October Snow

It's the end of October and we have already had our first measurable snowfall of the season!  Despite the early brush of winter weather, the more seasonable fall temperatures will return soon and that means we can get back to work on some needed rejuvenation projects around the golf course.  We experienced a huge surge in rounds this season and while it is great to see so many people out enjoying the golf course, all of that extra traffic really took its toll on some of the more sensitive areas of the golf course.  Cart and foot traffic combined with late summer heat and drought really stressed some of the higher traffic areas of the course.  The seeding of tees and fairways is already underway and will continue in the weeks ahead.  With the cooler temperatures and wetter weather, we should really start seeing some germination where seed has already been planted.  Sod will be needed to fix some of the worst areas where seeding would not address the issues in a timely manner.  We have already begun work in some of these areas.  The exit area of the fairway on hole number one was sodded last week.  We also laid sod around the the greenside bunker.        

The new sod around this bunker will fix a bare area that resulted in contamination of the sand with soil.  We can now remove the contaminated sand and replace it with fresh white sand returning it to its original condition and greatly improving the appearance of the bunker complex around the green.  We did similar sod work along the first bunker on hole number 2 as well as along the cart path separating the first and second fairways.

The mainline leak on hole number 3 has been fixed and sod has been laid.  We backfilled along the top of the hillside on hole 3 and replaced sod in this area as well.

The walk up areas leading to the white and blue tee boxes were also stripped of weak turf and sodded with fresh fescue fixing the washed out areas along the cart path and really improving the look of these areas.

We also replaced sod around the greenside bunker on hole five and along the cart path next to the black and blue tee boxes on hole 6.  The walk on to the green on hole 16 was also completely stripped,  leveled and sodded.

Overall, 7 pallets of sod were laid last week and that is just the beginning of our plans this fall.  We have sub-contracted with an outside company who will come in and address some larger areas that will need soil and sod work.  This work will be underway very soon and is going to make huge improvements to areas that have needed attention for the past few years.  Having this work subcontracted will allow our maintenance staff to focus on other areas of the golf course.  Fall is a busy time here at Sycamore Ridge but it will be an exciting time for us all.  We can't wait for you to see all the improvements we will be making so STAY TUNED!