Closed Week Closing Out

It's been a long, hard, productive week at Bernardo Heights Country Club.  The members returned to the course today to meet some sandy greens, some renovated bunkers, and many signs of work in progress.  The most common quote from returning members, "You've been busy."  Yes we have.

More work continues today as we put the finishing touches on the bunkers on #8.  The front bunker saw the most changes.  The front edge was moved away from the green by 4 feet, close to the original dimension of the bunker.  Over the last bunch of years, the edge has creeped in and up making a narrow and very deep hazard.  We removed over three feet of sand to reach the original grade and then added over a foot of clay to reduce the severity of the slope and produce more playable floorspace.  The existing drains worked well, so after packing down the clay, we hand dug down to the old drains and added new drainage right on top.  The view is much different, nearly doubling the amount of sand visible from the fairway.  It might just make somebody think twice of going for a tucked pin.

The back bunker actually had a entire sub grade full of large crushed rock making a vault style drain that was covered with liner.  Changing this design would have taken more time than we had, and since it was still functional, we regraded to remove high spots, tacked down the liner, and added our sand.  

Both bunkers are now more player friendly and have fresh sand that will allow for properly played explosion shots.  They will be just like our other renovated bunkers on holes 5-7 after the sand is matured and compacted over time.  We used a vibratory plate compactor and a decent amount of water today to pack down the sand.  It will get the same treatment a few more times to reduce fluffiness and fried egg lies that is commonly associated with new bunkers.

The contractors have finished up the tunnel connections and are now tying these into our existing mainlines.  We planned on moving on to #5 today, and still will this afternoon, but first must finish our connection through the first tunnel.  Starting tomorrow morning, we will have well water supplying every hole besides number 5 and 6.  This is ahead of schedule due to a change we made yesterday to the configuration.  A good change in hindsight, saving money right away.

This project is rolling along and the BHCC staff still has a mountain on it's plate so stay tuned for more updates as we work to make the course better on a daily basis.

Closed Week Update #4 (Thursday)

These numbered updates represent the days of the week, but I'm falling behind as the week rolls along. This post recaps our work on Thursday and I'll have Friday and the weekend coming up next.

The big event of the day was a deep tine aerification on our greens.  On Monday, we punched the greens with 3/8" tines with close spacing at a depth of 4 inches.  This is pretty aggressive and our standard aerification practice performed twice a year.  Since we remove plugs at the same depth each time, a hard layer can form just below the affected zone.



A tractor-mounted aerifier with 5/16 inch tines punched holes at 2x2 inch spacing at a depth of 8 inches.  What all that means is our greens are going to be feeling really good after so many holes in such a short amount of time.  This helps our roots, our drainage, and oxygen exchange.  Aerification makes everything better.  We followed the aerifier with a cocoa mat to drag the sand into the holes and a roller to smooth the surface.

Work on the 8th hole green-side bunkers continued as we shaped the floor of the front bunker by adding over a foot of clay.  The bunker was way too deep and narrow causing all shots to settle in the same location.  The renovated design will offer more playable space and less difficult shots which I suspect our members will prefer.

Finally, the contractors were busy installing the new valves that connect the 10 inch mainline to our 6 inch loop near the 1st tee. Also, trenches were dug along the tunnel walls and across cart paths on #'s 8 and 4.

Closed Week Update #3

On Wednesday, the project crew continued with the 10 inch main and nearly finished at the connection point near the 1st tee before darkness stopped work.  They are at it again today and working on cleaning up the trench, replacing sod, and moving machinery to work near the tunnel connections.

BHCC staff members sodded Teal Tees on #'s 14, 15, and 17 on Wednesday morning.  That only leaves two more tees, #'s 12 and 18 which will be finished up in the coming weeks.

Once the tees were finished, we moved on to the bunkers on #8.  The drain lines were exposed and tested and new contour lines drawn out.  Most of the excavation and grading will be done by hand so it's a very slow process even with 8 guys on the job.


When you're asking people to work this hard, day after day, you need to find some time to have a little fun.  For us, that means a friendly soccer game with the crew from United GLI Inc.  The game was very competitive, yet friendly, with more laughing than you'd expect.  Those who didn't play, parked carts in the shade to watch the action.  It's amazing that any of us have energy to work after playing hard for 30 minutes, but it seems to revive us and everybody grabs their shovels and heads back to the trenches.

More updates coming soon….

Closed Week Update #2

On Tuesday, the contractors continued installing the new 10 inch mainline completing about 200 yards of trench and pipe.  The pipe crossed the 18th fairway at a 45 degree angle and now turns towards the connection point near the tee on #1.

While they were busy on #18, the BHCC staff excavated the two green side bunkers on #8.  The front bunker, especially, has been the focus of many complaints, most of which say, "there is no sand in the bunker."  I continue to disagree with this comment, because a lack of sand is not the issue, the age of sand is the problem.  As sand breaks down and gets contaminated with silt and soil from edging, wind, and rain events, the combination of sand plus clay equals concrete.  Adding more sand, the typical recommendation from your average golfer is a huge waste of money.  That sand will only help until the underlying sand gets mixed with the new stuff and it only takes one rain event to do that.

The bunker on #8 had over 3 feet of sand.  We dug this out and moved it to other bunkers that could use a little extra.  Sure, it's not new, fluffy sand, but it will improve playability in our older bunkers until we can renovate them as we did on holes 5, 6 and 7 last year.  #8 is being done in-house this week, #'s 15 and 16 are planned for next year, and we will continue along the priority list from there forward.

Other activities yesterday included the seeding of the driving range tee with ryegrass, punching the par 3 tees to prep for overseeding, finishing all sanding and fertilizing of our greens, and some mulch work around the clubhouse.  Day #3 is off to a great start and I will share those notes with you in our next update.