What a great and productive day in Highlands...getting ready for some really sever weather the next couple days. Heavy winds and intense rain is predicted, starting this evening.
The sod removed from #17 approach was reused on #10 "island." See the photo of #10 down below. Our contractor started excavating #17 approach to create Donald Ross' swale that is shown on his 1928 plan. You can also see the new shape of the green. New pin placements will be available on the front right of the green. Of course, that rootzone on the green expansion needs to be replaced with sand and the turf replaced. This will be an interesting improvement and here are a few photos to give you an idea of what to expect.
We got started on the refurbishment of the bridge on the 18th hole. The new bridge will have 1x6 decking boards running length-wise to make the ride a little smoother. A new curb and handrail system will be constructed to make the bridge more safe.
Above, we are adding two more steps to the bottom of the staircase at #16 tee. The new cart path resulted in us dropping the area about 18". This drop required the additional steps. This area will be far more attractive that it ever was! With the cart path out of the way, the playability and aesthetics around the green are greatly enhanced.
Our annual tree work started today and included work that was outlined on our adopted master plan. On number 3, several trees were removed that allows the bunker to be seen from the tee. It doesn't make the hole play any easier and I would assume most will continue to play the hole as they always have. But it will occasionally entice a golfer to pull out a driver.
William, who is a pretty cool dude as you can see, is busy helping finish the stone curbing we've installed around the croquet lawns.
Above is the new fairway "island" on #10 that was expanded using sod from #17. We spent some time installing drainage but the area really needs to be sand-capped to fix the drainage. In a climate with 100 plus inches of rain each year, it's my hope the club one day sees the need to expand the sand capping program and is willing to allocate the resources to do that kind of work. The comments from the recent club survey show this is something that would really be appreciated by the membership as a whole.