Recapturing

Starting with the bunker renovation in 2012-2013, we have been working very hard to keep all of our renovation projects consistent with the goal of recapturing the vintage allure of the golf course which dates back to the golden age of golf architecture.  The golden age of golf architecture is basically that period between 1910 and 1937 when most of the top 100 golf courses in America were built. Tacoma's American Lake course opened in 1906, but it was the great renovation of 1923 that resulted in the playing field that we enjoy today. In the last 100 years, there's been a few major construction projects, but the bones of the golf course are still much like they were in the beginning.  With that said there are still some things that have changed just simply because it's hard to stop change.  These are the changes that are happening right before our eyes, but they happen so slow that many people never notice they're happening at all.  A good example of this is the growth of the trees.  It literally can take generations before a tree causes problems.  Of course now that Tacoma is well over 100 years old, there are many trees that are causing problems, and that is something we're addressing today.  Another problem that occurs slowly over time is edge migration.  The edges of bunkers migrate (see my post about this CLICK HERE), and so do the edges of putting greens.  With respect to the putting greens we've been working hard to recapture lost putting surface and also push greens out to create new areas.  In order to do this we first remove the collar dams, or "build up" of topdressing sand around the greens perimeter (CLICK HERE to read more about collar dam removal).  Once the excess sand is removed and the grass is put back, we can then start mowing the green out to where we want it.  Here's a series of pictures for this process which we recently completed on the 2nd green.

The first thing we do is paint out where we want the finished green edge to be.  This gives us a good idea of how much of the perimeter we need to strip off in order to achieve this new green shape.  

The next step is to cut the grass with a sod cutter and then roll it up and set it aside. 

Here you see the grass has been put back, the edge is repainted and we've started mowing the new green areas.   It takes several months to train the grass down to the shorter mowing height.  It takes maybe a year or so of regular mowing and topdressing before the new areas are good and smooth.  

We've completed this process on 14 greens so far and the new green shapes have created many interesting conversations.  The new green shapes have many straight edges and corners with an overall squarish look.  Many folks have said they aren't too keen on the new look and many folks say they love it.  Well let's just say the new look is really an old look, and very much consistent with the original golf course in 1906 (click HERE for a map of the first course at the American Lake site), and also after the great redesign in 1923 (Click HERE to see a map of the course after the 1923 redesign).   You can still find squarish looking greens at some of the greatest clubs in America like at Chicago GC (Click HERE), but many of those great old clubs have had renovations to their greens, and the vintage look became less fashionable.  Most recently, several golf courses have undergone renovations with an emphasis on restoration.  Like us, they are trying to recapture the vintage allure, and the brilliance of some of the great golf course architects of the past.  There's no better example of this than what we just saw this past year at the U.S. Open hosted by Winged Foot.  Click HERE to see a great blog post on this project.  Also, click HERE to see some great stuff put out by the USGA on this very subject.  Interestingly, Winged Foot was built in 1923, the same year Tacoma unveiled it's newly renovated golf course which is essentially the same golf course we enjoy today.  

Mount Tacoma

Most of you know about the controversy surrounding the original naming of the mountain that today we call "Rainier".  If not you can click HERE and read all about it.  Well, I say we keep Mount Rainier, "Mount Rainier", and deem Mount Tacoma as that big pile of earth on the right side of #2.

So why is Mount Tacoma there?  What are we going to do with all that earth?  The best answer right now is that we really aren't sure, but it's going to be great.  A home builder down the road needed to get rid of some topsoil and fill material, and he asked if we would like to have it.  We said yes since we have many projects on the master plan which require fill dirt, and in fact it's the cost of the fill which has prevented us from doing some of these projects.  You can look at the Master Plan by clicking HERE but real quick just look below at some images of the projects we have planned which require considerable fill material. 

3 Tee
This doesn't look like a huge change but shifting this teeing ground to the left and doubling the size of usable hitting space will require at least 150 cubic yards of fill.

3 Green/4 Tee
The plan to make #3 a reverse redan, and subsequently one of the most thrilling one-shoters in the state will require some fill dirt, but the work we want to do on 4 tee will require a lot.  What's a reverse redan?  Well that deserves the attention of a blog post just by itself, but you can read about "the redan" by clicking HERE

7/17 Tee
This project adds about 50 yards to number 7 and gives us a new angle into 17 green.  A lot of fill is required for this project, but worth every penny.  The dirt is free now, but there would still be a considerable cost to truck it all the way down to this area.

