#9 Tee Project

As many of you know, number 9 back tee has been a thorn in HOAs side for years now. There are numerous reasons why this tee does not thrive during the season and this fall/winter we are going to be addressing some of these issues in an attempt to maintain a healthy tee.

For those that don't know, this is the back tee of number 9 and in the middle of the season the majority of the turf is lost.

A few of the reasons this happens is as follows:

*The surrounding trees shade the majority of this tee for most of the day, it does not get the proper sunlight to photosynthesize and thrive.
*There is dense underbrush almost entirely surrounding this tee and airflow through the area is minimal.
*Being a high-clay push-up tee, there is little to no drainage that peculates down through the tee and due to the low-center shape, water sits for far too long on the surface.
*This is a very small tee with a portion being essentially unusable due to the fact there would not be a clear shot down the fairway. This creates heavy traffic and compaction in a small area.

Now we are going to address some of these issues directly, as well as create new ways to take direct pressure off of this tee during the rough summer months.

Thick underbrush between 8 green and 9 tee

Our first project that will be addressing the air flow as well as sunlight is to remove all of the underbrush between #8 green and #9 tee. We will also be pushing back the undergrowth that is growing around the back and sides of the tee. This should help with air movement through the area as well as letting in the morning sunlight.

Our goal this off-season is to restructure this tee and add a drainage system that would draw the water from off the tee. This would reduce standing water time and help the tee dry down quicker. Reshaping to get heavy rains to run off the sides of the tee instead of sit in the middle is also part of the restructure project.

In order to address the small tee and compaction issues, we will be trimming back the underbrush and trees to the right of the teeing area so that the entire tee can be used properly. A regular aerification process will also be implemented to help reduce some of the severe compaction caused over the years.

One other way we are planning on reducing the stress of this tee is to build an alternative tee. The details and logistics of this are not set in stone yet, but you can expect to see Sam and myself out working on it throughout the off-season.