A lot of people have been asking about #12 fairway lately, and I'm sorry it has taken me this long to put out more information about what we have been doing over there. For those who may not know, we are planning on converting #12 fairway from Common Bermuda to Riviera Bermuda. Riviera is a seeded variety that has many improvements over Common. It is more heat, drought, disease, and cold tolerant. It has better density and color. Riviera also greens up sooner in the spring and stays greener later into the fall. During the next few years, we will observe this new grass and see if it will meet expectations for a larger project to re-grass all our fairways in the future.
Currently, the grounds department is killing the existing common Bermuda grass in preparation for seeding on July 10th. Bermuda is a very resilient turf and can be quite difficult to fully eradicate. As of today, we have sprayed Roundup three times over the past month and still plan on one more application a few days before seeding. Why go through all the trouble? Well, in order to get the full benefit of the new turf, we must completely kill the original stand of grass so that it won't contaminate the new fairway. The color and texture of the old and new grasses are different enough that any remnants of the old common Bermuda would stand out and reduce the overall quality of the new fairway.Once we have the seed in the ground, the fairway will be roped off from golf carts until the new turf is established and we begin mowing regularly. Just to clarify, the hole will remain open and shots can be played off the fairway, we just cannot allow carts on the fairway until the ropes are taken down. The establishment process should take 30-45 days and then we will be pushing the new fairway with water and fertilizer to achieve full density before winter.
We realize this project is an inconvenience, but feel that the long term benefits will be worth it. If anyone has questions about the project or anything else for that matter, please feel free to contact me.
As always, see you on the course!
