White Wing Bunkers

Due to the recent rain and the staff wanting to get out and edge and trim the bunker surrounds we will be playing the White Wing Bunkers as Ground Under Repair for the next few days. We will keep the pro shop updated on the progress and get the bunkers back in play as soon as the maintenance has been completed.

Army Worms

During the Club Championship tournament today we were alerted by a golfer that they had noticed some worms on the #1 green at White Wing. We went out to investigate and found some Army worms in that area. We started inspecting the other areas of the golf course and found that we have a very large amount of them in the roughs and tee surrounds. We have ordered the appropriate insecticide and will be making an application to take them out quickly before they do any further damage. If you or any of your playing partners ever notice anything like this please feel free to bring it to our attention, we greatly appreciate the extra set of eyes.


The fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) is part of the order of Lepidoptera and is the larval (see caterpillar) life stage of a fall armyworm moth. It is regarded as a pest and can wreak havoc with crops if left to multiply. Its name is derived from its feeding habits. They will eat everything in an area, and once the food supply is exhausted, the entire "army" will move to the next available food source.

Sun City Golf Irrigation update

Just wanted to give a quick update on the challenges we are facing on the golf courses with the irrigation. We started noticing a few weeks ago that our irrigation heads were becoming clogged up with a type of algae. Due to this you may have noticed hot spots on the 3 courses. We are continually cleaning out the heads and parts and flushing them out as we speak. One of the pics below we had to clean out within 6 days of cleaning it out the first time. We are in the process of determining a solution to the problem. So in the meantime bear with us as there may be some wet spots in fairway and roughs as we try to catch these areas back up and try to stay off dry areas if you can.

Thanks Golf Maintenance

White Wing fairway aerification

Over the next week we will be completing our fairway aerification on the White Wing golf course. During this time we will do our best to insure that the plugs are cleaned off before play but there may be a fairway or two that you play that will still have plugs on the ground. Please remember that a ball that comes to rest in a fairway aerification hole can be played as ground under repair and you may take the proper relief. Thank you for your patience during this process and remember it's a practice that is done to provide better quality conditions for all our golfers! Thank you, Golf Staff 

Golf Maintenance Changes

We would first like to start off by wishing former Cowan Creek Superintendent Craig Loving a fond farewell. He has accepted the Head Superintendent position at Lost Creek Country Club in Austin which is a great opportunity for him to advance his career. He will be greatly missed at Sun City and we wish him the best on his new endeavor!

So, with Jonathan Ayers leaving White Wing a few weeks ago, and now Craig Loving leaving Cowan Creek there a lot of changes in the Golf Maintenance management scenery here at Sun City.

The following management changes are effective immediately:

Reagan Olson (Legacy Hills Supt.) is now the Supt. at Cowan Creek
Billy Houts (Legacy Hills Assistant Supt.) is now the Head Supt. at Legacy Hills
Kris Morin (The Quarry Golf Club Supt.) is the new Head Supt. at White Wing

This should be a fairly seamless transition since all but one of the positions are internal moves within our company. We are excited to have a new set of eyes on each of the properties and it should provide us with a new level of course conditions and attention to detail.

We would also like to take this time to thank Blake Mathis (Assist. Supt at White Wing) for taking charge of White Wing Golf Maint. as the Interim Supt. for the last few weeks and keeping the course in excellent shape while we go through these management changes.

Verti-Cutting Greens

Over the next couple of weeks we will be performing some aggressive verti-cutting on our greens in an effort to remove more thatch from the greens canopy. This practice often leaves some scarring on the greens as seen in the attached photo. This does not affect ball roll and will actually help increase green speed and smoothness. The scarring or "scalped" looking areas will quickly heal and look back to normal within a week's time. 

Farewell White Wing Superintendent Jonathan Ayers

Tomorrow marks the end of an era as White Wing Superintendent Jonathan Ayers will spend his last day with us at Sun City. I have had the pleasure of working with Jon for the past 12 years and we have had both good and bad times but more than anything we have had many great times! Not only has he been a valued co-worker but he has been a great friend with a heart of gold. He will be greatly missed at Sun City and we wish he and his family the best in his future endeavors. Best Wishes Jonathan! 

