Cart Path Renovation Project

The much anticipated cart path renovation is under way at Adams Pointe. In the fall of 2011 holes # 1,2 and 18 were excavated and redone with concrete. This fall the rest of the cart path, plus the path around the club house and parking lot will be torn up and repaved with asphalt. Two local companies, Mid-States Excavating and Tandem Paving Co. are working together on the project.

Unfortunately, it is a bit of a messy process and also an inconvenience navigating the course around the major construction. 

A milling machine is first used to grind up the existing cart path

A soil compactor is then rolled over the millings to create a solid base for the new asphalt

The next step in the process will be to grade and back fill soil to create a smooth transition from the path to the rough. Finally, our crew will be seeding along the edges of the path. Sections with high foot traffic around the greens and tees will be sodded. Wet conditions have unfortunately led to some turf damage away from the path which will have to be seeded as well. 

Cart traffic damage to turf due to excavation of  cart path

As of November 1st the back nine is completely repaved. An unfortunate snow event has delayed the grading and back filling process. An unusually wet fall has slowed down progress while also making it difficult to determine a completion date for the project.   

Hangin' Up The Hoses?

As September rolls in, fingers crossed, our maintenance staff gets to breath a sigh of relief. It appears that the summer heat is behind us. All things considered it was not too brutal of a summer. The second core aerification of the putting greens was completed on August 19th. Fall is just around the corner which means it's time to hang up the hoses, let the course heal from summer stress and hopefully relax a little.

2.5" of rain the weekend leading up to aerification led to messy core harvesting

The majority of the cores had to be blown off of the greens

Putting green one week after aerification

Mowing greens at 6:00 A.M.

It's a Sod, Sod Day

If you have been around the Kansas City area golf courses this year I'm sure you have noticed zoysia grass had a tough winter. Too wet and cold was the major issue for many local courses and Adams Pointe was not any different other then we were limited to only some tee surfaces.  Most of the month of July was spent cutting up and sodding our tee boxes that didn't come in this spring. The sod farm that supplies us with our zoysia has been too wet to cut sod until just a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, we no longer have a zoysia nursery of our own on the property. In order to get the course playable as soon as possible, we took sod off of some of our lesser used gold tee boxes. This sod was then laid on some of the white, blue and green tee boxes that are used more often.  Sod was finally delivered this week for us to repair those tees that we had  harvested from for earlier repairs.

Don't Blink

Things can change quite quickly so don't blink, you just might miss something. In our post last month we mentioned that we had nearly a foot of rain for the month of May. A week later the soil was rock hard again and the greens were showing signs of summer heat stress. We have aerified the greens,as well as the fairways,  for better water infiltration and allow the soil to breathe.  "Venting" as it is some times referred to will be done a handful of times throughout the summer months.

Solid needle tine aerification

We have also laid sod on a handful of our zoysia grass tees. The width of #6 white tee was also expanded a few feet. This winter the plan is to make this tee substantially larger to help with foot traffic and compaction issues.

#6 white tee after bringing in soil 

#6 white tee with new sod 

Rain Rain go Away

Mother nature has put the course drainage here at Adams Pointe to the test this month. We have seen rain 13 days totaling over 11" for the month of May. This following 6" during the month of April. As with everything, there are advantages and disadvantages with the ample amount of precipitation. On the positive side, we have not had to run an irrigation cycle yet this year and the turf is relatively healthy and growing. Unfortunately, the grass is growing so quickly and it seems to be raining practically every day. This makes it difficult to keep up with our mowing schedule. The thick, wet turf leads to an inconsistent cut and clumps of grass clippings.     

It has been just over a year since the completion of our bunker renovation project. The Better Billy Bunker system is working as promised as far as how much rain it can take in and drain off. Unfortunately, rain causes more than just drainage issues. Heavy downpours still wash sand down from the high flashed edges on some of the bunkers. 

Fortunately, we have had a good amount of sunshine the last few days. The course is drying out and we have been able to mow the fairways and roughs everyday this week. We are just about caught up.  

Spring is in Full Swing

Out with the snow and in with the rain. We recorded just around 6.0" of rain here at Adams Pointe for the month of April which is above average for the Kansas City area for this time of year. A combination of ample moisture, warmer temperatures and longer days has our cool season grasses thriving.

April has been a busy month of preparing the course for the long season. We have been spraying herbicides to get rid of those pesky dandelions, pre emergents have been applied to help prevent any new weed seeds from germinating and fungicides have been sprayed to protect the turf from diseases. Fertilizers have also been applied to give the turf a kick start into the growing season.

Repairing ball marks goes a long way in maintaining a smooth and consistent putting surface. Unfortunately, we do not have the crew capacity to fix all of these ourselves. The crew, as well as the golfer behind you, would appreciate if you could take the time to repair 1 ball mark per green. Thank you for your help and consideration.

A couple of our staff members were lucky enough to attend the PGA Championship last year at Bellerive Country Club. I know Brooks Koepka won this event but seeing the crowds following Tiger Woods is something to see in its own. After winning this years Masters Tournament for the 5th time it looks like Tiger is officially back. This is a great thing for the game of golf. During his career Tiger Woods has created a lot of buzz around the sport and also brought in many new and young fans that possibly started playing because he is so exciting to watch.         

Golf Season is Upon Us!

Slowly, but surely, the grass here at Adams Pointe Golf Club is starting to grow. This winter brought some well below average temperatures and significant snowfall that kept the course closed for a good portion of the winter. The conditions outside kept golfers, as well as the maintenance crew, at bay for what seems like the entire winter season.

Our view for most of the winter

Despite the rough weather outside our crew managed to complete a few projects. We refurbished the ball washers, driving range benches and cups once again. We also rebuilt the original bridge on #18. All of the old boards and nails were taken out and replaced with new 2x6's and screws. The bridge was also widened a couple feet to match the width of the cart path.

A number of trees were damaged from winter storms and have been trimmed up or cut down. We planted a new oak tree on the right side of #7 in place of the signature hedge tree that had to be removed last year.

Our annual spring greens aerification took place on March 18th this year. As mentioned earlier, the cooler temperatures have forced our grass to have a slower start this growing season. The holes from the aerification process may take a little longer to fill in this year but we are working around the clock to keep the greens as smooth as possible. Leagues at Adams Pointe begin the first week of April. We hope you all enjoy your time out on the golf course this year.