Golf Course Winter Project Update

With the decided shift in the weather, golf course maintenance activities have shifted from cutting fairways to blowing leaves and cleaning up storm debris. The biggest impediment to this process is wet weather.  Since fairways do not dry as fast this time of year, it is difficult to keep up with leaf removal. Everyone knows tractors on the fairways are not a good thing, so we appreciate your patience. Feel free to use the “leaf rule” to speed up play.

The greens continue to grow over the winter and we are monitoring places on the greens that have had damage prior to the project.  Some of these areas are being allowed to grow in and other areas have been plugged.  This healing process will continue into the spring.  You might notice different mowing patterns on the greens.  Normally the operator mows in a straight line and goes off the green to turn the mower.  Because all the areas off the greens had new Bermuda grass sod that required a lot of water, the operators have mowed the greens in a circle (to stay on the green) rather than back and forth. 

This mowing pattern has resulted in some scalping, which will heal.  At this point the Bermuda grass has become dormant and the green irrigation system has been turned off.  As the surrounds dry out the operators will return to normal mowing patterns.  

On #4 you may notice some scalping which is due to the new surface not being perfectly smooth.  The USGA recommends beginning mowing as soon as the turf is well rooted.  Quoting the USGA, “Since it is almost impossible to keep the green surface perfectly smooth (due to the frequent irrigation necessary during establishment) some scalping is inevitable.  However, it is better to scalp the new turfgrass plants early (and have time to recover) than wait to lower the cut just prior to opening.”   

The final phase of the green renovation project was to inspect and replace the defective subsurface green drains.  Fortunately the drain problems we identified were in the main drain lines off the putting surfaces, so we only had to dig up fairways and roughs. Since the last update, the drainage work on holes 7, 9, 12, and 18 has been completed.  On the 7^th hole, we added a “smile drain” which is an arc – like a smile – that wraps the low side of the green which will improve the bent grass on that part of the green.

# 4 Drain 

# 13 Drain

Finally the excess dirt we removed from around the greens has been placed in bare spots around the golf course.  It is being tilled and seeded for the winter.  As stated in a previous update, play these areas as ground under repair.

Golf Course Renovation Update

The remaining areas of the course that had not opened after Double Eagle finished their work are now open.  This includes the practice putting green, #4 green, and the front of #7 green. In addition, the drain work on the front of #4 and #17, right of #13 and #3 have been completed.  The only remaining work items are the drains on the front of #7, left of #9, left of #12, and left front of #18. 

#7 Before

#7 After

Keep in mind that we are only talking about the subsurface drains that move water off the greens.  If the budget allows, we plan to add fairway drains in the front of #1, #7 and other areas of the course that do not drain well.

The new bent grass sod edge on all of our greens has done well.  It loves the cooler temperatures and it should continue to grow in on mild days when ground temperatures are between 55° and 65° F. 

The Bermuda grass sod appears to be doing well, but it has largely gone dormant.  The final verdict on the Bermuda grass will come in the spring. If it attached properly, it will green up with the rest of the golf course. We seem to have had enough nice weather this fall and we are optimistic that the new Bermuda grass will thrive this summer.

Putting Green

The large tine aeration (5/8 inch) that we did at the beginning of the project is slow to heal (if you look closely you can see where the aeration holes were), but healing as planned.  We will continue next year with an aggressive aeration program, the schedule for which will be determined by our golf course maintenance.  We will have additional testing done by ISTRC next year to make sure we get proper water infiltration rates on the greens.  According to the report done this summer, too much water is being retained in the soil on our greens and we will continue aggressive aeration until that condition is fixed. Their report dated August 29, 2014 is posted on our web site for those who are interested in reading. Click here to go to the website (the document is at the very bottom of the page).

Pro Tips on Pitching

Having trouble pitching over the newly sodded areas? Check out the soft pitch instruction by PGA Head Professional Jeremy Franks.

Setup with the ball in the middle of your stance and keep your weight towards your lead foot.

Rotate your shoulders and arms so that the club is parallel with the ground. Keep your arms and hands relaxed.

Brush the grass keeping the momentum of the club head swinging towards the target. 

Let your arms extend and your body weight move towards the lead foot. 

Hold the pose until the ball comes to rest. This will allow the player to evaluate distance control. Lengthen or shorten the body rotation to adjust for distance change. Do not hit it harder or swing faster. 

