Cart Path Repair Plan Update

Cart paths continue to be one of our biggest warts and although we started the repair process earlier this year, we have yet to begin the act of removing and replacing concrete.  You may recall in earlier reports that we planned on starting a multi-year project this year.  That plan includes removing trees that are causing problems and/or likely to cause problems.  Then we'll remove and replace broken sections of path.  We began the tree removal portion of this year's path project in late winter by removing 85 trees along the path on holes 3 and 4.  We intended to do most of the path replacement on those holes this year, but COVID intervened.  COVID related changes to the golf schedule ate up much of the planned timeframe for concrete work this fall.  Additionally, the contractor we selected recently went out of business.  We have a new, much more qualified contractor selected and a new plan of attack from this point forward.  

How will we proceed?  The new plan....

The concrete on holes 3 and 4 will be replaced in the spring of 2021 instead of this fall for the reasons mentioned above.  We have flagged April 19-30 for this to occur.  That coincides with greens aeration and therefore should minimize disruption to play.  Holes 3-5 or possibly the entire front nine will be closed for this work to occur.   

In the meantime we plan to rent equipment to break up some of the worst sections this fall and replace with stone.  This is obviously a band aid, but should give us some temporary relief from the bone jarring bumps.  

We plan to remove the problem causing trees on several other holes this winter in preparation for the next wave of path repairs.  

It is expected that this new contractor, Flatline Contractors Inc. will be able to do much more work in smaller windows of time than all previous contractors we've used or considered.  They specialize in golf cart paths and are equipped for the unique aspects of golf course cart path work.  That will hopefully allow us to move from a 5 to 6 year plan to a 3-4 year plan provided the budget has flexibility.  I think we would all agree that getting this done is critical as is doing it as quickly as possible.