2023 Drainage Project Update #3

Continued work on #12 is full steam ahead this week as we are digging the necessary drainage in the area we started last week and preparing it for sod. Just in front of the  newly sodded area between the bunkers on the left hand side of the hole is a drainage inlet (DI's) or catch basin. At GBGC most of these these DI's are part of the original drainage system that are are typically located in low spots and swales, They are designed  to capture and remove surface water over the top of the turf and remove it through the underground drainage system. These are also our point of connection for the surface drainage work we are currently undertaking which really just helps that surface water get into that sub-surface drainage system much more rapidly. 

This drainage inlet and its exit pipe was compromised during the rush of construction, so we hade to spend a fair amount of time repairing and making it functional. By end of day Friday we will have re-sodded the section between the front bunkers we stripped and repaired last week, and added drainage this week. Additionally we will have repaired the drainage inlet and exit that all of this new drainage is connected too. Next week we will start right up the middle of #12. Enjoy some pictures of this weeks progress and next weeks plans.

Above shows the drainage inlet that was mentioned above. These are the tie-ins for gravel / french drains. Obviously if the exit drains are compromised the gravel drains attached to them wont function as designed.

Above depicts the initial work in fixing the drainage inlet. Ultimately Enrique and his crew had to install another exit line into the new pond.

Here is the same area after Enrique and crew put everything back together again.

Good overhead after everything was completed in the area. Two weeks of work to cleanup one of the most pressing loose ends from 2021. The area is roped off  to keep carts out and painted as GUR. The new  Santa Anna Sod that we purchased is substantially browner then our existing 1.5 year old fairway turf but will root down and establish once it warms up. This area will have restricted cart use until it is firmly established. Don't expect to drive through there until early summer and we will be GUR until the area greens up this spring. 

Adjacent to where we were teeing off this week on #12 is where  we will be working next week on drainage work through the middle of the fairway.

Tee markers for the upcoming week will be in this location about 170 yards out.

Above are the temporary posting details Mike Nicoletti worked out while we are in this location working on drainage. We will start on Monday which is a holiday and open for member play, however we have forecasted weather this week that could stall progress, so we plan to take advantage of weather conducive to drainage work while we can.

After #12 we plan to tackle this nagging wet spot in #2. As most of you know it is a relatively small spot but right in the landing area and has never really been right. We'll spend a whole week or whatever it takes, in this area if wee need to to get it right

Some Welcome New Members

If you have been out at the club recently you might have noticed a pair of Swans. I have read they will stay in a location as long there is a food supply and they dont feel threatened. They are likely sheltering on one of the islands in the main irrigation pond between #1 & #9 and perhaps nesting. The new Swans are not part of our goose hazing efforts, so the dogs will not harass them, and I've  heard Swans themselves can be decent goose hazers,  although I see no evidence of that currently. They are pretty, and if they can help with the geese control they are welcome here. Great article on Swans is linked below.

AZ Animals - Swan (cygnus atractus)

Granite Bay Swans

2023 Drainage Project Update #2

We moved to #12 fairway last week with our ongoing drainage work which encompasses a little more than just drainage work here.  The section of fairway preceding and between the first set of bunkers on this hole has never grown in properly from renovation in 2021. This was partially due to this fairway being the last fairway to be sprigged on the last day of August 2021, which is very late to grow-in sprigs. Additionally there were some deep bull dozer scrapes right down to the decomposing rock in the area which removed topsoil (sake of a better term) that was developed over 20 years, to shape the new bunkers.

Admittedly it was a rush job to beat the clock in a fairway spot that is a tight choke point, channeling all foot and vehicle traffic through an area of only 5000 square foot tops. GCM assumed we would have to re-visit this area, and our first full season proved this assumption correct. This area is one of the larger loose ends that need's to be tied-off. 

The area also needs drainage work, and it doesn't make sense to fix one portion of the problem here and not fix the other. And it makes the most sense to get the grade and soil right in the area first, then follow up with the drainage. And that is exactly what we started last  week and have provided some progress pictures below for those who are interested. 

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Above shows the area we are talking about, between the first bunkers on #12. The heavy grey line depicts the area that we stripped and moved what sod was viable, then removed the rest and in
truckloads to our nursery area, All of the Bermuda sprigs in these truckloads will establish rapidly this summer providing us with sod for future use. The heavy lime green lines represent the main drain lines and the skinny tan lines lateral lines. This picture also shows the irrigation lines that we have to work around and make sure we don't hit them with the digging equipment.