I hope this helps you navigate over the soft, newly sodded areas and ultimately shoot lower scores. For more information on this or other types of shots, contact the golf shop!

Practice Putting Green Ready to Open

Previous to the renovation, the ground around our putting green has always been higher than the green. Over the years we paved more of the area surrounding the green.  In major thunderstorms, the drain system around the green is overwhelmed and the green becomes like a creek bed with water rushing over it. 

As part of our renovation project, Double Eagle installed two new drains to the right of the green and contoured the ground. When the drain in front of the green is overwhelmed, the water will flow toward the new drains.  On the left side of the green the ground has been contoured to encourage water to go around to the back of the green rather than across the green. 

The green and the surrounding areas are recovering nicely and we look forward to opening the practice putting green on Friday, November 6, 2014.

The final phase of our renovation project was to evaluate and repair the drainage system in each green.  The first step was to dig holes in the top side of each green to locate the beginning of the drain lines.  When all the greens were rebuilt in 1996, with the exception of #1, the contractor was allowed to bury the beginning of the green drain line.  This is not in accordance with USGA guidelines and occurred because we did not properly supervise the 1996 construction.  Our staff has located the beginning of each green drain line and installed an access pipe that allows the drain lines to be flushed out with water, air to be blown in the drains, and a camera to be inserted to inspect the drain system. 

We were able to run a camera through the main trunk of each drain line and we found the drains on 1/3 of our greens were stopped up.  We cannot inspect the branches, but they seem to be performing well.  The blockages were largely due to crushed lines and/or negative slope on the line from the original construction.  Fortunately all of the problems were off the greens so the repairs can be made without damaging putting surfaces.

The three greens on the course with the worst problems are #4, #7, and #17, where the drains were completely blocked. The drains to the right of #3, left of #9, right of #13, and off the front of #18 are not as severe but they need to be repaired too.  We also will add a catch basin to the left of #12.  These repairs will involve digging in the ground so please be patient if you see this work in progress while playing.  

Seventh Green Improved

Based on how well the partial rebuild of the fourth green went, our architect, John LaFoy suggested we rebuild the front of the seventh hole.  The improvements we are making will allow us to have faster green speeds next year and the slope on the front of #7 needed to be reduced to keep downhill putts on the green.  It was tough enough before the renovation.

                                                                                                   

Just like we did on the fourth hole, we removed the bent sod for the first 20 feet of the green and placed it on the fairway.  Double Eagle then added new top mix (we had some extra from the fourth hole) to raise the front of the green about 2 inches to give us a 2% slope.  The existing slope was 5% which is simply too steep given today’s green speeds. Then they put the sod back on, supplementing with new sod as needed.

Double Eagle then contoured the approach to the green over 20 feet to provide a smooth tie-in to the existing fairway. The approach is steeper, but the green is flatter. Because the approach is steeper, it could be harder to run the ball onto the green, but we will have more on that in the next update. The approach was sodded with new Bermuda grass we used on the rest of the greens.

Mr. Bill Haywood making sure the contractor understands
 that we need more usable flag stick locations on the front of the green

Finished product on the 7th green

The front of the green will be roped off until the bent grows in well enough to survive cutting to green height.  If the weather continues to cooperate, we should be playing on the full course, including four and seven by mid-November. 

Golf Course Construction Complete (Almost)

On Tuesday of this week, the Green Committee met with John Lafoy (our architect,) Marc Gooden (Double Eagle, our builder,) and Jay Long to review the course renovation work performed over the past month.  The Committee was extremely pleased by the design and the workmanship and with only a short list of items to complete, we signed off on the project.

What is next? We still have some drain pipes to install and we need some help from Mother Nature.  The more warm weather we get, the better it will be for our new Bermuda grass sod. The bent grass sod will do just fine in this cool fall weather, but the Bermuda will soon become dormant and will not grow in well until next spring.

The biggest change you will notice is on our fourth green.  Actually you might not notice the physical changes, but we think the change will significantly improve the performance of the green next summer.

Jay Long has long felt that the top mix layer on this green was too thick.  USGA guidelines call for 12 inches of top mix with an allowed variance of ½ an inch.  We took samples on the green and found as much as 20 inches of top mix. When there is that much top mix, a green will not experience a problem right away. Initially, drainage through the soil is satisfactory, but over time organic material that should pass through to the gravel layer builds up which causes the green to retain moisture. This inhibits root growth and bent grass cannot survive the summer.

