First Hole is Complete

A month after this project began, we have the first hole finished.  The par-4 Fifth hole is now completely landscaped with over 1000 new plants.  All the turf surrounding the tees has been removed and replaced with sand.  Border areas and slopes on both sides of the hole have been dressed with 3-4 inches of dark brown mulch.  There's a new path around the back tee that leads to the restroom, a often requested addition using more compacted sand in an area which used to be water-loving grass.  This project is moving along nicely and it feels good to have an area complete.

The crews spreading mulch and sand are now busy on the sixth hole and soon will head to #4 where irrigation is ready and planting is nearly finished.  Ahead of the planting crew are irrigation installers and ahead of them are a handful of guys running trenches for the hard pipe portion of the drip line.

The project is on track to complete holes 3 thru 8 in the second week of July.  We will then move on to the back nine for approximately six weeks.

You may notice some dried out sections and some traffic zones that have turned brown during this project.  This is an expected result of a construction project and these areas will recover very quickly.  A little water, fertilizer, and some venting with an aerifier can get bermuda to green up and bounce back.

When you get to play these completed holes this coming weekend, we'd like you to keep your carts out of the new areas as much as possible.  There are a couple zones where carts can cross through the sands to get to the fairway, so feel free to do so.  However, if your ball lands in the mulch, please walk to that location and leave the carts behind.

More updates coming soon.

Nearing a finished product (on one hole)

Number five is where this process started and that hole will be the first to be completed.  We are actually pretty close, just a few weeks since the project began.  All the old turf has been removed, the soil has been rototilled and then compacted, flags have been placed to designate locations of plant material and now the crew is installing irrigation.

The drip system uses sub service delivery in 3/4 inch pipe.  The only part that comes above ground is the emitter to water each plant.  Trees will get soaker hoses in a couple of rings, but besides that, we will not have any hoses above ground.  This allows us to use a bunker rake to dress up the area periodically without damaging any drip line.  Also, players will not encounter drip lines when playing out of the native zones.

There are many hundreds of feet of drip line trenches on each hole.  This is a pretty time consuming task, but with 4 trenchers going at once, it's moving faster than I had expected. Once the irrigation is installed, the plants will go in and the compacted sands and mulch will be spread as a final piece.  The sand will be compacted with hand and mechanical rollers and the area will be finished.  

The first shipment of plant material came in today, mostly larger items like 36" box sycamore trees, 24" box pink malaleucas, and some 15 gallon 'after dark' peppermint tree.  It's going to look pretty sharp out there.  

Update and artist rendering

Below, is a representation of our finished product.  One of the priorities of our plant selections was to bring some color into our landscape.  This isn't an official plant map, so don't be too concerned about the specifics.  More than likely, we will have thinner plantings between tee and fairway, heavier plantings as you move towards the OB lines and homes.  

Baccharis pilularis, called Coyote Brush

Notice the contrast provided by the grass against the compacted sands bordering the mulch on the slopes.  Within the mulch areas are thick ground covers like acacia and baccharis pilularis, or coyote brush.  We are considering 22 different plants to be used in the plan including a variety of trees, bushes, ground covers, and grasses.  I will share the complete list when we've confirmed availability of all plant types.  As you may suspect, getting drought tolerant plants is fairly difficult with all these projects occurring at the same time.

Today, some flags are being placed on hole number 5, to mark plant locations and the dividing line between mulch and sand.  Turf removal on holes 4 thru 8 will be completed in the next couple of days and soon we will be digging up heads on the rest of the course which was sprayed with herbicide one week ago.  You can already see the effects of the treatment on this large portion of turf between the 9th tee, 2nd fairway, and the driving range.  This is a great example of useless turf that will be replaced by much more attractive low-water plantings.

Finally, last week BHCC hosted the Women's Member-Guest Tournament in the middle of a very messy project.  Instead of complaining about the dust and less than perfect conditions, our members used the opportunity to showcase our efforts to reduce water usage and beautify the club.  The staff and I received so much praise for our work in making the course as presentable as possible.  Of course, everything was mowed, the bunkers were raked, detail areas trimmed, and the greens cut and rolled.  However, the unusual work was plentiful, like a new walk path to the 3rd tee box.  It had been rototilled the day before to a depth of 8 inches and walking to the tee box would have been very difficult.  We shoveled up the mess, lined the path with some shredded bark, and marked the entrance with some cobble stone.  

In just a few weeks, the entrance to this tee box will take on another design... attractive, permanent, and drought tolerant.