Cowan Creek Greens Update

As some of you have noticed, we are dealing with a minor issue in the low areas (#4 right side, #7 front right, etc.) and on #8 green.  The following paragraphs will detail the current problem, what we've done and are doing to combat the issue, as well as future measures and expected recovery.

 

  What We Are Seeing:  The algae you are seeing is cyanobacteria (not actually algae), which we found from the results of a diagnostics test we sent off from #8 green on 4/18/16.  So the darker slimy areas that you have seen as well as the surrounding yellowing areas are all a result of cyanobacteria.  The formation of cyanobacteria in the low areas or high traffic areas is there this time of year for several reasons.  The most prevalent of these is poor drainage and wet conditions (surface moisture).  The mechanical stress and foot traffic compaction also aids the growth of cyanobacteria.  With the heavy rainfall we received throughout April, along with days with inadequate sunlight, combined with ridiculously poorly constructed drainage systems are all contributions to these results.  As we check moisture 2-3 days a week for hot spots, we also check our low areas.  A majority of those areas maintain 40-50% moisture, and the acceptable moisture range for our greens is typically between 18-24%.  During the growing season, they dry faster and are easier to maintain with higher evapotranspiration rates.  However, throughout the winter and up to this time of year, the ET rates are lower and we have to mechanically open up pore space with solid aerification tines.  What we are seeing is a winter's worth of wet conditions and traffic stress, and this spring hasn't been kind on us with consistent, periodic rain and shade from cloud cover.  What is visible now is something that happens this time every year, but to a lesser degree.

 

  The Underlying Problem:  We found on that Monday (4/18/16) that the daylight to #8 green's drainage was submerged due to the recent rain, which basically suffocated the green and caused it to react as it did.  we've since found out that the pipe has a sink in it 30 feet from the edge of the native, so there is a pocket in the pipe that holds water.  This normally would not be an issue as long as the daylight is completely void of water, but I didn't discover the sink in the pipe until that week.  In addition, the drainage system to the pipe is 3-4 feet deeper than a normal USGA spec system, and this is the case for all of the greens where we have exposed the drainage pipe (#9, #6, #4, #13, etc.) to add 4-ways and knife valves.

 

  The Attack Plan:  The following paragraph details what we've consistently done for 3+ years, as well as how we are addressing the problem with what we've seen this spring.  On 4/18/16 we cleaned the daylight of #8 green, sent off a sample for diagnostics, and injected air into #8 with our air2g2 machine.  In addition, we sprayed Oxyflor (hydrogen peroxide aqueous solution) and Pervade (soil penetrant/surface tension reducer) to #8, #9, #3, #4, and #5.  On that Tuesday we finished cleaning out any other daylights that had potential for submersion, as well as re-trenched all the drainage trenches.  We also aerified all of the low areas and areas showing cyanobacteria or anaerobic areas with a 1/4" pencil tine, and all of the greens were sprayed with two fungicides (chlorothalinil and a phosphite fungicide) for the cyanobacteria.  That Thursday we blew air into all of the greens that we have installed 4-ways and knife valves on (#1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, and 13).  We also hand spiked and topdressed those areas last week and again this week to mechanically remove the wet/slimy soil and replace it with sand.  On Monday (5/2/16) we pencil tine aerified all of the greens, and our next round of fungicides specified for the cyanobacteria was sprayed on Saturday morning (5/7/16).  We are in the process of adding a 4-way and knife valve to #8 this week, and in order to find the pipe we rented a camera snake for a week.  The vent from the 4-way alone should help #8 in the long run, and the overall goal would be to have them installed on all 20 greens at Cowan Creek.  Supposedly there are blowouts (pipes on the high ends of greens where gases can escape), but we've looked for years using a deep-tine aerifier and probes all to no avail.  We confronted the construction superintendent, and he couldn't help in that regard, nor could he point us in the direction of any as-built drainage maps.  We've utilized the time with the camera snake discovering other challenges to overcome with our greens' drainage elswhere.  Feel free to read a report written on the blog in 2013 about the implementation of sub-surface airflow on how we manage greens with poorly constructed drainage:  http://sctxgcmaint.blogspot.com/2013/01/attacking-our-problems-from-top-to.html

