Above: There you have it! This is the new pond bank on #10. Sod will be installed right over the soil and textile fabric shown in the photo. We should be getting another load of sod in 10-14 days. The next 4 photos give you an idea of how we filled the textile "bag" with soil, using shovels and water to settle the material and shape it to the desired grade. From this point on, this pond bank will no longer erode and deteriorate. I hope this allows you to see the possibilities for the rest of the golf course and the many areas were water comes into play. This is a major challenge to maintain at Highlands CC and this is the solution. Finding solutions is the rewarding part!
At the croquet lawn, footers are being dug that will support the surrounding rock walls. The goal is to pour footers with concrete this week.
This afternoon, I visited the superintendent at Mountaintop GC to look at their bunker project. They are renovating the front nine bunkers on their golf course, using a product called Bunker Solutions. This is something I've considered but am leaning toward an alternative product for a number of reasons. I will be talking more about that in the coming weeks when our project really gets going. This project started last fall and the work is being done by Green-Tee Golf, the same folks working here at Highlands CC. Once the Mountaintop projects conclude, there will be 20 additional workers coming to HCC to knock out the remainder of the croquet, bunker and drainage work.
Bunker Solutions is a product, very similar to outdoor carpet that was a little more prevalent years ago. The difference, is the fact that it is bright white in color as you see above. The general idea is that the carpet fibers lock in the sand on steep flashes of bunker faces rather than the individual sand grains tumbling to the base of the slope. The good news at Highlands CC, is that Ross is known for grass bunker faces and flat bottom bunkers. In our case, this would be overkill because of that fact. However, it does do a wonderful job of protecting the sand from becoming contaminated with the subsoil or pea gravel used around drain lines.
Above, the staff uses flat bottom shovels to shape the floor of the bunker prior to drainage being installed.