#13 Green Views, Goats and Drainage!

If you have a child, relative or friends with kids under the age of 10, you probably know the catchphrase, "To infinity and beyond!" from the Toy Story movie that features the toy space ranger hero, Buzz Lightyear.  I love this because this describes exactly the impact of what I am about to discuss here regarding one of our latest course improvement projects.

In my last post, I talked a little bit about the natural features of this property that Jack Nicklaus did such a good job of highlighting in the routing of the course.  Just like the canyon on the left of #15, the area behind the green on #13 had become quite overgrown in the last 15 years and the fir trees on the hillside were beginning to create a little bit of a wall and dilute the spectacular view off the back of this green.  I found another picture from the early 2000's that shows what this hole used to look like.

#13 in the early 2000's.

Now, flash forward 12 to 15 years and this next picture shows how much the trees had grown over the years, blocking off that once clean edge of the canyon.

#13 in 2014.

This morning, we sent three professional loggers from Cedar Falls Tree Service with chainsaws about 60 feet down the edge of the hillside for a few hours and BOOM!  Look at the difference!  The trees no longer block the view like before.  We now have what I have personally dubbed the "infinity and beyond" green in which your eye follows the approach, rolls onto the green and jumps off into the sky, Mount Si, the valley and everything else- "to infinity and beyond!"

#13 Green in 2014 AFTER tree removal.

                         

Here's an up close shot of what the edge of the cliff looks like now.  Dramatic!

                        

You can even see all the way to the 15th hole with the trees gone!

Pretty cool huh?  We still have a little bit more work to do on the right side between the switchback in the cart path and #14 tees.  On Friday that little grove of trees right there will be cut out and we will then have a nice seamless line running from behind the green all the way down and around the 14th hole.  

While we are on the subject of view lines, we also did a little bit of light trimming on the "V" that  gives you the peek-a-boo views of Snoqualmie Falls from the 12th tee so that view line will also be much better than it was previously.  And of course, the action down on the 15th hole is going great.  We started out with 37 goats in the pen over the weekend and as of today, we added another 27 goats to get our total up to 64 and make quicker work of things.  The plan is to let the goats eat whatever they can and everything that is left over will be cut by hand such as the blackberry canes and the small to medium sized trees.

setting up the chute to move goats from the trailer into the pen.

                        

Notice the difference between what is inside and outside of the fence.  What is inside used
to look like the outside.  These goats don't leave anything behind!

"Selfie" of Assistant Superintendent Tate Berg and one of the baby goats.

Everyone works at their own pace.  You may see some napping but rest assured,
  come 3 AM, they will be logging their hours and doing their part.

                         

Ready for more?  This truck from Golf Plus Construction showed up in the agronomy maintenance yard this morning and unloaded a couple of nice pieces of equipment specifically for drainage work.  This past winter, the agronomy crew was able to install 2,000 feet of drainage in-house using our own equipment.  While this is a LOT of drainage- we have decided to do more, this time with a contractor with specialized equipment that can make quicker work of things.  About 4,000 feet more!  Our agronomy team along with the ownership are committed to improving shoulder season playing conditions and this is part of the effort to keep this initiative moving along.

               

Much of this work will be concentrated on the 18th hole and will take about two weeks to complete.  Our contractor Daniel Soushek with Golf Plus construction has an extensive resume that includes work performed on many area golf courses and he worked with us in 2004 when the left side of the 12th green washed down the hill.  

Our plan is to begin tomorrow morning with a "soft start" and as we move along, things will move along quicker and we will work to minimize the impact on play.  There will be days where we may need to move the tee markers onto the fairway out of the line of work in the name of safety and our contractor's pace of work.  We will be working with the golf shop to direct daily communication and placement of the tees.  

This is an exciting time for the club with the many new improvements happening on the course along with the extensive remodel of the clubhouse that began today.  I will do my best to keep the blog fresh with the latest happenings of what we are doing.  I want to thank everyone in advance for their patience as we work to get these projects completed and hope that you feel the same enthusiasm for these projects as we do.  Feel free to wave me down on the golf course or shoot me an email if you have any questions, I'm always happy to chat and thanks for taking the time to read through this long post!