It's been over 35 days since we planted the new Riviera Bermudagrass on #12 fairway and we are very pleased with our progress thus far! Now that the canopy has achieved full coverage, we will begin to work on density as we look to get the turf ready for winter. We have about 45 more days of good growing weather and we need to get the young seedlings as healthy as possible.We planned on pulling ropes down this weekend, but the rains and wet conditions have forced our hand and now plan on opening that fairway to cart traffic on Monday. Once the ropes are down, we will be better able to integrate the new fairway into our existing fairway management program. We will begin mowing the new fairway 3 times per week, fertilizing as necessary and begin spraying growth regulators to improve density by increasing the number of leaf blades per inch. Riviera is by nature, a very winter hardy grass, but all juvenile turf is vulnerable to stress and we need to be sure the new turf is ready for whatever this winter has planned.
