The above average temperatures and dry weather in late March to early April had the golf season kicking off in full gear on April 2nd of this year. The grass was able to get a jumpstart, get out of dormancy quickly this spring which has helped us with divot recovery and ball marks on the Greens. The turf is extremely healthy and the newly seeded 007 Greens look incredible to start the season. In just their second year, they had great Spring green up and have incredibly strong root systems.
April is one of the busiest months for us at the Grounds Department, especially when the weather is favorable. This month at Beverly has been no different! We have been very busy not only mowing turf but working on projects throughout the early portion of the season. Our project list consists of putting a walkway through the bunker at #1 and adding a cart path to the right side of #4 green that directs you around #5 Tee. All this work was done just in time to start our new Short Course area next to the pro shop!
The walkway at the cross bunker at #1 was discussed during the original plans of the restoration. Architects, Tyler Rae and Ron Prichard, decided to hold off on its installation to get a feel for how traffic might work with the bunker at 1. After a season of testing, getting feedback from members, etc.. It was determined we should install the walkway through the bunker. This enabled the walking member to take a straight line off the Tee to their ball in the Fairway. While the face of the bunker is soft enough to walk up, we will continue to monitor the face/traffic pattern as there could be potential for the addition of steps in the future. We then reimplemented the dew walk paths throughout the golf course, giving a shorter height of cut for the walkers from Tee to Fairway.
The left side of 4 green has always been a tough spot due to traffic, irrigation and drainage issues. It was an area that got beat up from the cart traffic and was extremely difficult to keep carts scattered and avoid major wear and tear to the turf. During one of Tyler Rae's site visits this past winter he evaluated the area and determined we could put a cart path in on the right side of the Green between the bunker and the fence line while rerouting carts behind #5 tee and to the right of it. It will help the Green complex at #4 be healthy as well as help alleviate any wear and tear from carts that has plagued #5 Tee. Our focus was to not only build the cart path but also to build up the back of the bunker face to help hide the path from view when walking up towards the Green.
As we are always looking to minimize the amount of cart paths on the golf course, this was an area that made sense to add one. This will help the traffic in the area, as well as give flexibility in the future for fescue lines on the left side of #4 Green as well create possible shelter/halfway house opportunities to the right of #5 Tee where the old pumphouse sits.
Project Update:
Throughout the upcoming blog posts, I will be updating the membership on the progress of the recently approved Practice Facility projects as work begins. Hopefully the membership will find it interesting to see some of the "behind the scenes" things that happen to complete a project as well as get a chance to see how different features like, Greens, Tees, and Bunkers are created out of nothing but open space.
The Short Course portion of the project has officially kicked off. We broke ground on phase 1, April 20th with the tree removal portion. In building the 3 hole short course, the first order of business was to clear the area in which we wanted to create the holes. We obviously need to make room for the 3 hole course, however, at the same time need to be sure we continue to have a buffer between 1 fairway and the newly built short course. We also want to make sure we do not open our boundary line up to the East along Western Ave.
Architect Tyler Rae identified the trees needed to be removed in order to create the vison of the short course. We evaluated the area, the health of the trees and made an informed decision on the removal of any tree. Throughout the area we found many of the trees to be rotted, hollowed out and not in the best health, so it made decisions on most of the trees simple.
However, anytime we remove a healthy tree on the golf course, we want to make sure we are doing it for reasons that enhance the turf health, experience and playability of the course. During the removal of trees, with the entire area being renovated, we were not worried about any damage from our tree contractor. They were able to work quickly and efficiently in their ability to clear the area. This saves on overall cost and time.
Next dates of note for the Short Course project: May 7th, Tyler will be making a site visit and he will be staking out the Short Course with the hopes of breaking ground with the bulldozer May 10th. Our overall timeline and goal for the Short Course is to have the area "growing in" by mid to late June. Then move to break ground on the Practice Facility/Himalayan Putting Green, post Medley on August 2nd.
It will be another busy season for us at the Grounds Department! We are excited to get things kicked off and providing a brand new experience to a golf club with such great tradition and history!
Kirk
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