The Big Tree on #3

We took down what remained of the big tree near #3 green today. After lots of discussion and reviewing the possible options it was decided that the best thing to do was to take the remaining part of the tree down and get started with the recovery process. You may recall that this large tree was "topped" during the storm of June 19-20, 2009.

After finally getting the trunk to the ground, Alex took a couple minutes to do a quick ring count to get an age estimate. According to his count, the tree is (was) between 140 and 150 years old! If you use 150 as the age, that would mean the tree was a sapling around 1860 and a young tree during the Civil War! It's certainly a shame that such a tree was lost, but in the end Mother Nature pretty much too care of it for us during the June storm.

In a related note, in this picture you can see two young trees that have been planted along #3 to replace this lost giant. It will take many years before they mature enough to have much affect on the hole, but as they say, the trees planted by one generation provide shade to the next generation.

In the picture above, Alex is holding his saw to give a size comparison. The saw uses an 18" bar.

More Progress on Road Bank Clearing

Tuesday 12/22/09 you can see how much the bank has been cleared of brush and undergrowth. There is still lots of work to be done, including using the bucket truck to trim the trees in the area immediately around the tee boxes.

For more pictures visit the Grounds section of our web site.

Progress on Road Bank Clean Up

Clean up on the Hwy 54 road bank along hole #14 has continued and is making a huge difference in the look of the hole, as well as increasing visibility of the golf course from the highway. The panorama picture above shows a large section of the bank has been mostly cleared. Only two or three more days of clean up and we should be open from the ladies tee all the way to the green.

Click here to see more pictures of the work.

Memorial Walk

A volunteer crew of Dale and Sara McElwee, Dar Martin, and Harold Treese recently put the finishing touches on our Memorial Pavers Walk. The dirt is yet to be delivered to the flower beds, but the walls and walkway are completed. This should be an especially nice addition next spring when it is full of blooming flowers.

Memorial pavers can be purchased to honor your loved ones by contacting Dan or Priscilla in the office. A minimum donation of $100 is required.

For more pictures click here or select the Grounds link on the http://www.lakevalleygolf.com/ web site.

Highway Clearing

As you drive past the golf course on Hwy 54 you may have noticed that you can see more of the course than you could in the past. That's partly because of the winter dropping of leaves from the trees, but also partly because we've been clearing trees from the road bank. As recent as 20 or so years ago the bank on the left side of #14 was mostly void of any trees. Wayward tee shots had a good chance of bouncing off the bank and back into play. Over the years the cedars and sycamores have sprung up on the hillside until you couldn't see the course from the road any more. In November we acquired a permit from MODOT to clean up the roadbank and make our course visible from the highway again.

In addition to making the course more visible (read: free advertising) it will also improve air circulation, especially as you get back to the tee areas. One unexpected plus is that it will also make it easier for our grounds crew to mow, as they will now be able to mow right up to the out of bounds stakes, whereas before they were so overgrown with trees that the edge of the fairway had to be "mowed" with weed eaters.