2010 Golf Course Priorities

The #1 priority that was on the golfing members mind when I arrived to Granite Bay Golf Club in early 2008 was the overdue renovation of the bunkers. This was the mandate in which I was brought to Granite Bay to achieve. After looking over bids obtained by contractors it was decided to attempt the renovation project in house utilizing our current labor pool and complete the project over two to three years. After settling on a construction process that I strongly felt would outlast many of the options we researched we started the project in the spring of 2008.

Along with maintaining the course we started the process working our way through the learning curve that is inherent in a project of this size. In a short period of time we were confident with our technique and decided to tackle the worst bunker on the course, the left hand bunker on #16. Rebuilding this bunker led to an entire restoration of the front portion of the green complex closely re-establishing the original look of the hole.
Additionally in 2008 we had to come off of bunker progress for a few weeks landscaping and preparing the grounds around the new outside dining patio. Once bunker renovation resumed we quickly depleted our allotted capitol amount for 2008 and had to wait for 2009’s allotment.

The biggest obstacle in 2009 to bunker progress was “The greatest recession since the great depression” that seemed to effect all of our lives. Our overall maintenance budget was effected which limited our construction workforce.

Additionally our capitol bunker allocation was reduced towards the end of the season. We were able to make progress but fell short of our stated goal of having the all of the greenside bunkers completed by the end of 2009. Even though we missed what I consider an important goal we were able to complete another member priority and that was the expansion of the cartpath to the upper tees on #18.
This brings us to our priorities in 2010, Finishing the Bunker Project. Our main focus this year will be to finish what we started in 2008. I am confident because:

• We have NO other capitol projects lined up to complete
• Capitol funding reductions from 2009 have been added to 2010.
• Remaining bunkers are pretty straight forward (unlike #16)
• Capitol funding has been released early for this project

Above and beyond the above points is our collaborative will to get this project behind us. I for one am appreciative of the golfing membership’s support and patience of this process. We have made progress in other areas on the course over the past couple years but the bottom line is we have more bunkers to complete (38) then we have completed (27) and my original estimate was to be much farther along then we are at this point.

We do have some other smaller golf course projects that members have brought up and we have shown we can acomplish more then one thing at a time. With any find of luck we will be able to achieve these little projects along with our above mentioned priorities in 2010. However I strongly believe it is in all of our best interests that we stay the course, finish what we started and get these bunkers done in 2010 even if it means that some of this little stuff has to wait.

Completed bunkers #18 in 2009

Completed bunker #1 in 2009