ST. MARTINS COMPLETE!

Finished! Overlooking #9 with our roughs recently converted to turf-type tall fescue, and our fairways to zoysiagrass.

This is same view from a couple years ago when the course was non-irrigated and prior to our restoration work.  It is hard to believe this is the same golf course.

Choosing to kill every blade of rough grass on our entire golf course was quite gut-wrenching for a short period of time…  

 ... but now the results are paying off!  All of our turf-type tall fescue roughs, as well as our newly seeded native areas has completely germinated! 

2013

As we head into 2013, members will find that nearly every feature on the St. Martins course is new.  In one season our fairways and tees were converted to zoysiagrass, our roughs were completely converted to fescue, and the greens were expanded to their original perimeters.  In addition to the new grassing schemes, bunkers were completely rebuilt and a fully-automated, Rain Bird irrigation system was recently installed.

As St. Martins hosted the 1907 and 1910 U.S. Open Championships, it is fitting that our historic course will shine bright when the U.S. Open returns to Philadelphia next season for the first time in over 30 years.

 

Many Thanks

While overlooking the “new” St. Martins course, personal reflection quickly turns towards the tremendous team effort required to completely restore a golf course.  

 Staff- Our dedicated staff members amazed me daily throughout this past season.  The best example is that during our zoysia fairway conversion they stripped and laid over 40 semi-truckloads of sod during the peak-season months while continuing to maintain the course for play. 

 Our staff members performing the green expansion work last fall.

 Constructing the new putting green / 1st tee area.

 Laying another truckload of zoysiagrass in 2012 during our fairway conversion.

Working through a snowfall during the winter during our bunker construction.

 

Golf Course Architect- Keith Foster’s passion for St. Martins, vision of what the course was and could be, and frequent visits helped keep our efforts headed down the right path.  We are all excited about working with Keith next year on Wissahickon.

Superintendents- When researching the St. Martins work, I am grateful that many fellow superintendents in the Mid Atlantic region allowed me to visit their courses and learn from their past successes and areas of improvements.  This graciousness and willingness to help is one of the great aspects of the golf course industry. 

Irrigation Team- Installing an irrigation system though three city blocks within the City of Philadelphia was no easy task; and navigating through these obstacles was the specialty of our irrigation team.  Their knowledge and willingness to work well together proved critical.  This team was world-class and included: irrigation designers, Aqua Agronomic Solutions; irrigation contractors, Tanto Irrigation; City of Philadelphia master plumber, Stuckertt Plumbing; Rainbird Irrigation’s national representatives; and their regional distributor, Atlantic Irrigation.   Members can feel very confident knowing that this group will be tackling Wissahcikon’s system next year.

Carefully unloading the HDPE pipe during our irrigation installation.

 

Club Leadership- The St. Martins work saw the light of day because of the faith and commitment from our club leadership.  The trust which was given to our staff was greatly appreciated, and allowed us to be innovative and set aggressive timelines in accomplishing this meaningful work.   

The creativity our leadership provided in 2012 provides PCC members with another high-quality option for golfing in 2013.  With our June 2013 close period upcoming for the Wissahickon restoration, the timing worked perfectly.

 Club leaders with golf course architect, Keith Foster, and PCC staff members following last winters work.

PCC Members- Lastly, we thank all of PCC’s members for your patience in allowing us to accomplish this work during the middle of your golf season.  We understand that disturbances were frequent occurrences in 2012.  The improvements made will be long-lasting, and we hope that this work truly makes a difference in how your family enjoys the club for many years.

PCC members dressed in "Classic" attire during our 2010, 100th Anniversary U.S. Open Championship event.

Zoysia Fairway Conversion Complete / Upcoming Rough Conversion

Our St. Martins zoysiagrass fairway conversion is now complete!  The irrigation system is being installed in September, and a full rough conversion program will take place immediately following our ability to irrigate the new seed.

 

 BEFORE- Our non-irrigated St. Martins course in years past. 

 AFTER- Our 9th hole following this years zoysiagrass fairway conversion, bunker renovation, & green expansion programs.  

 BEFORE- Our 3^rd hole in years past

 Our 3^rd hole in-progress.

