One month into the renovation project and we hit a few milestones this week. Instead of having constant demolition of the golf course, I feel like we turned the corner and we started to now put some things back together. Golf Course Architect, Tim Liddy was in this week to make some small tweaks to the greens complexes and then his blessing was given. He also laid out a lot of other work for the construction crew.
Our staff has been saving a lot of the bentgrass sod to move to different areas on the golf course. So timing to make those sod flips is critical. We have to move it before the construction company can do their work but we also have to have a place to put it. Part of the plan on #15 was to remove the mounds in the landing area on the left and to expand the fairway that direction. So the mounds were removed and our crew cut bentgrass from one area of construction and then laid it on #15. We also cut and laid Kentucky bluegrass sod to finish the fairway expansion. It is quite a different look but it really opens up the view to the green from the left side.
One of the other areas that we tried to save sod and reinstall it was on #18 fairway by the new green. Sod was cut and laid on the new fairway on Friday. That alone made a nice start and it helped to create a great new look. Final grade was completed and then it was our staff's turn to shine.
Our plans all along have been to seed the greens before the 15th of September. I really felt like that was the drop dead date to get turf established on the new greens before the onset of winter. Landscapes Unlimited’s crew has worked very hard to get that done for us. They too realized it was critical to get seed in the ground on the new greens. In this greens areas there was a tremendous amount of work to do before seeding could take place. Besides construction of the new greens there is a major mainline irrigation pipe that is critical to tying in the 2 golf courses so that we have equalized water pressure between the two. The new line was installed this week and the golf courses were once again hooked back up. New irrigation lines and heads were installed on the new greens, in the rough areas around the new greens and on the new tees. It was very nice to move the bull dozers and excavators out of the area. Of course there is still bridge work, cart paths to be poured and final grading on the new tees. But overall the area looks vastly different in a week.
Yesterday we had the sodding company in to lay Kentucky Bluegrass sod around the 18th green complex and also they laid a ring of sod around the new practice green so we could do the seeding in that area. They laid 3 semi loads of sod and I have to say it looks really nice and I think you will be pleased with the look of the new complex.
Once the sod was installed around the greens we were then able to start the seeding process on the new greens. There are many different soil amendments that are applied to a putting green before you plant the seed. Our staff worked hard to accurately apply those products to help achieve good grow in. The drop seeder was then calibrated to make sure it doesn’t apply too little or too much seed. Then seeding process was started, we dropped seed in 2 directions. It was lightly raked in and then the sand pro was used to imprint the seed. The tire tracks look really rough but they do a couple of great things. First they compress the seed to make sure you have good seed to soil contact, second they create little pits in the soil that hold peat, seed and moisture. This is a great little environment to grow seed. We applied a fungicide right before seeding to prevent damping off and then it is irrigated. I like to put a winter time greens cover on the new putting surface to help keep the soil warm and moist to add in the germination process. I think a week from now you will be surprised.
