Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Winterkill Recovery

One of the biggest unexpected jobs that we had to contend with this summer during our greens renovation was repairing the winterkill damage that occured this past winter.  As you may recall back in February, we spent over 300 hours below freezing, almost breaking a 40 year old record for consecutive hours below 32 degrees.  Not to mention, the snow we did get during the coldest part of that two week event blew off many of our north slopes and hill tops.  This exposed the Bermudagrass to some of the coldest air we've seen in a generation (-14 actual).  Predictably, many areas on the fairways and roughs didn't survive.  So, along with the work required to prepare and grow in the new tees, greens and collars, we had to sod cut, remove the dead turf and resod many areas throughout the golf course.  I'd estimate we lost almost 10% of the bermuda on the golf course (8 acres). Our team has spent hundreds of hours this summer laying sod with the goal to be filled in by opening day.  As of today, our team has laid over 60 pallets of sod on fairways and surrounds.

As you can see from the pictures below, we are still growing in areas and will likely not have all the repaired turf grown in to the extent you can't see the sod lines.  There will be visible sod lines and/or sprigged areas that will need time this fall to fill in before winter.  Please help us by keeping carts off these areas until they finish filling in.

Damaged turf was sod cut and removed










#11 all ready for new sod!



Once new sod is laid and begins to root, it is shaved down to height



















After a few weeks, the new sod acclimates to the new cutting height. Sod lines will be gone by next summer


Wednesday, August 11, 2021

TifEagle Grow-in

 One of the most critical phases of the project was to sprig then grow in the new grass on the greens.  As I've shown in previous posts, an enormous amount of work went into preparing the new greens for sprigs.  This work can be seen here.  Once the new sprigs are down, the grow-in phase begins.  As you can see from the photos below, this grass gets settled over the first week or two then takes off.  It has been so impressive to watch this grass spread and fill in so quickly.  Within the first 6 weeks, the greens went from sand with sprigs to 100% coverage.  I can't say enough great things about the vigor and resiliency of this grass.  

Now that the greens are 100% filled in and we about 3 weeks out from opening day, we are phasing from grow-in mode to maintenance mode.  We are backing off fertilizing, increasing mowing and rolling frequency, verticutting and topdressing each week to work on surface texture and smoothness.  The team has been working hard all summer and we can see the finish line approaching.  They are determined to make these greens as good as they can be for opening day and I have no doubt our members and guests will be pleased with the finished product.  I know I am!  

Putting Green Day 1










Putting Green Day 7










Putting Green Day 28    

















Putting Green Day 52


















Putting Green Day 76