  The Bottom Line:  Even with all of the cultural practices, chemical applications, and our current fertility plan, results may not be visually apparent until the daytime and nighttime temperatures rise and we receive adequate sunlight.  The shoots and roots beneath the algal mats are still healthy and should recover with time as the weather gets warmer.  Unfortunately, we can't do much about the greens' drainage system construction.  Our management plan has adapted over the years to combat our drainage deficiencies, and we've done a good job on the whole minimizing the weak spots in the spring.  I'm confident that these areas will improve in short time, and we will ensure that these areas have no major negative affect on playability.  We are taking every needed step to speed up recovery, but these areas may be an eyesore for the time being. 

Legacy Hills: Cart Entry and Exits #9 Sodded

We sodded the Cart Entry and Exits on #9 today and will be CPO on the hole until it grows in and establishes. Once we are able to open this hole back up we will be on 2 week interval of CPO for holes #1 and #9. These two holes have very little entry and exit points so this will help out the turf quality.

Just a reminder

2016 Spring Aerifications

“OH NO, AERIFICATION!!!”
Submitted by:  Craig Loving

            Yes, the season is once again upon us where all three courses in Sun City begin aerifying the greens.  Every year we address the “why” behind the reasoning for aerifications.  There are many articles published online by credible organizations such as the USGA and GCSAA that explain the need for aerifications, as well as our blog entries from previous years that detail why we do it.  To put it simply, both plants and animals need air and water to survive.  Aerifying alleviates compaction from foot traffic and mechanical stress (mowers), and allows a channel for both air and water to reach the root zone.  But the focus of this blog entry isn’t on the “why”, but more on combating the negative perception of post-aerification playability.

            The general consensus for 95% or more of golfers is that the greens don’t roll true after each aerification, and that they take too long to heal.  The putts are bumpy and bounce off the intended line, leaving a lot of missed putts.  If you ignore the physical appearance of the putting surface immediately after an aerification, you might actually realize that there are techniques that we implement to ensure a relatively smooth ball roll.  Are they as pure as they were the day prior?  Probably not, but they will be healthier in the long run, and the difference in playability isn’t as bad as perceived.  Below is a diagram of the appearance of our most recent aerification from a bird’s eye view, as well as videos of a ball roll from a stimpmeter on the days following our aerification.

   (for high definition video:  https://youtu.be/SgetbTcKVJc )

            The video was taken from the same spot on the same green (#18 Cowan Creek), as were the aerial photos.  All of the ball rolls following the aerification have minimal bounces, and none of which bounced off its intended line.  In most cases, the subsequent ball that was rolled hit the previous ball, which indicates how true the green’s surface actually is.

            We can achieve this consistency with the proper quantity and incorporation of topdressing sand during the aerification process, as well as rolling the greens multiple times on the days following.  The overall techniques vary from facility to facility, but the results can be the same if performed correctly.  As the sand settles over the next week, an additional application of topdressing sand is needed to re-fill the holes.  So if you can ignore the appearance of the greens for a little while (7-14 days depending on the weather), you will realize that the playability isn’t an issue.  Hopefully you won’t be so afraid to sign up for a tee time at one of the courses following our aerification days, but if you still want to blame missed putts on aerification holes, you have our permission to do so.

March 2016 Golf Staff Report

Financial Summary

 

Another great month! Great weather, greens conditions and expense savings put us ahead of budget for the second straight month.

 

Golf finished February ahead of budget by $102,681    

Total Revenue: $338,283

Total Budgeted Revenue: $273,802

Total Expenses: $299,680

Total Budgeted Expenses: $337,880

 

YTD we are $193,336 ahead of budget. 

 

A few notes:

March is trending well for us to meet budget. 

We have sold an additional four Annual Passes after making that option available due to the golf course enhancement project being postponed. That offer expires at month end. 

