mike Meindertsma

One of the greens at Kalamazoo ready to head north on Monday September 15 and 16.  KCC is undergoing a property wide renovation and are currently growing in a new par three course as well as an entirely new golf course.  All of the greens will be sprayed with round up and dozed under in a few weeks.

Back to Traverse City where the greens mix started arriving on Friday morning of the holiday weekend.

The first load of greens mix went to 11 green.

11 green front right with the greens mix installed.

11 Green back right with the greens mix installed.  The mix is 10 inches deep and needs to be watered and compacted.  The Kalamazoo sod starts arriving pm on the 15th.

Installed greens mix on 11 green looking back down the fairway.

11 green back and left with the greens mix installed.

17 approach left.  The mounds were softened and this will be fairway.

17 green left expanded area.

Two green expansion and approach mowed out to tie into the collar.

We needed the construction team to build us a few bridges so we could keep the greens mowed and spray them last week.

Three fairway expansion and the removal of the first two bunkers on the right.  It looks like the one closest to the green will remain but be ticked closer to the green.

Fairway expansion left, bunker expansion where the sod was removed.

Three green expansion looking back down the fairway.

I saved the best photo of the week for last.  Check out the back of 3 green now!!!!

 

Golf Course Renovations Have Begun!

Tuesday, August 26, the first cutting of the collar on 11 for the greens expansion.

Coring out and hauling away the subgrade on 11.  We will be adding 10 inches of our greens mix to the expanded areas.

Here is an US Government aerial photo from 1949 showing the original size and shape of 11 and 16 green.

Day 1 by 4:00 on 11 Green.

Newly shaped greenside bunker on 11.

17 green in 1953 with 10 green to the left and 18 tee in the background.

17 green ready for greens mix to be added.

I know some soil scientists that would love this photo!  Rob Britton, the superintendent before me was topdressing greens with sand for 9 years, then add my 28 years of topdressing and this is our greens mix profile.

Wednesday 5:00 pm removing the approach and collar. 

Three green from the 1949 aerial.

Number 3 approach, green & collar expansion just like 11 and 17.

Wednesday, still day 2 of the project and they are already moving the removed collar on 17 green out to a fairway and approach expansion on the right just before the bunker.

Same area as the above photo, but looking the other way at the fairway and approach expansion on 17.

Up next, 2 and 10 green expansions. 

 

Tuesday, August 26 - Holes 11 and 17 are Closed

 

The inaugural meeting, Monday August 25 at 3:30.

Golf course construction starts tomorrow, holes 11 and 17 will be closed. Please follow the small flags to get to 12 tee and 18 tee. The extra two holes will be after you play #18, go to 10 then 9 again.

We will have 11 people from the George Lay Construction crew on site at 7:30 am. They have their equipment staged left of hole 6 and are excited to get to work on the Gem on the Hill. They will be working 10-12 hour days, six days a week. Their day off will be Sundays pending the weather.

This week they will be stripping sod off of the collars, stripping the sod for the expanded putting surfaces, coring out the soil around the greens, adding new greens mix, leveling the tees, expanding fairways, expanding the bunkers, moving irrigation heads and the list goes on and on!

Communications during the project will be via email, the top of the tee sheet and my blog. The 2025 Golf Course Improvement Plan has arrived and will be on overdrive from here on out!

Steve Hammon