Tee Renovation Project Complete

Tee box renovation project is now completed and we have beautiful new bentgrass starting to grow on all of the tee surfaces. The weather has been absolutely fantastic for the completion of the project and we even had bentgrass germinating in only days benieth the white blankets. The renovation project consisted of 7 newly built tees (#1 Forward, #8 Forward, #9 Senior, #10 Forward, #12 Forward, #17 Forward, #18 Senior) and expansion/leveling of 14 existing tee boxes (#2 Forward, #3 Back, #7 Forward, #8 Back, #9 Back, #9 Middle, #9 Forward, #11 Forward, #12 Back, #14 Back, #16 Forward, #18 Back, #18 Middle, #18 Forward). The construction contractor; Great Lakes Golf & Site Development inc. was mobilized on site for 20 days and completed all the tee work In a mere 13 working days. Rain and wet conditions delayed or haulted work on 7 of the days, mostly during the beginning to the middle of the project. We are very happy with the results of this project and wonderful cooperation with project staff and golf course architect throughout the whole renovation.

Please remember that even though the newly seeded bentgrass tees may appier to be green and ready to open, they are very young, tender and unable to sustain golfer traffic. The newly constructed tees need the remainder of this fall to fully fill in and mature to a healthy level. They are scheduled to open by Memorial Day. 

Please be respectful and give them the required time to complete their establishment process. Keeping your carts away from the new tees, and out of the newly sodded areas surrounding them, will make a tremendous difference. Your help and cooperation is much appreciated by the grounds staff and golfing membership.

Tee Project - Week 1 Update

With a very productive first week of construction in the books, things are really starting to take shape on the first 10 tee boxes of the tee renovation project. The weather has created several challenges already, haulting work on two days and delaying work on two others with heavy rainfall and wet conditions. The construction crew is doing a fantastic job and making huge progress, working sun up to sun down 7 days a week and leaving behind very minimal disruption to the golf course.

#7 Forward Tee

#12 Forward Tee (New)

#14 Back Tee

#9 Back, Middle, Senior (New), Forward Tees

#11 Forward Tee

Construction Equipment Arrives On Site

Tree Removal At #9 Back & Middle Tees

Tree Removal At #18 Back & Middle Tees

Tee Renovation Project

Dear Members & Friends,

With summer and the golfing season in full swing, it’s time to discuss our upcoming golf course tee project that’s scheduled to start September 2nd. As many of you already know, the club has been working with golf course architect Chris Wilczynski now for the past 4 seasons. For those of you that don’t know, Chris is a disciple of Art Hills and worked 20+ years for Art’s firm, designing golf courses all over the world. Chris enjoys our golf course and shares many of the same visions Art Hills had for our course back in the early 90’s. The first phase of our masterplan project was to remove all the dead and or dying trees from the golf course, essentially cleaning up the pallet. Now that we have a decent handle on the tree situation, it’s time to complete the next phase towards the completion of our masterplan vision for Gull Lake C.C. and our wonderful golf course.

The golf and grounds committees have been actively working along side the architect for the past year, planning out and tailoring the tee renovation project to fit our needs as a club. The main initiatives for this tee project were to create several new forward tees for women and seniors along with expansion/leveling of several other existing tee boxes. The golf course is becoming dated and needs to be updated and modernized in several locations, to benefit golfers at all skill levels. While this project is going to be a nice update to the golf course, it is going to come with a small disruption to play for a period of time. We will be cutting temporary tee box locations in the rough or placing tee markers at the beginning of the fairway on holes under construction. This will only be a small disruption to your round of golf, as the rest of the golf course will remain in fantastic condition as always.

Scope of work:
#1 – New forward tee at beginning of fairway on Right.
#2 – Expand existing forward tee by three times the size.
#3 – Expand and Level existing back tee.
#7 – Expand and Level existing forward tee.
#8 – Move existing back tee 15’ Right and add new forward tee near beginning of fairway.
#9 – Expand and realign all three existing tees.
#10 – New forward tee at beginning of fairway on Left.
#11 – Expand and Level existing forward tee.
#12 – Expand and Level existing back tee with cart path and add new forward/middle tee.
#14 – Expand and Level existing back tee.
#16 – Expand and Level existing forward tee.
#17 – New forward/middle tee near beginning of fairway.
#18 – Expand and Level existing middle and back tees.

The project is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, September 2nd and will be completed in one month if all goes as planned and Mother Nature cooperates. If everything goes perfectly here is what you can expect during and after the completion of the tee project. While this is a fairly large project, we plan to keep disruption to golfers and haul roads to a minimum during the time of construction. The tee box surfaces are going to be seeded to bentgrass upon completion of grading/shaping each tee box and the tee banks will be sodded with new bluegrass rough sod. The bentgrass seed on the tee boxes will require some establishment time and patience as it matures and fills out into a dense stand of turf. We hope to have the new and renovated tees open next season by Memorial Day if we have good growing conditions this fall and next spring. It’s very important that we take advantage of the warm ambient/soil temperatures the first half of September, getting the bentgrass seed germinated and growing. The seed needs this time to establish in order to stay healthy through the winter and finish establishing come spring without a delay.

We are very excited about the vision for the golf course here at Gull Lake C.C. and the completion of this tee renovation project this season. This tee project will come with minimal disruption to the property area as a whole during construction and we hope you will embrace the improvements to your wonderful golf course.

Regards,

Jesse Shaver

Grounds & Facilities Superitendent