Just 60 days after turning the dozers off for winter, the crew from Soukup Construction was back at it on February 26th. Yes you read that right. February 26th. In South Dakota. The frost is out of the ground and the temperatures have been consistently mild. The team has been able to work unimpeded by weather; zero weather days to be exact.
The focus of the work this month included:
- Mass Earthwork/Excavation: Four to Six scrapers have been working non-stop shaping the north end of the site. This work includes constant cutting and filling of dirt in different locations to bring the future site of the Mapletøn facilities (clubhouse, maintenance facility, cart storage facility, parking lot, entry road, etc) to their appropriate final elevations. The dirt needs to be placed and then given time to set before the construction of facilities can begin in early summer.
- Golf Course Construction: A group of 10-12 Landscapes Unlimited golf course construction workers were able to mobilize quickly given the ideal working conditions. They have been working alongside golf course architect Scott Hoffman to stake all of the exact locations of tee boxes, fairway transitions and green locations. The team also has had to install what amounts to miles of silt fencing to protect the environmental edges of Slip Up Creek and additional wetland areas.
- Golf Hole Shaping: Johnny Christianson, one of the lead "shapers" on the golf course team was able to get back on site in early March. Over the past few weeks Johnny has finished a lot of the detail bunker and green work on holes 9, 11, and 18 from where it was left off in the fall.