Snow and some bridge related improvements.

Just when you think it's time to play golf, it starts snowing!  There have been some snow flurries today, but alas there are a handful of folks out braving the cold.  The unseasonable cold weather we have had over the last couple of weeks has severely delayed 'spring green-up' here at the golf course.  Soil temperatures are low, and the grass is just struggling to wake up.  Based on temperature models from last year, we are about 2+ weeks behind where we were last year.  Even though the grass isn't growing, there is still plenty to do.

One of the items we wanted to address this year were the bridge approaches on #6 and #10.  On #10, the north side of the bridge was washed out a few years ago from severe flooding, and the concrete 'approach' to the bridge was damaged, leaving us with an ugly hole that we have patched together with gravel every year.  #6 bridge approach was fully intact, but had also been undermined by flooding to the point where it sunk towards the creek.   Entering the south end of the bridge became very abrupt and would cause quite a jarring when you drove over it.  We've been wanting to address these for the last couple of years, and we finally managed to get them squeezed into the capital improvement budget for 2011.  I haven't seen the final bill yet, but it should be a nice improvement for not too much money.  Especially with new carts in the barn, it is a perfect time to do some needed cart path improvements.

Here are some photos from the project:

To keep costs down, we handled the demolition with in-house labor.  Here are Dave Alexander and Dan Myers taking their turn on the pnuematic 65 lb breakers.

Our guys pulled many of the larger chunks out by hand.



Some pieces were more stubborn than others.  There are two old 'I-beams' left from the old days when the approaches were timber.  The concrete was poured directly on them, making it a little harder to break.



Once the old approaches were broken, the pro's came in to re-grade and form.  Notice the deep trenches on the outer edges.  These 'rat walls' will help protect the slab from being undermined again.  Also notice the steel reinforcements.  Most of our approaches did not have sufficient steel, which is why many are crumbling.  These new approaches should outlive us all.

Same forms used on #10 bridge.  Again, notice the protective concrete 'rat walls' that will be installed on each side.

To save wear and tear on the golf course, we used our own people and turf-friendly vehicles to transport the concrete onto the golf course.

The pro's, however did all the finish work.

Even more steel reinforcement was dropped into the slab after it was poured to support the edges.

The finished product.  The pro's will come back tomorrow to pull the forms, finish the sides, and put a 'saw cut' into the slab to help prevent cracking.

No more gravel bump in the cart path.