Creek Boring

B Trenchless from Denver has successfully completed a 12 inch bore underneath the Gore Creek. Here is a picture of a 12 inch bore head. On the opposite side of the river you will notice the bore trucks in line with this head. Along with the 12 inch line there are two, 2 inch lines attached to the main for communication wire. Theses pipes are six feet below the bottom of the river.

The process begins with a 2 inch line for the initial bore. Slurry is used to maintain that path. Next they will size up accordingly until they meet the desired bore size. In this case, 12 inches.

The biggest bore is 20 inches on the property. That will be from the 9th tee box to the 8th green, going under Vail Valley Drive. That will be the next bore and scheduled to be completed by Monday.

Notes from the Architect

I just opened my email to read this from Kevin Atkinson our course architect working on #3. He visited the site yesterday and came up with these notes: (I need a picture of him)
"Here are some informal notes from my visit today. Things are looking good. Discussed creating slopes soft enough to allow walkers to walk from #2 green to #3 tee. These access "paths" are going to be maintained turf and approximately 10 -12 feet wide. One walking access "path" is on the back right corner of the new rear tee. The second walking access path is shaped parallel to the slope between the tees and the approach fairway. We will not need a wall along the right side of the new tees. This slope will be grassed to a native seed blend. The black tee was roughly measured 25 x 50 and we re-staked the alignment to point toward the middle of the green. The blue/gold tee was roughly measured 40 x 80 and will be 1 foot lower than the black tee. The forward tee will bee approximately 30 x 40 and the sub-grade height looked fine."

#3 Proposed

At this time google is not allowing me to post pdf files to the blog. So if any of you out there know a way, I would love to learn. I want to post the proposed drawings, so you have to believe me when I tell you that sometimes in golf design and build, there can be changes in the field from what is on paper. What you can not see from these drawings are the approximate size of the new tee boxes, new cart path and new plantings of trees. However after doing much of the grading over the last week, there is no need for walls in the area. New trees will be scattered around the hole and course to make up what came out of the area. The new sand traps will not be incorporated into this year's plan. New drainage will be installed to assist with chronic wet conditions in front of the second green.

Respect The Plastic

After a few raindrops began to fall, Jose and his team of guys acted quickly to cover up and continue to fuse the valve onto the mainline. It is critical that no water is on the pipe prior to fusion. According to manufacturer specifications the pipe needs to be lightly scraped, cleaned with 97% alcohol and completely dry before installing the lateral valve onto the main.

Working with this pipe needs careful attention and no steps can be missed.

The weather looks like it will clear up for the next few days which will be a welcomed change. The new pump station was installed today and the electrical will be installed tomorrow. I have a couple of more videos I hope to have loaded up soon.

Wet Conditions

This picture was taken by LUI's Superintendent for #3, Tom Keefe. This scene is not good for moving dirt. We'll have to wait another day to see any progress with the shaping of the tee box. So far it is looking great. We recently found an old valve that we have struggled for years to find. Hopefully it still works, it would be a big help with tying in the new system with the old for a couple of months.

A little more snow

Days after putting a poll on the blog about snow, we get our first inch! It is all but melted off by now. Just another reminder of where we live, work and play. A total of .7" of moisture since Friday night. A sort of blessing in disguise as far as the GCM staff is concerned. We had most of our employees begin work today and it gave us the opportunity to properly give an orientation to all new and returning employees. The weather kept us indoors and provided lengthy discussions on safety, cleaning habits, equipment use, updates with on-going projects and reviewing all of the main tasks of the season such as greens mowing, bunker raking and course set up, etc. We were also able to "get a leg up"on some minor clean up and re-organizing around the shop and on the course.

LUI ceased their operation today due to the wet conditions. Boring has begun on Vail Valley Dr from #3 to our Maintenance Facility for the new communication for irrigation.

Ben Makes A Visit

Original Course Designer, Builder, Superintendent and long-time local Ben Krueger made his way to the golf course on Thursday to see what all the excitement was about. He was very helpful with locating old irrigation and shedding some history of the site. He was impressed to see the work of LUI and their timeliness.

Most of the 16" mainline is complete on the 10th hole. Work will continue on Monday morning after the weekly safety meeting. The third tee construction is moving along nicely. They plan to have a rough grade by Tuesday or Wednesday.