 

Pace of Play

 

Player Service employees have been told to make additional loops on the golf course to marshal play when the duties of range picking, cart cleaning and hauling ice and water are not being performed. We will be conducting a staff meeting April 5th with all operations staff to reinforce training on subjects such as, marshalling, pace of play and employee expectations.   

 

Golf Pro Report

 

2016 Golfnow

Since January 2011, January 2016 was by far the best January with revenue exceeding $16,000.  With continued good weather, this trend continued through February and into March.

 

Using January 1 through March 23 as a date range, here are some numbers to compare

 

2013​1,124 rounds for $38,039 (very good weather)

2015​520 rounds for $17,660 (very poor weather)

2016​1,217 rounds for $43,714 (very good weather)

 

Month to Date for March, the average Golfnow rate across all three courses is ~$37 and overall for the date range given, the average is ~$36.

 

Non-Resident Tournaments

Through February, Actual Tournament revenue has been ahead of budget.  March does not appear to be at the level we expected but with the UIL State Tournament coming, we are looking forward to a bigger April.

 

Events

Unfortunately, for the 3rd straight time, we were forced to cancel the Night Golf Event due to weather.  We try to do this event once in the spring and once in the fall so hopefully the weather will cooperate later in the year.

 

Our first of three Golf Course Open Houses occurred on Monday, March 14 at Legacy Hills and was another success as we had nearly 250 residents take the tour.

 

Demo Day was cancelled due to high winds. 

 

Non-Resident Golf and Range Pass

These passes are officially on sale and we have slowly begun to sell some of each.  As word spreads and the weather continues to warm up, we expect these numbers to grow.

 

Merchandise Sales

Based on the timing of the budget, and the decision not to offer the gift card incentive for purchasing a pass/punch card in December, it appears the merchandise budget number is very aggressive for 2016.  That said, we are actually tracking fairly close to budget.

 

 

Superintendent Report

 

White Wing

 

Spring has sprung around White Wing. We have made the spring application of pre-emergent herbicide. With the warmer weather some broadleaf weeds have already emerged and we will get these sprayed and mowed down as soon as possible. The first cutting of the fairways has been made and we are working on getting the rough mowed and cleaned up. Rains caused some debris on the course and the bridge crossing 18 fairway. Charles and Crew were kind enough to help us out this last time and we appreciate it very much. Greens seem to be doing well and we are still monitoring moisture, growth and disease pressure. We sent off a sample and had a tinge of Bermuda grass decline present which we have treated for and will continue to monitor. The poa annua pressure seems to be subsiding on the greens but we still have the presence on the collars and approaches. We will treat with herbicide as possible and the warmer weather will start to take it out naturally. Bunkers are still an issue and we are monitoring sand depth, moving around were possible and will continue to add as necessary.

 

 

 

Legacy Hills  

 

Last week on our closed Monday we were able to get the pre emergent granular herbicide down course wide and watered in. We are in the process of spraying and weed eating down the weeds that are already established. We sprayed the greens with Kerb on February 19 and the poa annua has been checking out the last two weeks. We have a few areas on the greens that are thin and we are hand spiking and topdressing with sand weekly to help those areas fill in and smooth them out. Our main focuses this coming week are detail work and removing the black liners from the bunkers on #11 fwy and #17 fwy.

 

Cowan Creek  

 

This month we added over 750 feet of herringbone French drainage in the landing area on #9 fairway.  These trenches and the trenches on #6 were sodded with Tif 419 bermudagrassoverseeded with perennial ryegrass on 3/15/16.  We have been hand watering the new sod daily, and we should be able to open up the ropes on #9 for the MGA Member Member.  The areas will still be marked ground under repair for the time being.  Our other focuses have been on pre-emergent and post-emergent weed control.  All areas on the course have now been sprayed for both, and we have been mowing and weedeating the dead weeds throughout the golf course.  Our second application of pre-emergent granular herbicide on the greens for goosegrassand crabgrass took place on 3/2/16.  

 

 

 

 

 

Update on Legacy Hills Poa Annua

We sprayed a new chemical that is labeled for use on greens now February 19. It took 2-3 weeks to start working and I can say it's starting to die out now. Both photos are from the back right of #4 green. This is one of the thicker areas of the Poa Annua. 

