Shifting Gears

The grounds team has shifted gears now that the golf course and club grounds have been put to bed for the winter months. We have spent the last two weeks hanging all the Christmas decorations throughout the club, outside lights, steam cleaning all golf course equipment, final leaf cleanup, cleaned/painted tee markers, winterized club boats, reel mower cleaning/disassembly and even plowed snow in the parking lots 5 times now. The winter maintience season is off to a very productive start and the grounds team is excited for the golfing season ahead.

Tee Marker Cleaning

Tee Marker Painting

Parts Lists Created & Winter Maintenance Planned

Fairway Mower Cutting Unit Disassembly For Service & Sharpening

Steam Cleaning Equipment

Painting Driving Range Signs

Ice Rink Construction

Plow Truck Ready For Action

Inventory On Irrigation Tool Boxes

Fairway Cutting Units

Painting X-county Ski Trail Signs

First Snow

We received our first snow of the season last night and old man winter is making an early return to much of the state. The weather forecast for the next ten days looks to be unseasonably cool with lake effect snowshowers. I would like to thank the entire grounds team for all their hard work this past week completing all our winter prep and winterization work, just in time for winters return! The golf course is going to bed in fantastic shape and readied for winters harsh conditions. 

Irrigation System Winterized

The irrigation system on the golf course and all club grounds has been winterized just in time for our first forecasted artic blast of the season. We had two fantastic weather days to blow out the system with temperatures reaching into the 50's with an occasional bit of sunshine. On some years Mother Nature isn't so kind during this process but we sure lucked out this season and the entire process went extremely smooth! 

Tee Project - Week 2 Update

 

The tee box renovation project is progressing along better than expected on this second week and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel now, with construction nearing the final few tee box locations. Weather has been fantastic this past week and the crew made huge progress with the dry and cool temperatures. We now have 14 tee boxes completed and seeded with only 7 left to complete. The construction crew is doing a fantastic job on all the many details related to the scope of the project and leaving behind virtually no damage to the course.

#3 Back Tee

#2 Forward Tee

#1 Forward Tee

#10 Forward Tee

#8 Forward Tee

#8 Back Tee

#17 Forward Tee

#18 Back, Middle, Senior (New), Forward

#16 Forward Tee

Tee Project Planning Meeting

Today we had our pre project planning meeting for our upcoming tee box renovations. This was a great opportunity to meet again with architect Chris Wilczynski and Contactor Chris Furness with Great Lakes Golf & Site Development, Inc. Both of these guys are fantastic and so very creative when it comes to golf course design and construction. We are all getting excited as the project starts in just 6 days now!

We finalized the plans for the 10 new forward tees and laid out the new tee box locations with paint and flags. The new forward tees will be a wonderful addition to the golf course and a much needed addition for the women, seniors and higher handycappers. 

We also laid out the 8 existing middle and back tees that will be expanded and leveled. The new renovated tees will provide more teeing ground with better alignment with the hole and more variation in yardage for golfers of all skill levels. 

Finalizing Plans, Equipment, Irrigation and Material Staging Areas

 

Laying Out New Forward Tee On #1

 

Marking Correct Tee Box Locations From Site Plans

#7 Forward Tee Laid Out For Expansion

 

Laying Out New Forward Tee On #17

How-To Divot Repair

With the busy golfing season in full swing, this is a good opportunity to discuss divot repair and how we can all do our part daily to keep Gull Lake C.C. in pristine condition. Filling divots in fairways and tees is very simple and only takes a couple seconds, with very minimal impact on your round of golf. The grounds team spends a fair amount of time each week filling divots in fairways, while divots on tees are repaired everyday throughout the golfing season. We have provided some tips below on getting your divots filled properly depending on the extent of the damage to the turf and what condition the divot piece remains in.

(1)

Large Divot With Soil Still Attached- 

When a divot is taken from a fairway or a tee box and the soil is still attached like the picture above, the divot should be placed back into the hole and in the same shape it was removed from. When soil remains attached with some root structure in tact, the divot will continue to grow without drying out. When there is minimal soil attached or it's blown apart like the picture below, the divot will simply not survive and will ultimately be removed and re-filled by the grounds staff... Delaying its recovery tremendously!

(2)

Small Divot Blown Apart In Pieces-

When your divot is small or maybe blown apart into a bunch of small pieces, this is when you grab the provided green sand bottle for repair. The small pieces, even replaced very neatly will not survive, due to the lack of root structure and ability to stay moist for reestablishment. When repairing your divot with green sand, please fill the damaged area completely so that the sand is flush with the surrounding turf and tap down with your shoe. The pictures below show divots that were repaired with green sand and recovering very nicely from the outside edges in, while plants also establish inside the damaged area for full recovery of the divot location.

Take Home Message

Properly repaired divots will heal up much faster than a divot that's either left unreparied, or simply sprinkled with green sand like salt on a steak. We have provided extra green sand bottles for you at the Pro Shop and by #10 tee, for those that need to reload at the turn. By all doing our part to repair divots and ball marks properly, the course will remain in better shape and the damaged areas will be repaired sooner.

Topdressing & Needle Tine Venting

This morning the grounds team was very busy at the club before the normal Monday outing, mowing the entire golf course, filling divots on driving range tee/short game practice area, topdressed greens, needle tine vented greens, blew sand into open holes and rolled greens two times. With a busy club championship week behind us now for the golf course and the turf, this very productive morning has the course back in fantastic condition and ready for league tomorrow. 

Applying sand to the greens prior to venting.

After topdressing and needle tine venting.

After sand is blow into holes and double rolled.

Driving range tee dialed up and ready for action.

Today the grounds team did a fantastic job mowing and completing a bunch of detail jobs on a beautiful maintenance Monday. The remainder of the open needle tine holes will be closed after a double cut and roll tomorrow morning, leaving behind virtually no sign and a healthy putting surface that will be rolling firm and true.

For more information and the health benefits of needle tine venting. Click Here