Monday July 31st

 As of this past week, Duinick Golf Construction our contractor who has been working on our restoration project has finished.  They did a great job and have now left the course in our hands.  You can see the restored bunkers in the picture and they look great!  Above is a picture of Dan O'Leary rolling the 6th green.  Now that the project is behind us we are settling into more routine course maintenance to get ready for daily play again.  The golf course is in good condition and we are excited for people to get out and start playing again.  We will have an update on the blog when we plan to be open, and if you subscribe to the Park Boards golf e-mail we will have updates there as well.

 Denise, Derek, and Max mowing the 17th fairway and collar.  

We will be starting a regrassing project in a couple weeks to repair damaged areas from the flood.  These areas are mostly out of play and should have minimal impact on golfers.  It is just another step to getting the course back into pre flood condition.

Contractors have been busy preparing our temporary clubhouse for daily use.  We are currently in the process of having water and sewer hooked up.  We will also be having power ran to the clubhouse this week.  Also, work will begin in the next week or so to build a deck on the front of the temporary clubhouse to give easy access and for a place to sit.  There is a lot going on daily here at Meadowbrook. and we are close to having things ready for the golfing public again.

Thursday June 15th

We have made good progress on the restoration progress the last 2 weeks.  We have been slowed slightly from the rain the past few days, but with dry weather through the next few days we should be back on schedule.  Duininck is working on shaping the last two bunkers on #6 this morning, and with that, all of the rough shaping of bunkers will be completed.  They are currently working on final grading and edging of bunkers, and installing drainage.  Once that is complete they will begin adding sand and sod and the bunkers will be complete.  They are also working on moving the irrigation controllers that are currently in the flood plain to higher ground.

 Nick on the right, is the project Foreman for Duininck and is pictured here working with Kevin Knorby our golf course Archetiect on line edges for the bunker on #17 green

 This is a picture of the what the bunker on #9 green looks like after it has been rough shaped with a bull dozer.

 This picture shows the finished shaping work, along with the edge of the bunker.  Drainage has been added to this bunker since this picture, and the next step will be sod and sand.

Here is a picture of the process of adding drainage to #18 green side bunker.

Tuesday May 30th

 After much planning and coordination with a lot of entities the restoration work has begun.  This is Me standing in front of Duinincks construction trailer.  They began moving equipment in early last week and started work on Thursday.  Duininck is under contract for bunker restoration, irrigation relocating, cart path restoration, and working on the dike on Meadowbrook lake.

 The first step in restoring the bunkers is to till them in.  Here they are working on the bunker in front of #1 green.  When they finish tilling they use a bulldozer to move the tilled material around.  This process should be done by the middle of this week.

Here is a picture of the left green side bunker on #9.  I will be taking pictures and posting them frequently to keep people updated on the progress of the project.

Tuesday May 9th

The next few weeks the blog posts will be a little more interesting as we are preparing for Duininck Construction to begin working on their part of the restoration of the course.  They will be restoring bunkers, cart paths, the washed out area on the dike that seperates us from lake Meadowbrook, and moving irrigation controllers out of the flood plain.  There will be large equipment moving about the course, so again please stay off the property until the course is ready to open.

 Tom Doble has been mowing the large rough areas with his new rough mower now that the turf is actively growing.  It has been nice to work with some warmer temperatures.

 We began the process this morning of removing over 350 stumps from the course.  These stumps are from Ash tree removals in 2014, flood damaged trees, and stumps that look to have been on the course for many years.  The stumps will be ground, debris removed, back filled, and seeded.

 One of the stump grinder operators working on the left side of hole #1.  It will be nice to have the stumps removed!

 It has been one week today since we aerified the greens.  As you see they are healing in nicely and enjoying the air space that we created.  We will be doing this process again in the early part of June.  One of the perks of having no golf until later in the summer.

We continue to seed fairway areas like the one here on #8.  Now that night time temperatures are staying a little warmer we should start to see some of the seed in these areas begin to germinate

Tuesday May 2nd

 This morning, we are aerifying greens.  This extremely important process has not been done for over two years, and the greens are showing it.  Aerifying allows us to remove organic matter which causes greens to be soft and puffy, and also scalping when mowing.  It also allows for gas exchange that is crucial in the heat of the summer when the turf is respirating, and needs oxygen in the soil.  We will fill the holes with sand, which will help with air exchange, water infiltration, root depth, and firming up the surfaces.

 Since my last post, we have continued to seed fairway areas that did not fill in last fall.  This picture is from the top of the hill on #1 fairway.  With the coming warm temps, these areas should start germinating soon.  We have many areas like this, and we will be seeding them throughout the month of May.

 I will continue to show pictures of damage due to people using the property while the course is closed.  This picture shows ball marks and a divot taken from #2 green.  The green is littered with ball marks that have not been repaired.  Please refrain from using the course until we are open and ready for play.

Another picture of someone using #5 fairway as a driving range.  There are areas like this all over the course, this type of use will only make it harder for us to open the course in the best condition possible.

A bit of good news is that we have recently purchased some new equipment.  The picture above is of Denise mowing #4 green with one of our new Tri-Flex greens mowers.  I will post pictures of other new pieces of equipment in later posts.

We have a lot going on this week, and I will be posting one or two more times to keep everyone informed.  Thanks so much for your interest, and following this blog.  We had over 400 views this last week, which is great!

Monday April 24th

This is the first post from the Meadowbrook golf course maintenance blog.  I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself, the employees, what we are working on at Meadowbrook, and what you can expect from this blog.

My name is Troy Tschida and I am the new golf course Foreman at Meadowbrook.  You may recognize my name because before coming to Meadowbrook, I was the Foreman at Theodore Wirth Golf Course for three rewarding years.  I will be giving regular updates on the conditions, upcoming projects, and maintenance of the course via this blog.  I am excited about the opportunity of getting Meadowbrook back into shape and providing the best playing conditions we can achieve.

Most of you will notice Tom Doble pictured above.  Tom has a great knowledge of the course and his experience will be much appreciated.  Today Tom is working on hole 14 and will be working on seeding primarily the fairway and rough areas that need additional seeding after the first seeding done in the fall.

Brad Erickson is one of our greens and tee mowers.  Brad comes to Meadowbrook from Wirth and is a great addition to our staff.  Brad, now retired, has spent his entire career working for the Park Board.  This morning Brad is mowing tees and collars.

Denise Farrell also comes to Meadowbrook from Wirth.  Denise is one of our rough and fairway mowers.  You may recognize Denise from the front desk at the Wirth Chalet in winter time.  She also previously worked on the Wirth golf staff for four seasons.  This morning, Denise is cleaning debris off of #14 fairway and preparing the area for Tom to seed.

Jordan Jergenson also comes to Meadowbrook from Wirth.  Jordan is a jack-of-all-trades that can run all of the mowing equipment and also assists me on the irrigation system.  Pictured above, you can see Jordan working on an irrigation break on #16 this morning.  

We will have a lot going on this summer to get the course ready to open.  I hope this blog will be a good tool to keep everyone informed on what we are working on.  As construction and restoration projects begin, I will be updating the blog to show and explain the work that is being done.  We appreciate your support of our work for a course we all love, and hope to have your continued support as we move toward being fully open.  As we are working on restoration and opening this fall, we ask for your help to keep the course clear of people using the grounds for personal activities.  This slows our restoration work and poses hazards to users.  Thank you for your understanding.