 

Cowan Creek Fairway Drainage Update (3/24/16)

This month we have installed drainage pipe in the fairways of both #6 and #9.  We used over 600 feet of pipe in the fairway inside 100 yards on hole #6, and close to 800 feet of pipe in the fairway near the landing area on hole #9.  Both areas were sodded with Bermuda grass overseeded with perennial ryegrass on 3/15/16.  We are hand watering these areas daily, and when the roots tack down we will aerify the area and roll them to level them out.  We also have added leftover sod in other weak fairway areas on the course (i.e. #6 landing area).  For the time being, the areas remain roped off and/or marked ground under repair.  We hope to open them up within a week, but the sodded trenches will remain ground under repair for a few weeks.  The overall goal for the drainage additions are for these troubled areas to dry faster after rain events so that we can open them up for cart traffic sooner.  Thank you for your patience.

White Wing and Legacy Hills Rain

We have had to reroute cart traffic on #18 at WW and #8 at LH due to the amount of water coming down Berry Creek. We hope it subsides by tomorrow so that we can have everyone back on the regularly used paths. 

Happy Birthday Sheila!

If you have a chance to stop by the Legacy Hills Pro Shop this week please take the time to say Happy Birthday to our "Golf Mom" and the best merchandiser around! Happy Birthday Sheila, the golf guys love you!

Cowan Creek Drainage Update - #9 Fairway

This morning we began a large drainage project in the landing area on #9 fairway.  In order to expedite the project, all of the tee boxes have been temporarily moved forward to the right side of the fairway, 250 yards from the green.  The hole will be played as a par 4 until we can reopen the landing area, which should hopefully be within 1-2 weeks.  We also will begin all single tee play on hole #10 for the time being.  Doing these things will allow us to have more time in the morning and work consistently throughout the day without disturbing play.  There are signs and paint that direct cart traffic up to the temporary tee boxes.  Thank you for your patience during this time.

Golf Course Enhancement Update

Following this week’s Golf Course Enhancement Town Hall, members of the project team met with representatives from the City of Georgetown to discuss permitting requirements related to the project. Due to additional regulations put in place last year, the permitting process will now be significantly longer than originally projected. At best, this shift in the schedule may only allow for a small window of construction during the growing season in 2016. The Golf Course Enhancement Task Force has discussed the new requirements and their impact to the timeline, budget, golfers and community. The group considered several options for moving forward on the project and has decided to delay the construction phase of the project until early 2017 in order to protect the quality of the courses and maximize the budgeted amount for the project.  The next phases of the project including design development, master plan, permitting, construction documents and bidding will continue as planned in 2016. Both Legacy Hills and White Wing Golf Courses will continue normal operations throughout the year. Construction will commence in early 2017, providing optimal conditions for the grow-in phase and the best outcome possible for the project. We will begin working on the new permitting requirements now and will incorporate your feedback from Tuesday's Town Hall into the next set of engineered schematics. This step is scheduled for completion in late March, after which a new project timeline will be communicated through your CA and Golf Communicators.  For questions or to provide feedback, please email Gary.Wilson@sctexas.org.

February 2016 Golf Staff Report

Renovation Project

The Golf Town Hall will be held tomorrow afternoon from 2:00pm – 4:00pm. Jason Straka will be here from Fry/Straka Golf Design Group to speak at the presentation and answer questions afterwards. He has assured us he will stay around as long as needed following the presentation to talk with the residents in regards to the project.

Financials

Great weather and expense reductions put us in a very good position for the month of January.

Golf finished January ahead of budget by $90,656.   

Total Revenue: $322,440

Total Budgeted Revenue: $287,767

Total Expenses: $254,366

Total Budgeted Expenses: $310,349

A few notes:

While combo and annual pass sales have trailed budget by $326K (as of 2/14/16), we are hopeful that punch cards will exceed budget by the end of the year.   The $326K short fall on passes is equivalent of the goodness from the reserve transfer.   On a monthly basis that means that the $27K loss in annual revenue from passes will be offset by the budget goodness of $27K from the reserve contribution transfer.   In January, punch card revenue exceeded budget by $51K!   February is tracking similarly.    Projections for the full year of 2016 were made in conjunction with the January financial close process.   While we did not attempt yet to estimate other revenue line items, we did adjust pass revenue to current 2016 sales and punch card revenue to 2015 revenue.  Additionally we eliminated the budgeted golf reserve contribution.    Additional projection adjustments will be made at the end of each month’s financial close process as we know more.

