4 Tee and Billy Bunker Work

Aside from the major work with the irrigation system there are 2 small projects to be started later this spring. The north set of tees on #4 will be renovated and as touched on in an earlier blog post we will be testing a new bunker base that will drastically reduce sand wash out and contamination after heavy rainfalls.

A new brick retaining wall will replace the old railroad tie wall on the north edge of the gold tee. The entire right side of the blue and golds will be moved north creating a slightly different angle to the shot and both tees will be one level with the slope between the 2 tees removed resulting in some much needed extra square footage. Par 3 tee surfaces should typically be quite large to allow for divot recovery. That tee is one of our smallest.

The wall will be moved north and replaced with Allen Block. The blue and gold surfaces will be one level.

CTC does not want to begin work on the tee until they are sure the frost is out of the ground and they can begin the wall construction on a solid foundation. That means a project start in early to mid May. There is a 2 week timeline from start to finish (sodding) and then approximately one month of turf establishment. The tee is projected to be back in play by the end of June. The north tees will remain open until work begins.

The Billy Bunker work cannot begin until night time temperatures stay well above freezing and conditions are dry. CTC is doing the work at a reduced cost for the Royal Mayfair as part of a licensing agreement with Billy Bunker. The Royal Mayfair only needs to fund materials for 10,000 ft2 of work. CTC is providing the labour at no cost. We will be doing two bunkers on the 2nd hole, the bunkers on #16 and the bunkers at the 5th green. Those bunkers give us the most trouble during storms and will provide a good test of this technique. Visit www.betterbillybunker.com for a look at the procedure. The holes will remain open while CTC works on the bunkers. The work is also slated to begin in May.


GOLF COURSE UPDATE

• We were finally able to begin clean up on drier areas of the course this week however the western sections of the course (4,15,16) are still wet and even frozen in the shaded tree lines.
• Heating covers are on greens 2 and 6. This will give us a better idea as to the extent of recovery required in May. The greens will remain in play but expect some thin patches and more intensive turf management than the other greens would normally receive.
• The Poa annua on the course is basically in "neutral" until we get some sunshine and normal temperatures. Please keep your expectations in line with the cool early season spring weather.
• The warm up green will be completely resodded next week. It did not fare well this winter. We will need to rethink how we can get this green to survive less than ideal winters and the mouse problem. Our nursery sod will help as it has a much higher percentage of creeping bentgrass, a much hardier turf for our climate. At the same time new irrigation will be installed around the perimeter. The green should reopen in mid May.

Next Weeks Blog Topic: A review of the  irrigation cleanup required on the front 9 and what is in store for the remaining holes.