Rainfall

Over the past week, Copperleaf has experienced over 9 inches of rainfall on the property. Our lakes that were still very low for this time of year are now full after increasing by over 1 1/2 feet over the past week.

Unfortunately, there was damage to the course, and in particular the bunkers, that had our maintenance staff scrambling to present the course to our usual high standards. In fact it took 3 full days of 6 to 8 employees to simply repair the washouts that affected nearly every bunker.

The front bunker on hole 10 green complex is notorious for washing out. The black layer is organic material that floats to the top of the puddle that forms during heavy rain. The maintenance staff have to first remove this organic layer before pulling the sand back to the edges.

The bunker behind hole 18, with its steep face, had no chance on the Saturday rain event that saw 4.5"s of rain fall in less than 4 hours.

Other areas of the course were also affected including cart path edges and newly installed landscaping beds with fresh pinestraw.

This area on hole 3 had large volumes of water wash the fresh pinestraw away.

Thanks to the hard work of our staff, most of the damaged and affected areas were repaired by the end of the week. There remains a few isolated areas that will require further work in the coming week. I appreciate your patience as we continue to work in these areas.

Hole 13 Landscaping

I appreciate everyone's patience with regard to the landscaping of the roadside along hole 13. It is important to remember that the first priority of the maintenance department is to 'maintain' the golf course. All other enhancement projects are secondary to the overall daily presentation of the course.

Last week, all of the ferns were removed from under the Shady Lady and Oak trees and new plants installed along half of the area.

A hedge of Silver Buttonwoods and Jatropha have been installed along the tee complex. This hedge, once matured, will provide a screen between the road and the golf course.

Unfortunately, as the project commenced, it was realized that there was insufficient irrigation coverage in the area south of the tees. Rather than install hundreds of plants in an area without sufficient water, it was decided to improve the irrigation first and complete the plantings at a later date. Neil Johnson, our irrigation technician, has now installed new pipes and sprinklers and the plants are on order. The area will be completed within the next two weeks.

Irrigation Work at front entrance

There has been a lot of activity at the front entrance of Copperleaf this week. Brinkman Group, the contractor responsible for maintaining the landscaping and irrigation along Three Oaks and Coconut, identified an irrigation mainline leak last week. They valved closed the affected pipes and have now begun the arduous task of digging up the affected area directly in front of the Copperleaf sign.

The exposed hole was over 6 feet in depth and revealed a network of pipes and wires.

Brinkman expects to be completed within the week at which time they replace any affected flowers and plants.