Range Tee Expansion

As the season came to a close our focus turned to completing projects for the upcoming season. One of the major projects we undertook was the expansion of the North Driving Range Tee. The existing tee of 11,943 square feet did not provide enough teeing space to allow for the recovery of used hitting areas before the same hitting area was needed again. The newly leveled and expanded tees are 21,170 square feet and will allow for the recovery of hitting areas before the same area is needed again, therefore providing a better practicing surface throughout the playing season.
We began the project by removing the sod from the existing tee boxes.

We removed and saved as much sod as possible in an effort to keep costs at a minimum. We saved turf from the slopes surrounding the tees and were able to put it back on the slopes after enlarging the tee boxes.

The turf from the tee top was thrown away due to the amount of Poa annua that was on the driving range tees. We replaced it with sod that was free from Poa annua.

We then began the excavation process. We removed approximately 12 inches of soil from the tee box closest to the chipping green and used that soil to expand the entire teeing area. We lowered that tee so that we would need to bring in less fill material to create a larger teeing area.

We used our dump truck and carts to transport the soil to the various parts of the tee that needed additional fill material.

We then brought in screened topsoil to level the teeing surface and to make the slopes in front of the tee boxes tie in with the driving range floor.

To ensure proper drainage on the tee box we made sure to maintain a 1% slope from back to front. To measure the slope as we were putting the finishing touches on the tee, we divided the tee box into ten foot sections and leveled and measured the slope one section at a time. The sections were divided using grading stakes and string. Top soil was spread out and compacted in layers to ensure proper compaction and to maintain a level surface.

We then laid sod on the surface of the tee.