10 Green
The little bump we want to build on the left side of 10 green is a bigger deal than you might think.  This will be a great feature when you want to chase one onto the green, but are blocked out by the fronting bunker.

So like I said, any of these projects will be great improvements, but right now it's not certain what we're going to do.  Right now I just wanted to share with you that we've been gifted some valuable soil and we're excited about the opportunity it presents.

New Driving Range Tee - Phase 1

The driving range tee turned 30 years old this past spring so it's no surprise that it's in need of a renovation.  Typically, practice tees can last 10 - 20 years.  The fact that ours has lasted so long is really remarkable. We've been talking about this project for several years now and we are actively trying to work it into the Asset Replacement Fund (ARF).  The image above is from the Club's Master Plan and shows the footprint of the new practice tee.  With today's technology and the distance that the golf ball travels, it's necessary that we build the new practice tee as far back as possible which brings it closer to the trees that are behind the 9th green.  Below is an image which shows that grove of trees between the practice tee and the 9th green.

Although we're still trying to set a date for the construction of the new practice tee, we have the exciting opportunity right now to complete the first phase of the project which is to remove some of the trees in order to make space for the new practice teeing ground.  The reason we want to move on this project now is because we have just been given dozens of very large evergreen shrubs which are perfect replacements for the lost trees. These evergreen shrubs, which are really small trees, need to be removed from a nearby residence within the next several weeks as the home site is being completely cleared off for the construction of a new home.  So, the plan is to remove 6 of the 9 trees between the practice tee and the 9th green, and then transplant those large shrubs to this area and create a vegetative buffer.  Below is a picture of the 9th green as it looks today and then another picture showing what it will look like when we are finished planting the new buffer.

My photo-shop skills aren't the best, but you get the idea. The new look with one majestic tree is definitely more appropriate given the surrounding oak savanna landscape.Something I found interesting is that these trees behind the 9th green are not as old as they look.  Below is a picture of the golf course taken around 100 years ago and that arrow is pointing to the location where those trees are today.  Back then this was the 16th green and those trees were planted to protect players from errant shots being hit towards the 18th green.  

One more thing I need to mention is that there are so many large plants coming off this home site near the 11th hole, that we also will be using them to replace those small fir trees near the 8th green.  See the picture below.

Obviously the fir trees will get way too large for this area being they are immediately adjacent to a putting green.  These trees were planted in 2010 as a temporary buffer following the installation of the sewer utility, and the new evergreen shrubs will be a perfect permanent solution.  For those of you that weren't here in 2010 or if you don't really remember that project I created a photo album of pictures I took during that crazy 6 month period.  Over 190 trees were removed to facilitate installation of that utility.  Click here to check it out.  All of the trees that I've mentioned here which will be removed this fall are now marked with ribbon so please take a look at these areas the next time you're on the playing field.  

TMP (Tree Management Plan) - New Update

We recently marked the trees which are scheduled to be removed this coming "off season", and there has been a few questions regarding this tree next to the 7th tee.  It's true that this tree wasn't slated for removal in the last version of the TMP, but it is scheduled to be removed in our latest version of the plan which was updated in August 2018.  If you would like to review the most updated version of the TMP, please click HERE.  One thing you'll notice about the updated version is that it is visually very different from the old version.  Now, the hole-by-hole pages are in color and are overlays of an actual aerial picture.  It is much easier to visualize in this format.  

So why are we removing the tree on 7 tee?  It's pretty simple, the tree shades 2 different putting greens (6&16), 2 different sets of teeing grounds (7&17), and a primary traffic area.  It always looks messy in this area since the tree is constantly shedding debris, and the grass around the tree is always in terrible condition since you really can't grow anything under a fir tree, especially in a high traffic area.  We have been very successful in the past  removing cart paths and the intent is to remove the path here on 7 tee.  For us to successfully manage turf in a high traffic area without a cart path, we need good growing conditions and space for traffic to spread out.  This tree is really just a juvenile since it's only about 150 years old.  It will eventually be twice as big, and the problems that come with it will be doubled.  