To accomplish our fairway conversion program our staff laid over 40 truckloads of sod....in the middle of our growing season! 

Positions Available

2012 Grounds Staff Complete

  



Zoysiagrass at St. Martins

Yesterday we completed Phase 1 of our St. Martins work by sodding all of our tee-tops to zoysiagrass.

We also installed a small area on #1 fairway, as we believe zoysiagrass is a likely option for a future fairway turf at St. Martins. The prime users of St. Martins will really enjoy the zoysiagrass lie, as the ball sits straight up in the air as if it was on a tee. As a warm-season turf, zoysia looks its best during the middle of the summer, exactly when St. Martins is most heavily used.

Agronomicallly, zoysiagrass makes sense for many reasons. It is extremely heat tolerant, and requires less water, chemical, and fertility requirements. Zoysiagrass will go dormant, which means growth will be very slow in the spring in and in the fall. This is good news as it means that that we will not be spending unnecessary dollars mowing the turf when the golf course is not being heavily used.

From a conditioning standpoint, members will be happy to know that St. Martins can easily become a world-class golf experience, and still remain as a relatively simple and cost-effective golf course to maintain.

We will heavily topdress the tees as soon as they root. This will make them firm and perfectly smooth. Come summer, a time when other grasses begin to struggle with the heat, our tees will be healthy and bright green.

The small trial area on #1 fairway also serves as a driving range tee for our Jr. Camps at St. Martins. This turf will be much more enjoyable for the juniors to learn the game as it will be easier for their shots to get airborn.

St. Martins Restoration

Below are photos of our recent restoration to PCC's original, 9-hole, St. Martins course (which dates back to the 1800's). This restoration was performed with golf course architect,Keith Foster in an in-house method using PCC's staff.

It is wonderful for our members to have this work completed prior to our Wissahickon Restoration. It will also be extra special for our members to have their original US Open course restored prior to the US Open returning to Philadelphia next year!

As we excavated the bunkers, the original perimeters from the 1800's became clearly evident (notice the interior edge of the bunker in the photo). The combination of over 100 years of sand build-up on the faces from bunker shots, and gradual edging, caused the bunkers to eventually become more rounded and bland in shape. As this happened the bunkers gradually became more sand-flashd as the original grass faces were slowly lost. Discovering these origianl features, and restoring their concepts made for very special, heart-felt work.

In order for the St. Martins course work to be executed, it needed to be done in a creative, cost effective manner. The below photo shows that after we lowered fore-ground, the existing sod was re-placed.

#2 complete!

Our staff was so passionate about the work that not even a moderate snowfall slowed us down.

#1 bunker installed with Matrix mix and ready for sand. Also notice how our first green has been expaned over 40%; back to its origianl shape.

#5 roughed out.

#5 ready for sand.

#5 beginning to be buttoned-up.

The green expansions were executed in the most cost-effective manner possible. The process included: 1. Stripping the rough areas where the green would be expanded 2. Aerifying the green multiple times and dragging the aerification cores into the stripped ares. 3. Smoothing and rolling the areas 4. Lightly seeding the areas with bentgrass.
Using aerification cores from each green allows the expansion areas to perfectly match each green's existing surface. Outside of using our existing labor force, the work was virtually cost-free!
Note: With Wissahickon being one of our championship courses, it's greens will be completely rebuilt to have optimum sand-based drainage and to allow for slight green-slope softening.

Notice the poor surface drainage on our old practice green.

The practice green being re-shaped.

Our practice green afterwards. The first tee is back on its original line, and in an old-school method, it is incorporated into our practice green. Also notice how our surface drainage is much improved on the right side as surrounding water is now diverted away from the green.

The view of #9 green with our square green corners restored!

Celebrating a job well done with golf course architect, Keith Foster, club leadership, and our staff! Many thank to PCC members, and we hope you enjoy your new/old St. Martins!

Recent Flood

Notice the Flag on #18 Wissahickon green just above the water level!

The bridge to the maintenance facility.

#4 Militia Hill

Damage to doors at the cart barn near the practice range.

View of the golf shop.

View from #1 Wissahickon Tee.