Those of you that played in the Men's Opening day on Saturday would are already be aware of the irrigation leak that washed out the greenside bunker on #15. Luckily (for me) I was not off the property at the time that a member noticed the break, I was able to isolate the green and stop the damage before it got out of hand. Unfortunately the broken pipe was directly on the top of the bunker bank on #15. The bunker was completely contaminated and washed right down to the clay base. The drainage was also contaminated with mud and clay. It is no secret that most of our members are not satisfied with our bunkers here at HCC. The Green Committee is looking at some current methods of renovation to solve the issues with drainage and the high lips that our bunkers currently have. We are going to take advantage of an unfortunate incident (the irrigation break) and renovate the bunkers on #15. Realizing the right bunker is to be rebuilt now anyways, it only makes sense to use this oppurtunity as a test plot. The irrigation break is now fixed and we have begun to remove the bunker sand and will then continue onto restructuring the lips and installing new drainage. Weather is always a determining factor with spring projects, but we hope to complete this one in rather quick fashion.
Last fall we utilized a “new to us” method of revitilization for our practice tee. Our contractor TDS, fraize mowed the surface of the tee to remove organic matter as well at to aid in leveling. The tee was then aerified and seeded to a new variety of creeping rye grass. We chose this type of turf grass as research shows rapid recovery and a low growth habit. We were able to get some great growth in the fall, but the tee is still not ready for traffic and full use. The plan is to utilize the mats until growth has filled in some of the voids etc. We will then begin to slowly set up hitting areas on the grass tee. For a while we will alternate between grass and the mats with a 50/50 ratio of use. Once the grass tee is established and is in adequate recovery mode, the practice areas will be back to normal. As always our membership’s patience is appreciated as we try to improve these areas for use.
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