I took these pictures just the other day and I think they clearly show just how unsatisfactory this area of the golf course looks given the poor turf quality and the old, broken, worn out cart path.   I'm excited to get this area in a condition that is consistent with our standards.

Remember Collars?

This picture of #11 green was taken a couple years ago and I've always loved it because the lighting was just right and so the turf looks amazing.  This picture was taken the same time of year as right now and I know that because with this picture, I was showing how great things looked while under the influence of the plant growth regulator called Embark.  Well anyway, again we are very much on Embark, but a lot has changed in this area since this picture was taken.  The bunkers have been renovated, one of the bunkers and several trees have been removed, and many trees were lost in last years ice storm.  Below is how it looks today.

Now of course the lighting is different but what really should stand out is that now, today you see the fairway has continued up around to the side, and behind the green.  The result is of course a "run off" type area but with that......means you really no longer have a defined collar around the green.  This has really made the golf course more fun to play and also more fun to maintain.  I remember spending countless hours painting dots on the green so that the operators could see where to perform their clean up pass, resulting in a perfectly uniform collar.  Yes it looked great, but always in the back of my mind, I felt that this type of control was a little over the top and maybe we shouldn't be spending so much time on things that really aren't totally necessary.  Now we have these fairway extensions around every green except on holes 3 and 13.  On those two holes, we plan to install fairway extensions  but later on this year when we have more time.  Now that collars have been eliminated almost all together, so has the need to use walk mowers.  Soon you will see a new machine on the property that is perfect for mowing these fairway extensions, and it is not a walk mower.  It is a mid sized fairway mower.  You can expect a blog devoted to this machine and how it will make us so much more efficient with our mowing.  For now let me just say that I love these new tightly mowed areas around the greens, and  this week we sanded all of them which will further aid their development into smooth, firm swards that look and play like they've been here forever.

Above you can see us sanding this area on 11 green.

Now here you can see the new fairway extension on #1.  It's really hard to tell this area was sodded a few months ago. Even more amazing, the sod we used was that stuff we pulled off the middle of our driving range.  Poa annua is just amazing stuff.  It adapts to any mowing height and does so very quickly this time of year.

You've seen this area several times throughout the renovation, but now you can see that all the sod is starting to look the same and almost like the original fairway turf in front of the 8th green.  This area where green 5 and 8 conjoin is also done with a lot of driving range sod, but since this area is so large, we ended up using sod from several areas and today you can't really tell we did that.

Here is the back of #7 green and you can see this fairway extension connects to the tee surface on #8.  This is really neat stuff and again, we have eliminated most of the green's collar.

This picture shows how the new fairway extension around 12 green connects to the new tee on 16.  The picture really doesn't do it justice.  The contours here are very extreme and it looks really, really cool.

 I wasn't sure this area on 15 green and 13 tee would turn out this good, but it looks great.  The new black tee adds 20 yards to #13 and again, the collar around #15 is gone and it's all just one tightly mowed area.

Here it is again from another angle. 

This is looking down 18 from the back of the green and you guessed it, no more uniform collar.  Why does this look so good to me?  Why did I spend so much time all those years worrying about the perfectly uniform collar?  I'm not sure I have the answer to that question but I guess this just looks natural to me.  I guess it looks natural because there is a lack of uniformity.  It's this idea that golf should be played the way it was meant to be.  Yes, I'm stealing this idea from the Bandon Dunes motto, but really this is not a new idea.  It's a very old idea.  The best golf courses are those where very little earth was moved and thus they blend into the natural landscape, because they are the natural landscape.  The golf course at Tacoma Country and Golf Club is one of the oldest in the country and it's clear that very little earth has been moved on this parcel of land. Moving large quantities of earth to build a golf course is rarely necessary, but all too often done because it is easy with today's machinery.  At the end of the day, I think most people are attracted to natural looking landscapes as opposed to those that look "man made".  Okay, I might be wrong, I can't speak for everyone else so I'll just say that I personally feel this way.  You can tell I'm a big fan of the rebirth of minimalistic architecture.  Well I'm also a big fan of minimalistic maintenance.  In the last couple of years, we have eliminated stripes, straight mowing lines, and all the different mowing heights.  Our objective is to be who we are and that is one of the oldest golf courses you'll find anywhere.  There is no need for the modern look here.  Tacoma is a classic and we just want to focus on good playing surfaces.