The soil in this area it not nearly as good as it perhaps appears in this picture.
Picture shows we have already stripped out and moved most of the viable sod to the sod nursery.
What remains a combination of Bermuda plants or sprigs, topdressing sand and soil.
After relocating the sprig / soil piles, we actually went to the hard DG areas and dug them out and removed that soil as well. 

Both above and below depict the crew hauling and spreading sand and compost to replace the removed DG, readying the area for rototilling.

After spreading the compost and sand we incorporated those amendments 
into the top 6" the creating a good root zone mix for the re-sodding to come.

Complete root-zone and general grade modification. Awaiting phase two of this area for next week.
Drainage!

The Best is Yet to Come !

2023 Winter Drainage Project Update #1

We started the drainage project highlighted in last weeks Course Update, starting with the the very beginning of #4 fairway. If you recall, we did do some drainage work in this area back in November prior to the rain we received in January. The recent storms exposed the need for more work here, so we started this week knowing we would be finished by Friday. 

Next week we plan to start a much larger job on #12. We plan to employ the same process we did this week in moving tee markers ahead of where we are working Monday through Friday so we can work both safely and productively and stay out of golfer's way. We will provide more pictures and progress reports next week on #12 as we plan to fix the other nagging issue between the first set of new bunkers which are related to surface drainage. Until then, below are a few pictures of this week's progress on #4.

We observed during January's rain events, the lack of rapid effectiveness of the previous drainage work we did in this area in November. Therefore, we decided to change tactics and dig the drains wider with the excavator. Drainage ditches are now approximately 12" wide & 16" deep with 2" of gravel on the bottom of the ditch, followed by a 4" perforated drainpipe, and filled to the top with 3/4" round drain rock. 

Good depiction of the work in progress. 

Compacted gravel awaiting sod replacement.

If you were playing last week, you might have observed piles of soil between the new left-hand fairway bunker on #9 and the pond edge. This is where we moved the soil from the #4 drainage ditches and will continue to add soil from #12 next week. This pond edge is in desperate need of expansion of 8 to 10 feet all the way around the bunker. This slight widening will allow for better transition between the lower bunker edge and water's edge as well making it easier for you to walk around and will facilitate much safer maintenance operations. Above picture shows the
smoothed-out soil we placed there this week.

We will clearly identify specifics when we move tee markers forward during this work.

We will continue to place benches and garbage containers to help identify teeing areas from afar.

Above shows the completed process on #4 the afternoon of Friday 2/3/23. GUR painted around the entire area.  Looks like we have a little rain coming our way starting Saturday afternoon through Sunday that will give this drainage work a little test run. 

The Best is Yet to Come!

Thank you.

Upcoming Surface Drainage Installation

Something that we already knew, but became even more obvious during ""The Storms of 2022 - 2023", was the need for surface drainage or what is commonly referred to as French Drains in our new Hybrid Bermuda Fairways. We plan to get started on this installation process next week as we simultaneously wrap-up storm cleanup. We will be updating our progress both through this GBGC Course Update as well as the Golf Shop's Daily E-Mail's.

As I mentioned last week, we are repairing damaged cart paths on Monday 1/30/23 as well as processing large tree that toppled on the right hand side of the driving range. After that, depending on where we are with storm cleanup, we will get started on this surface drainage. We have allot of work to do throughout the course, but our initial priorities are on fairways #4, #12 & the front of #18, not necessarily in that order.

The below images represent the worst areas we plan to address first. We will be shifting tee markers forward to various locations in the fairways on the holes we are working on so the work can remain productive, and keep members away from the construction zone. The work on #12 alone is extensive as you will see below. We dont want to get anyone hurt, and we need to stay productive not having to stop every time a golfing group approaches. There will be plenty of signage  that will designate  these temporary forward teeing areas, and we will complete sections that we started early in the week by the weekend so course will play at normal distance's on Saturdays & Sundays.

An overhead drone image taken of #12 during one of our more mild rain events of early January. Great illustration  of the difference's between #13, a right to left sloping fairway, and #12, drainage that moves from Green to Tee. 

The blue and yellow lines above represent approximate drainage pattern of #12 fairway. Blue lines are the main drainage lines and the yellow line represent the herringbone pattern lateral drainage lines. This hole will need approximately 2000 lineal feet of drain pipe or more as well as 100 tons of gravel.