Pace of Play

Last month we discussed letting the waiting groups on Par 3’s hit up before the group playing that hole starts to putt out?  Any feedback?

Golf Pro Report

2016 Golfnow

Since January 2011, January 2016 was by far the best January with revenue exceeding $16,000.  With continued good weather, this trends seems to be continuing into February.

Non-Resident Tournaments

We’re starting off well this year with a current expected revenue just under $84,370.  This is far better than previous years including 2013 when times were fantastic.  We retained all of our major tournaments such as Dell MAW, GT Chamber of Comm. and CASA of Wilco.  We also retained the 2016 UIL State Championship and now have the State Preview at the end of this week. With good weather, we have also picked up some mini groups that have provided some nice revenue.  So we are off to a great start.

New Golfer Interest

Starting the year off well with new prospective golfers.  This Friday we will hot our annual New Golfer Day at the White Wing golf course.  As of Wednesday we have over 50 individuals signed up, which is up from the previous years.

Events

The latest in-house event was the Super Bowl Scramble and, although numbers were slightly less than year’s past, we still managed 80 players who enjoyed a pretty good day.

Non-Resident Golf and Range Pass

We are developing a non-resident pass to target non-resident play in the afternoon window that we often see vacant, especially in the hot summer months. 

We are also developing a non-resident range pass in an effort to drive more range revenue.

Please see the attached information on these passes.

Non-Resident Afternoon Pass includes:  Greens fees, range balls on the day of play only, and cart.

15 18-Hole Rounds after 1pm            $450

I understand and agree to the following rules while purchasing this pass:

1.         Passes are valid in the year of purchase and expire December 31 of that year.

2.         The price of each round includes cart.

3.         Passes may be used for the purchaser and guests.

4.         Pass balances are available at the golf shops upon requests.

5.         Unused rounds of passes will be forfeited.  There will be no refunds or exchanges.

6.         Resident pricing on range balls on non-play days.

7.         Resident pricing on merchandise.

Goal:   To fill afternoon times that may otherwise go unused, especially during the hot summer months and weekends.

•           Provides an opportunity to receive prepaid revenue from non-residents.

•           No priority would be provided.  Tee Times have to be scheduled by calling the golf shop no sooner than 3 days ahead of the day of play (i.e. After Chelsea Processing of Resident Requests).

•           Per round rate is less than the 18 hole resident PAYGO rate between 1pm and twilight.  However, it is more than the Resident 15 Round Afternoon Pass.

Non-Resident Range Pass

$150 per Pass

20 Large buckets of balls

Pass is valid for the year in which it is purchased and expires December 31.

Superintendent Report

White Wing

Maintaining adequate greens moisture has been a big focus. Warm temperatures have kept greens from going completely dormant and helped ability to visual see any problems on the greens. We have been monitoring the Poa annua problem on the greens and are still trying to find the product that will help eradicate the plant. With the warmer weather we were able to aerify and top dress greens twice this month which will help with air and moisture movement. A small drainage project to the left of #15 green has helped with the soggy approach but more drainage on that side may be necessary. A couple of trees were removed from the back left and back side of the 7th green. Already the added daylight on the back of the green is making a positive difference. We have went out with fertilizer, added seed and sand to the over seeded tees to perk them up a bit as they have been getting a beating. Bulk spring pre-emergent has been ordered and delivery is scheduled for the end of the month with application to the course being made early March.

Legacy Hills 

One of the big things for this month has been the drainage for #3 Green to the right in the native. Upon further examination we have found roots clogging up the drainage. We should be able to wrap this area up next week. Our other main focus has been checking bunker depths and adding sand where needed. We are aware of the Poa annua problem and are continuing to search for ways to eradicate the problem as well.