Okay I need to stop rambling.  Above is a picture showing our dedication to playing surfaces.  Not only are we sanding around greens this week, we are sanding everything that was sodded during the renovation, including repairs made around fairway bunkers.  Soon it will all be smooth and firm again.

Seedlings, Seedlings Everywhere

Above you see #4 two months ago.

Here it is today.  Finally finished and now just growing in and maturing.  Right now there are seedlings everywhere like you see here where we restored a very large area that once was fairway and now will be rough.  There is a lot of areas like this where we have young seedlings growing and the place is starting to look like a golf course that is NOT under construction.

This is that area between 5 and 8 where almost every yard of soil passed through during the renovation.  Today it is finally seeded and on its way to looking like nothing ever happened.

Right now the seedlings on the tee surfaces are coming in nicely also.  This is the 11th tee and it is looking awesome.  

Here is a close up of the tee surface.  If you check out the last blog you will see that there is three grass types here.  Right now you can see all three types have emerged and are looking great.

Check out the half acre teeing ground for 6 and 18.  It's starting to look like something now.

Here's the new tee on 8.  Also looking real good.  Honestly everything is coming along great and we still plan on playing the new black tees on June 15th for the US OPEN field day even though I'm sure they will be a little thin.  One thing that is helping is the record breaking weather we've been having.  It hasn't rained for the last 12 days (which is amazing in May) and the temperatures have been 15 to 20 degrees above average.  Because of that, we have had very quick germination of all the seedlings, and the golf course is really very firm.  I know most of you have been enjoying the firm and fast conditions.  Funny, last year we had the driest summer ever recorded and I wasn't able to get the fescue to brown out.  Today, almost every fescue bunker eyebrow is browned out.  I just love this look.

Well it's back to green because today the rain has returned.

Talking about "Practice"

In the image above, you're looking at the renovation proposal for the practice hole.  Our architect Nick Schaan from DMK has come up with this concept and I think it's brilliant, but of course what else would you expect from Nick.  We tasked Mr. Schaan with devising a plan that would give us a practice area which can be utilized by more than one person at a time, and obviously an area that represents what you might find out on the links at Tacoma.  So this is the plan that the Committee supports and we will be looking to get it approved by the Board so that we may begin construction this fall.  If your interested, continue reading as I break down the details of the plan.

First, look closely at the green itself and you'll see that it is 3 times larger than the current one.  Also, it's plain to see that there are three bunkers instead of just the one.  You should also notice that there is a new fairway area south of the tennis courts (area B).  From here you can practice shots up to 130 yards where as now from area A the maximum is about 120 yards.  Area C, north of the green, is the perfect place to practice that long bump and run shot since you wouldn't have to carry a bunker.  If you've been on the course lately, you can see that the long bump and run is a shot you must have in the bag if you hope to score well.  With the new fairway areas, expanded green, and bunkers, it wouldn't be a problem for two or three people to use the facility simultaneously.  This is something that really isn't practical with the current practice area.

In the southwest corner, you can see that there is a new putting surface.  The idea here is make this surface dead flat.  Of course you can practice putting, but the idea here is to provide a surface with multiple uses.  Our thought is you might take up a game of Bocce ball or croquet.  Or maybe you just throw down a blanket and have a picnic, or whatever one does when they're bored of playing tennis and hitting wedges.

Now this image shows where trees would be removed in order to make the plan work.  Currently there is 9 trees that we have identified that should be removed.  Some removals are to accommodate golf and some are to allow sunlight penetration.  Either way, this is a heavily wooded site and it is unlikely that you would notice any of these trees missing.

 In addition, the Committee is recommending that we install some lights on the new practice hole.  The diagram above shows four locations of light fixtures.  There is several needs being met here.  One is that this northwest corner of the property currently has no power or lighting.  This makes it very vulnerable to mischievousness activity.  Also, since the restroom has no power, it has no lights and heat which means it has to be closed down during cold stretches to prevent the pipes from bursting, not to mention the seat of throne gets ice cold and none of us like that.  The current tennis facility has no lighting so this part of the project would give us an opportunity to provide that, making it possible for folks to play tennis after sunset.  And of course the idea is that we would also have lighting for the practice hole itself.  Now these lights, and the tennis court lights would be "on demand" meaning they would be only on when you are using those facilities.  The lights at the restroom would be on at all times for security and one light would be on at the green at all times simply because it would look really neat when you drive in and out of the Club.

