Isla Del Sol Golf Course News: Project Update

First of all, I would like to wish all the mothers a Happy Mother's Day! This is especially true for my wife, my mother and my mother-in-law, all of whom I know read this blog. Thank you ladies!

This past week finished up to be a good week. Drainage installation was completed on holes 2 and 9. This was no small undertaking, especially 9. Our goal is to provide at least a 1% slope for the drain pipe which is installed underground. This means that for every 100 feet the pipe runs we need the elevation to drop by 14.4 inches. On an island that sits at 6 feet above sea level, it doesn't take long to run out of fall! The drainage run on #9 was several hundred feet which provided drainage to the area back right of the green, the approach and the two bunkers. Precision was key!

Sod was installed in the bunkers on holes 2 and 9. No these will not be grass bunkers. Like last year, we are installing sod in the bottoms of our bunkers in order to provide greater structural stability. Being on an island built from dredge, our native soil has the structural stability of a sandcastle! The sod should help with this. We will let the sod establish and grow roots for about a month. At that time, we will then kill the grass but leave it in place. The thatch and soil from the dead sod should provide a physical barrier to prevent the native sand (and shell) from mixing with the clean bunker sand.

We have been waiting on a delivery of Seashore Paspalum sod since Wednesday. Due to excessive rain in southeast Florida, this has been delayed. We are hoping the delivery will arrive this coming Tuesday. Similar to our efforts last year, we will be expanding the greens by approximately 10 feet in all directions. Over the past decade, our greens have reduced in size. This is a common occurrence on golf courses as the taller surrounding grass overtakes the shorter greens-height grass. Our sod work around greens is aimed at reclaiming lost square footage and increasing locations for pin placements.

On Monday we are expecting two loads of bermudagrass sod to be delivered for number 2. Our plan is to have #2 completed with grass this week along with most of #9. These two holes alone will require over 6 truckloads of sod. We also plan to be sodding the bunkers on 7 and 16 midweek. Once shaped and drained, it is important to sod the bunkers as soon as possible. This helps to reduce the potential for heavy rains to erode shaping work. It will be another busy week for sure!