On May 21st , Landscapes Golf Course Construction H2B team of 45 skilled golf course laborers showed
up for the season to join the dozen or so already on site. A crew of 59 from Landscapes plus workers
from Soukup Construction have been making significant progress throughout the past month despite the
challenges in dealing with officially the wettest spring on record in Sioux Falls. Go figure: four straight
years of drought and then you build a golf course and endure record spring moisture! That said, the fact
that work was able to begin at the end of February was a blessing and we are still maintaining golf course
construction schedule at this point. Some of the highlights over the past month include:
- Mass Earthwork/Excavation: The process of moving 445,000 cubic yards of dirt is coming to an
end. For those of you who saw the site pre-construction and then have come out this spring, it
has been pretty neat to see. Soukup is in the final stages of their cut and fill exercise across the
entire property. One of our significant focuses over the past month has been excavating the main
irrigation lake at the south end of the property. Most of the work is now complete as of June 15th .
The lake will be 3 acres in surface area and 10 feet deep. It will hold nearly 10 million gallons of
water. It will be fed from two wet wells that have been drilled on property and Slip Up Creek if
needed. If you hit it right on 6 and 15, your ball will forever be at the bottom!
- Golf Course Construction: As mentioned above, Landscapes H2B crew arrived on May 21st and
have been working very hard ever since. As Soukup finishes the mass excavation, Landscapes'
shapers come in behind to produce the detail work and lay back the top-soil. Once that is
complete, the crew will come in behind with drainage and irrigation main-line installation. The
crew has also completed the formal green preparation on a number of holes and began edging
formal sand bunkers. The goal remains to begin the grassing process around August 1st . Fingers
crossed for a dry July and August!
- Facilities: The earthwork and foundation began on the maintenance facility in early June. The
goal is to have the building completed before year end. Next up is earthwork and foundation on
the clubhouse, set to begin the week of June 24th . The cart storage facility and halfway house will
begin construction later in the summer.