So yes, we're talking about quite a bit more than just renovating a bunker, we're talking about finishing what we started on the golf course.  We just finished updating much of the course, and making it first class.  The practice hole is just an abandoned par 3 from the original layout, and nothing has been done to it for several decades.  It's in desperate need of some updating, and if it is to be part of Tacoma's practice area, it needs this project in order to be worthy of being in the same class as the rest of the Club.  After all, the practice hole is the first thing you see when you arrive and the last thing you see when you leave, it should be "first class".

Seeding tees and posting trees

Here's a view from behind #6 green looking back at the new teeing ground.  Ironically it's also the old teeing ground as this hole used to be played from what is today's 18th tee.  Once this area is "grown in", we will be able to play again from the original teeing ground but also from today's teeing ground and all areas in between, giving us a lot of different angles and distances.  From this view you can see the teeing ground bright, and light green.  What you're seeing is the hydro mulch which we applied to the surface in order to accelerate establishment.  Here is what we did.

Once the surface was prepared to our liking, as in smooth and level, we used a drop spreader to apply ryegrass at about 7 lbs per 1000 sq. ft.

This is what the ryegrass seed looks like.  Now this isn't just your plane, ordinary ryegrass.  This is transition ryegrass.  It is genetically engineered to be a temporary component of the turf stand, or sward.  Unlike perennial ryegrass, this transition ryegrass will not be happy during periods of stress and should get out competed by the desirable grasses.  For us of course that desirable grass is Poa annua since that is what is predominantly covering every square inch of the course. The reason we put the transition ryegrass on the tee is because it quickly germinates and will give us some quick cover.  This will allow us to start mowing it quicker and play the tee sooner.  Over time, it will get choked out and we should end up with a sward of Poa.

So anyway, now we seed the tee again but this time the desirable grasses are introduced.  Now we seed it with a blend of Poa annua at 2 lbs/1000sq.ft., and colonial bentgrass at a rate of 1 lb/1000sq.ft.

This is Poa annua seed which is pretty small............

and this is colonial bentgrass seed which is super tiny.

Now using a mulch roller we apply one coating of the hydromulch.

After that we rake the surface very lightly to incorporate everything into the surface.  Then we apply two more coats of the hydromulch.

This is what it looked like when we were finished and before it was watered.  The temperatures are very good for germinating seed so we can expect to see that transition ryegrass pop up within 4 or 5 days.

Here you can see that seeding process being done to the massive teeing ground between 6 and 18 tee which will eventually serve both holes.  The guys who worked on this project deserve a big "high five".  As you can see this a huge area and it took several days to get the seeding process completed.  Way to go guys! This seeded area is about 25,000 square feet, but is only half of what will be the finished teeing ground.  So in the end, there will be about an acre of tee space being shared by the two holes........................very cool!!!

Also very cool, this week we successfully posted the old Garry Oak on #5.  This has been in the works for quite some time and the timing of this final step was perfect.  I say this because we have been dry for quite some time and the tree has not "leafed out" yet so there is hardly any excessive weight on the tree structure, meaning the canopy is as upright as it can be.

Once the holes were dug and the posts were placed, we called in the concrete truck.  Before I go any further, I must say it might sound easy that we dug holes and placed some posts, but that is far from the truth.  These posts weighed at least 500 pounds each so getting them is place was very difficult.  Kudos to my crew for remaining diligent with that task and finding a way.  So anyway we used the loader bucket to get the concrete out to the tree.  Again, it has been dry and the course is very firm so the weight of the loader had virtually no impact on the turf.

Each post hole took about 4000 lbs of concrete so these things are not going anywhere soon.  The project went very well which is gratifying since it is something we've never done before.

Well here is how she turned out.  I've already had some very negative comments about how it looks, but personally, I think it is uniquely fantastic!!  I believe in a short time it will just be the new normal and we won't think twice about it.  The best thing about it is we can rest easy that this tree is not falling over unless there is a significant wind event.  By the way, the posts are immovable obstructions.  You get relief if they interfere with lie, stance, and intended swing.   That is of course the ruling now, as the golf committee has not had time to review the issue yet.