Surface drainage is not complicated. Its a ditch with pipe and gravel for the most part. Its just a load of work as we need to relocate all of the soil from the ditches and haul in rock to replace it. 

This is a closeup of the very beginning of #4 fairway. We installed some drainage in this area back in November, but it wasn't enough. Green lines depict previously installed drainage and blue & yellow depict additional necessary drainage.

Shade is another issue with this particular portion of fairway. Standing water and shade are a bad combo for any turf or plant, but  for dormant Hybrid Bermuda in January,  this combo can be  lethal.

Selective tree trimming will help allot.

This is the beginning of #18 fairway during storm waters. The watershed from the back of the range , #18 ladies tee and the cart path all  head this way. A new surface drain is a must.

Storm Cleanup Continues

Our efforts on storm cleanup have been going well the past few weeks have been going well. As mentioned above we still need to process a large tree the toppled on the right-hand side of the Driving Range as well as a few stumps to remove, but the down trees that impacted golf play have been processed. 

Enrique removed the stump of the toppled tree on #4 and is now smoothing the area getting it ready for some sod.

The large tree on the right- hand side of the Driving Range that we will process on Monday 1/30/23. 

Thanks for your support and patience. The Best is Yet to Come!

Sunny Days Are Here Again

Finally, the wet weather pattern we have been experiencing since the beginning of the year has ended. Extended forecast for the foreseeable future is for sunny skies, no rain and highs in the mid to upper 50's, lows in the mid 30's. These low temperatures could lead to some frost, but this clear, non-rainy weather will allow the course to dry out.

Processing the trees that toppled during the storms is going well. By the end of the week (1/16 - 1/22) we should have most of the tree limbs chipped and the wood moved off the golf course. Next, we have to work on getting the stumps removed or ground, then repairing the scars they left with sod. 

We will work on this stump work next week (1/23 - 1/29) along with prepping cart paths that we damaged during storms that are slated for concrete pouring Monday 1/30/23. In addition to the storm damaged cart paths, we will prep and pour other sections that need repair such as #9 tee & #11 tee. Additionally, we plan to continue surface drainage work in the fairways, if they dry out enough to do so, which became more obvious then already recognized during this extreme rainy period that kicked off 2022. 

We needed a break, so this forecast is good news. There is still a decent amount of rain season ahead of us.

Rain accumulation measured by our own GBGC weather station through 1/18/23 is 8.83". This is the second highest January accumulation in 18 years and December's 12.34" was the most in a December for GBGC maybe ever. We are currently only 1.18" below our regional seasonal average with a decent amount of rain season ahead of us. Interestingly there have only been 4 years out the 18 years represented above that we have exceeded the regional average. 

Although it was still extremely wet from recent storms, we were able to get most of the rough mowed this week. Leaving it un-mowed would have made for nastier conditions then already exist for anyone playing out of the rough this weekend. Additionally, if we waited until Monday for ideal drier mowing conditions, we would have had a clipping mess on our hand with overall conditions still too wet to get sweepers or blowers on the course to clean it up. 

Rough on #18 freshly mowed.

Tree cleanup going well. Above picture depicts Ky working on two large tree that fell on top of one another behind the lower #14 tee's, onto the lower right-hand rough on #14. We still will have work to do next week as previously mentioned. We have stumps to remove, a big tree on the driving range that we won't get to until Monday 1/30/23, as well as wood to remove. 

Chipping the brush on #15.

Granite Bay has received some significant rain in the past, but if we were to look at the last 50 days, we have never experienced anything quite like what we just went through (see above rainfall accumulation data). Over 21" of rain in 50 days, over 30 trees down, all on a new golf course with new warm season Hybrid Bermuda fairways that do not thrive in this type of weather. 

I know with more surface drainage work as well as sand topdressing and tree pruning to mitigate winter shade issues, our fairways will be better set up to handle future winter rain events as we just experienced. The drainage and tree pruning work will continue as soon as we dry up a little, and complete cleaning up after the Tree Toppling of 2023. 

The Best is Yet to Come!

2023 Winter Storm Cleanup

 

"Truer words have never been spoken" when it comes to what Granite Bay Golf Course Maintenance had planned for the winter of 2023. We had big plans to get started on irrigation improvements to water our cool season rough independently of our Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda fairways. We had pruning and tree trimming areas designated to work on, continuing the theme of opening up views throughout the course and expanding sunlight to the turf. 

