Practice Facility Renovation

Yet another phase of our ongoing project has begun. We started the renovation of our practice range and chipping area almost a week ago. Our previous facility was the last area of the golf course that hadn't been updated to match the restoration which has taken place throughout the rest of the property over the last decade. Our goal is to not only make the area more functional for use by our teaching professionals, members and guests, but to also bring the same themes to the practice areas that we are incorporating on the rest of the property (i.e. native grasses, flowing undulations, and short mowed chipping areas).

We eliminated two out of the three practice bunkers and re-shaped the green surrounds to make room for more short-mowed chipping area around the practice green. While before there was only about 200 square feet of short-mowed chipping area there will now be approximately 10,000 square feet.

We started the process on our driving range about three weeks ago by spraying the grass out with Round-up. The shaper then came in and tilled the soil so that it would be easier for him to shape using the bulldozer. We changed the shape of the driving range surface to allow for better surface drainage as well as the installation of new target greens. We sodded the target greens by using material that we saved from the existing driving range tee. After the removal of the sod from the teeing area the shaper was then able to begin the leveling process.

The final touch will be a bio-swale that will run in front of the artificial tee and to the right side of the grass teeing area to help add a landscape element to the tee as well as act as an attractive alternative to a drainage ditch. The bio-swale will be un-irrigated and will be a mix of native grasses, sand, and rocks.

Progress Report

It's been a while since our last update regarding Pasatiempo's move toward water conservation, so there are several things to cover. The new irrigation system installation has been completed on the front nine and everything is programed and running by our central control. This is a huge relief considering to the 80 degree weather that is fast approaching. Holes 10, 17, and 18 are completed on the back nine, and they are getting ready to start pulling laterals and installing heads on number 11.

We have finished spraying out areas for future native grass conversion throughout most of the back nine, and have hydroseeded about four more acres of new area over the past two weeks on holes 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. The first areas we seeded several months ago on holes 1, 5, and 6 have really started to progress with the warmer temperatures and we now have six to eight inches of growth in the native grass areas that border these holes.

We've also completed the relocation of the 9th forward tee out of a future native grass area into line with the rest of the 9th tee complex. We were able to use the sod from the existing tee and transfer it over to the new location once the prep work was done.