Cowan Creek 

This month was dedicated to improving the overall drainage on hole #6.  We cleared out a large area in the native along the left side of the hole that would collect debris during rain events.  We trenched the area from where the two fairway drains daylight into the native to ease the flow of the fairway drainage.  We also added over 500’ of herringbone French drains inside the 100 yardage marker leading to two large drainage basins along the left side.  The trenches are currently topped with sand and ryegrass seed, and the area has been marked ground under repair.  Hopefully both of these efforts will expedite the dry time after rain events or heavy irrigation cycles.  Our other focuses this month have been overseed (tees, fairways, collars and approaches) fertility and greens’ moisture management.  We have applied our first round of pre-emergent granular herbicide on the greens for goosegrass and crabgrass (2/17/16).

Golf Course Enhancement Town Hall

Tuesday, February 23

2 p.m.  • Social Center Ballroom

Available Online Following the Town Hall

The purpose of this town hall is to update the Sun City Texas community on the status of the Legacy Hills and White Wing golf course renovations which are currently being developed. Golf staff and re-design architect, Jason Straka, will present the current proposals and will also provide a better understanding of the thought process behind some of the possible changes. Sun City Texas residents are encouraged to attend and view proposed schematics. Comments and questions are welcome following the presentation and we look forward to seeing everyone there!

Videos of all Town Halls are posted to the website following the meeting under Communications > Videos. The meetings also air live on Channel 18 for Suddenlink subscribers.

Cowan Creek #6 Drainage Update

Cowan Creek #6 Drainage Update (2/2/16)

Submitted by Craig Loving

 

            The left side of #6 at Cowan Creek has progressively worsened each year regarding its wetness and playability.  Last year, we discovered a 10” pipe under the fairway in the landing area that was crushed, which caused the drain to fail and keep the area consistently wet.  The pipe was fixed and replaced at the time, but this year we are still having issues with the area staying wet.  In addition to this, the catch basins along the left side of the fairway (near the green) need additional surface drainage to keep from staying wet year-round.  The following paragraphs will detail why this is and what we are doing to improve playability in these areas.

 

            Over the years we have had several floods that have swept debris down through the low area on #6, across the driving range, and over the spillway at the tee complex on #1.  The entire area is relatively flat to begin with, but these rain events have accumulated debris (tree limbs, silt, grass, etc.) in the native in between #6 and the driving range.  This has created a natural dam, so even though the water now flows freely through the drainage pipe, it has nowhere to go once it daylights into the native. (Figure A)

 

 

            There are also some willow trees in the area that we allowed to grow tall, with the idea of isolating the hole from the road and blocking the view of the driving range.  Unfortunately, this had a negative effect on the drainage in that area. (Figure B)

 

 

            Our first step to alleviating the drainage problem in the landing area was to cut down the trees that were collecting debris.  With the trees removed, we dug a trench with a backhoe to allow the fairway drainage pipes to effectively drain through the native and into the driving range drainage pipe (Figure C).  There will be needed periodic upkeep to make sure that these trenches are performing as we planned, but hopefully this should fix the wet problem in the landing area.  We still need to extend the 10” pipe another 20 feet so that the daylight is further in the native and not near the lateral hazard line.

 

 

            We also began trenching and adding herringbone drainage in the fairway inside 100 yards.  Once the drainage pipe is installed, we will add gravel and sand, and we will overseed the trenches with perennial ryegrass.  The area will be marked “ground under repair” until the overseed is established.  We will later sod the trenched areas with bermudagrass after transition in late spring.  The added trenches and pipe (Figure D) should help the playability of this section of the fairway.  However, we still won’t be able to move the directional cart path signs up much closer than they are.  This is due to the slope of the rough near the cart path, and the wear that occurs with heavy cart traffic.

 

 

            Drainage will continue to be an issue at Cowan Creek every year.  We have seen improvements with the playability in the areas we have worked on in recent years (#3 2015, #1 2014), and our crew works hard to try to continue to improve course conditions.  We hope to soon attack other trouble areas (#9 landing area, #3 at 150 yard marker) in the weeks to come.