Construction page 2

View from behind (and above) #10 green, toward #10 tee and Arrow Drive. In the middle of the fairway is a sediment trap. The gravel channel on the right goes all the way down to the trap. There is also a channel on the left.

This area along the lake, below #16 Lakeside, has always been wet. We often couldn't mow it until midsummer. Since it will now be the landing area for #18, we added a good bit of drain pipe. There are several springs in this area.

You are looking at another sediment trap. It's above #16 green (which is also a puddle in this photo). With all of our channels on #16 and #17, the green area is basically inaccessible at this time. Don't go over this green -- it's a cliff!

Here is the view from #14 tee in March 1999. Yes, the trees in the center of the photo are gone now. As is the snow, thank goodness.

Below the orange excavator is where the barn used to sit. #14 tee is up at the top of the valley. This area is being prepared for a sediment pond. The pond will become a permanent feature after the grass grows in.

Here, we are using a crane to transfer our new pump station from the truck into our pumphouse. This skid is several tons, and then there are 3 motors and 3 pumps to install. The hole in the floor is the wet well.

This man is holding the bottom of the pump itself. It drops down into the wet well and draws in the water about 11 feet below the surface. This is why we have to maintain a minimum level of water in our lake. The motor sits on top of this shaft. Motors and pumps have to be replaced periodically, so we will have to leave a hatch in the roof so that we can have a crane lift them out when needed.

This is another view of the new sediment pond. This view is more or less from the white tee on #15, looking toward the fairway. The middle of the fairway is in the slight dip, just to the left of the trees in the upper right.

These show where the drain pipes are in #10 green. The trenches are filled with gravel. The next step is a layer of gravel, then a layer of construction mix (which is mostly sand, with some peat). Then irrigation lines and heads are installed, and it is ready to seed. It takes quite a bit more than a day.

The view from the middle of the fairway on #12, toward the green. We used a pan and a big bulldozer to knock a little bit of the ridge out of the middle of this hole, so that the green is visible sooner. May 1999.

Hope you like the pumphouse. In the front left are two of the three big motors, in the back are our two 1500 gallon fertigation tanks (no more midsummer Milorganite spreading!). The tanks and their two tiny pumps are separated from the pump skid with a short block wall since the fertilizer is corrosive. The green walls are just insulated.

The view from the middle of #10 fairway, looking back at the tee areas. They show up as slight terraces at this time. Our sediment trap is working well. There was a lot of tree debris left everywhere, as well as big stump holes. We're using the big teeth of a loader bucket to scrape a lot of the twigs, bark, and roots off of the surface. We're also sending several people around to manually remove large sticks and rocks.

The Blecavator is used to prepare a seedbed. It buries debris a few inches and leaves nicer, soft soil on top. This is the rough to the left of #12. None of our existing tractors had enough power to run the Blecavator, so we had to spring for another tractor. Ugh.

Seeding the rough on #12. This is kind of over the hill, but it looks back toward the tee (and the monster electricals). We're hoping that we'll get enough rain to support these new seeds, since we can't irrigate the rough.

Looking toward the green on #13 (a par 3). Again, note the debris. There's not much shape to this hole yet, but there are quite a few trees to getcha.

View from the drop area (we anticipate heavy usage) on #18, looking toward the green. This surface will also serve as the blue tee area for existing #3 Woodside. There are many, many springs in the fairway, so we installed quite a few drain lines which feed into our lake.

This is the leveled off stone on #18 green (taken from the left front of the green, looking toward the back right -- the new #10 tees are beyond the trees, in line with Dave's shoulders). Yes, this picture was taken quite a while after the drainage picture.

One happy camper. Stressed, yet happy.

June 1999

It took 14 truckloads of construction mix for this green alone. We're using an 80/20 mix (80% sand). Again, this is #18 green, looking from the front toward the back. This was taken on about June 4th.

Here, we are digging trenches for the drains in #10 green. After the perforated plastic pipe is installed, we backfill with gravel. The truck drivers were hesitant to deliver the stone to this site since there was a threat of rain. It stayed dry, though.

Dosse's excavating pan is on the right of the photo. Our new pond is on the left. This view is basically looking across #15 fairway (tees would be on left, green on right). There is a small white pole in the grassy area in the center of the photo. That is the site of #17 green.

Beautiful blue sky, eh? The dry weather has been wonderful for construction so far. At some point, though, we will need some nice, soft, all night rains. In this photo, we are seeding the fairway (bentgrass) and rough. The cart path is the light streak. #18 green is in the distance. The upper end is yellow since Courtney Contracting is power mulching the area with straw. This was taken on July 12th.

Mulching day on #18, just in front of the green. The seeder is on the right, and the hay truck and shooter are in the center. It's quick but very dusty.

This is #18 on July 20th. Our grass came in quickly. This view is looking down the cart path toward the green. The fairway is a bit slower to germinate, so it still looks much more yellow than the rough.

The construction mix is in on #11, and is being smoothed. The fairway is being cleared of debris. It's very, very dusty. This is July 20th.

Here is #18 on about July 27th, growing in nicely. The drop area is in the foreground.

Well, the dry weather had to end sometime. Like July 28th. This is looking across #18 fairway toward the white tees. It held up pretty well, all things considered.

Even though there was grass covering most of the fairway and there is a diversion channel above the fairway, the 4" of rain managed to push over the super silt fence in this spot.

#18 green hadn't been planted as far in advance as the fairway, so it really got washed out. We had to spend several days re-leveling the surface, clearing debris, and reseeding.

The bridge at the Practice Area made it through the storm, even though the water was over the walkway and the stream banks eroded a lot. We lost many of the small crabapple trees by the Practice Area. Notice the normal water level in the creek.

This is the same creek, just after the heavy rains stopped. Several of the silver maples in this area didn't fare so well. Rock Run was definitely running.