We have been making steady progress with projects that are part of our Granite Bay Golf Course Master Plan after overseeding tees and select areas of the surrounds and collars in late September. Despite having numerous club events and a busy tournament calendar, the cooler weather and shorter days of fall slow the growth of the Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda Fairways and reduce the need for irrigation and associated management opening up windows to advance on our plan. The progress we have made the past five weeks has been good considering great fall golfing weather and the need to prepare and maintain the golf course daily. Below are some pictures of the progress.
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Overseeding with ryegrass in the collars was successful. This might be a temporary fix as ryegrass is very susceptible to our summer conditions, but ryegrass can take a low height of cut better than the tall fescue collars originally installed in 2021, and that we seeded the ryegrass into. |
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First fall project we did after overseeding was to replace the walk-on sod to the upper PG |
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The second project we did was to fix the perennially bad area behind #7 green. This area has always been bad, exacerbated by tree roots, inadequate irrigation infrastructure and a drainage water pattern that washed walnut shells and dirt onto the turf of upper left chipping area. It took us three weeks to dig drainage, pour curb and gutter, install irrigation, condition the soil and re-sod and add and pack DG for cart parking. |
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Behind #7 green on the left-hand side where we removed some walnut shells and added turf. |
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Drainage was a big problem in this area and there wasn't any drainage infrastructure nearby to tap into, so we had to tap into some below the chipping area. |
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Here is the curb and gutter with associated drainage inlet that was installed to control traffic and catch water that comes through this area during rain events. |
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After #7 we started working on The Clubs entrance way landscaping which could take us the month of November and is part of our Master Plan. The first area we addressed was repairing the irrigation on the barren bank to the right of the #8 tee along the driveway. This area was originally irrigated with drip irrigation which we long ago identified as inoperable for any length of time at GBGC because the of the dirty water we pump out of our pond between #1 & #9 clogging drip filters and emitters. Replacing this system with overhead water will allow the lavender that is already there to thrive as well as new plants we plan to add in the very near future. |
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We have already cleared the way for new irrigation and planting on the next parking lot mound as you drive into The Club. More to come on this, but the work we will be doing this year is just part of the plans we have for the entrance way, parking lot and clubhouse landscape and is largely focused this year on repairing irrigation infrastructure. Without proper irrigation in the west, you can't sustain turf or plants and is a major theme of our plans. |
