Drainage and more bunker work.

This week we installed drainage on #2 in the rough before the fairway. This is usually one of the wetter spots on the course so it was much needed. This drainage should not only help the area where it was installed, but  also keep the water from collecting where it has in the past, in the approach. This, along with the regrading done in front of the green side bunker to allow water to flow into the creek, should keep the hole much drier and improve playing conditions after rain events.

Drain lines dug. Notice the spoils in the background

Pipe installed and back filled with gravel. Notice the lack of spoils in the background. We graded it out to level the ground in that area.

After work on #2 was finished, we moved on to the green side bunker on #3. We finished peeling all the sod from the bunker face and surrounds and pulling out the remaining sand. We split the bunker into two smaller ones by extending the finger through the bunker. We still have to pull out the old drainage, install new drainage, sod, have the Billy Bunker System sprayed on and then add sand.

Bunker stripped.

Ridge dividing bunker. This will be built up with topsoil.

After all the snow melted we saw some very impressive disease on the golf course. The good news is that a majority of it was in the rough where we do not spray a snow mold preventative and the grass is longer, allowing snow mold a better climate to survive. The greens, tees and most of the fairways are pretty clean. If you're wondering why we don't spray the rough, it's because it would be extremely costly for a disease that is more cosmetic than deadly and furthermore, we rarely have snow cover for a long enough period of time to allow for such an outbreak. The rough will be back in shape in a few weeks once warmer weather helps the grass grow out of the damage. All that's left is for some of that warmer weather to get here.

Winter- 1 Rough-0

Ian

The big melt

After a long two months of cold and snow, it seems spring has arrived. The last few days of warm, sunny weather has started to melt the snow on the course, but we still have a lot of snow cover. We are hoping that we can be back on the course by Monday, cleaning up sticks and finishing the tree work we started earlier this winter. Based on the forecast, I think we should be able to get out there in some of the sunnier spots on the course.

The warm weather couldn't have come at a better time, as course has been covered by snow for about nine weeks and we were starting to wonder how the grass held up. In the very limited areas where there is exposed grass it looks like it should in early March, brownish and ugly. We did shovel off a few spots on the practice green to get a look at the putting surface and it looks fine. However, as more melts we will get a better picture of how we came through the winter and hopefully we'll continue to see healthy grass.

Practice green.

Still pretty deep.

Things are melting quickly. This was about 30 minutes after shoveling. Grass looks good.

One of the drawbacks of the spring is that geese return. It seems that as soon as the sun was shining and the temperatures were above 40 degrees Fahrenheit they returned. While we have limited ability to travel around the course, where I have been able to drive I've only seen a few pair of geese and one flock and they were easily scared off by pyrotechnics. Hopefully, with the still frozen ponds and limited time before nesting, some of the geese will find a more hospitable spot that isn't Barrington to nest this season, but I'm not counting on it. We've already been in touch with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and will be working with them again this year in an attempt to further reduce our goose populations.

They're back.

As the weather continues to improve and the snow goes away we can get back out on the course and get things ready for play. It looks like it will be a busy spring for us and the golf course, so we've already started hiring people in order to have enough help to get this season started on the right foot.

Ian