These plans will have to wait as we find ourselves once again reacting to what nature has in store and reminding us that planning and reacting play equal parts when managing and maintaining a golf property. 

As I mentioned last week, we lost over 30 trees since Christmas and are still in process of cleaning up after 20 of those 30 that blew over a week ago. Amidst the wind and tree toppling was rainfall, which makes everything wet, limiting equipment access to areas as well as slowing processing efforts down. We have the resources to bring in additional help, but tree companies are swamped as you can imagine with real life emergencies that take precedent over cleaning up after tree loss on a golf course.   Below are some pictures that tell the story well. 

GBGC rainfall data through Friday 1/13/23. December was a record for GBGC and January still has a chance to eclipse 2017's 10.91". YTD through early to mid-January we have measured almost 21", only 3" off the average for our area. Bigger news then our rainfall is snow accumulation in the mountains remains very impressive.

Toppled Tree's

We closed the B9 last Sunday 1/8/23 because of all of the down trees blocking cart path access. On Monday we spent the day just clearing cart paths. We finished clearing cart paths on Tuesday, then started processing all of the wood and brush focusing on areas near cart paths first as access to centers of the course with equipment such as woodchipper and tractors to remove wood would cause more damage to the course.  

We made some progress despite continued inclement weather and early morning noise restrictions, but we didn't finish, and likely won't finish completely for another few weeks as access issues remain, at least for next week, and we have the stumps and cart path damage to deal with. Below are a few pictures of the 20 that came down last week.

Cart path crossroad #15 Tee and #16 Green

#18 cart path.

#17 walking path. Moved tee markers forward for the time being.

Digger pine next to cart path #18. Damage to be repaired in the coming weeks.

Same Digger Pine before we cleared cart path.

This picture was featured in last week's course update as the only tree to topple
 so far this year that changed a golf hole. This is a multi-trunk live oak 
on the left-hand side of #4 about 220 yards out. Brush is still out there as 
it is difficult to process without causing turf damage until it dries out a little.

Weather forecast is for a few more days of this and then some clearing. 

An ironic rainbow Sunday 1/8/23 hours after the trees came tumbling down.

Looking Like a Wet Year

Rain, and plenty of it, has been the story of 2023 so far. The GBGC weather station has received 8.22" of rain since Christmas and recorded 2.90" on New Year's Eve alone. We recorded 12.34" of rain in December, the most ever for GBGC, and have recorded 2.90" through the first 5 days of January. 

When it gets this wet it's hard to play golf as well as get anything meaningful done on the golf course. We can't do the kind of work we had planned, such as supplemental irrigation or surface drainage work because it is too wet and this type of work cannot be done in wet weather. Even the tree pruning and brush clearing we had planned is being replaced by the need to process trees and parts of trees that continue to come down during the storms. Until Saturday night we had not lost anything that would affect the integrity of the course. However, during the windstorm of Saturday evening 1/7/23, we lost the multi trunk live oak on the left-hand side of #4, 200 yards out. (See picture below) 

For the big picture all of this rain is good news. The rain will stop at some point, and the course will dry out. Until then, we'll keep reacting to what nature brings us. Below are some pictures of the weather story of the past couple of weeks.

Overhead showing the flow lines of #12 during storm last week.

Upper practice green during rainfall.

18 years of GBGC weather station rainfall data. December 2022 was a record. The 2.99" shown for January 2023 is through the first 6 days. 

Folsom Reservoir (FR), the reservoir that supplies a lot of the regions water as well as the irrigation water for GBGC is filling up fast. Notice the vertical line heading up then down on this year's graph line. FR operators started releasing water to keep the  primary purpose of the reservoir intact, which is flood protection.

Snow in the mountains still currently holding up well, especially for the Central Sierra which feed FR.

Although FR is filling up quick, The States larger reservoirs up North are taking longer. FR fills fairly quickly because of its size and relation to a very active watershed, but these larger reservoirs take longer and are key to ending the drought we are officially still in.

The forecast continues to call for rain and if the forecasted amount of rain comes to pass, we could be close to surpassing 2016 - 2017 GBGC rainfall record for January.

So far this winter we have had well over 30 trees or large portion of trees that have come down from weather related storms. The multi trunked, Interior Live Oak on the left-hand side of #4, just over 200 yards out will be the first one that will change the hole opening up the approach shot on the left-hand side of the hole. This one came down during the windstorm of Saturday evening 1/7/23