So last week we did a mini-rebuild of the fourth green:

Venture Turf took the bent grass off the green and stored it to the side

Double Eagle removed the excess top mix.

Double Eagle re-graded the green with the help of our troops

We then put the sod back. We could salvage about half of the sod and we finished the job with new sod.

Finished product

As we removed the excess top mix, we moved from black colored mix down to whitish gray mix. The black colored mix had too much organic material built up in it and now that is gone.

ISTRC soil tests lead us to believe we have similar but less severe problems in other greens.  The solution for the other greens is an aggressive aeration program that we began this fall. We need to remove 20% of the volume of each green each year and replace it with sand.  This means more hollow core aeration with sand top dressing.  No one likes playing on aerated greens, but playing on dying grass is even worse.

Next week, an update on Hole #7.

We are almost there!

The course will officially open on Tuesday, October 28, 2014.

(Weather permitting and golf course conditions allow)

Please join us for the opening weekend!

Saturday, November 1 and Sunday, November 2 

8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

Join us for complimentary mimosas, bloody marys, egg and sausage biscuits and other breakfast items at the first tee!

When you play again you will notice 5 differences in playing conditions:

1. The new Bermuda grass sod surrounding the green will be cut higher while the grass is getting established. It will not be cut to fairway height until next spring and we are certain it has grown in well. In the meantime, it will be difficult to putt from off the green, but Jeremy and Sean are available for chipping lessons. 

2. The edges of the greens do not have a collar or fringe. Each green has a three foot wide perimeter of the new bent grass sod. This new sod will eventually be mowed at putting surface height which is about 0.12", but it will not be moved at that height until it is well established. Next year we will create collars around our greens by moving the Bermuda grass shorter than fairway height. Normal fairway height is 0.5" and our plan is to cut a three foot wide Bermuda grass collar at 0.3" when conditions allow.

3. There are still places on some greens inside the newly sodded area that are bad.  We are aware of those places. We feel the overall improvements in the greens will allow these areas to recover on their own or with plugs.   Once the major construction is complete, we will be able to focus on these specific areas on a green by green basis.

Jeremy Franks and Bill Haywood looking at problem spots on the 14th green

4. There are piles of dirt in the woods.  It will be tilled and leveled over the winter to eliminate some of the hardpan areas around the course.  Next year we hope to be able to have grass in these areas.  In the meantime, play these areas as Ground Under Repair.

5. Certain bunkers don’t seem as deep.  Lips on some bunkers (10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17) have been cut down in order to make them tie in better with the green.

We appreciate everyone’s patience and support.  Come visit your Pro Shop.  They will be glad to show you around the course.

Completed 18th green

Photo Update!

The work on the course is progressing as expected and we are excited about the end results. We have started to sod the back nine and the below pictures show you different steps in that process. While we continuing working on the course, we hope that you are enjoying the other courses in the area. Remember, Jeremy and Sean are still available for lessons during the renovation. Call the golf shop to set up any tee times. 

This sod is coming from North Carolina

Men rolling out the sod

Lining up the sod

Mr. Bill Haywood with Mark

Finished Product! Just needs a little help from mother nature

Construction Begins!

Double Eagle Construction started work on schedule earlier this week.  They have made good progress rough grading the back nine and the practice green. The rough grading should be complete this week.

The next step is fine grading and sodding which is done by a different work crew.  That work is scheduled to start Monday and it should be finished in a week.

 In the meantime, our staff began work on the front nine yesterday, so we enter the period where both nines are closed.  The large core aeration and top dressing will take two days and that will be followed by the soil sterilization of the green surrounds.  Those areas will be covered with tarps for four days.  The tarps will come off towards the end of next week, timed to occur as Double Eagle wraps up the back nine.

We have been fortunate with the weather.  Let’s hope it continues. Enjoy your opportunities to play other courses.  Call the golf shop for more details!

Jeremy Franks with Mark Gooden

Rough grading

Rough grading with Jay Long

Discussing the finished product

The beginning

This week we started on our green renovation project - the first major renovation since the greens were rebuilt in 1997.

As reported in the last update, we are going to accomplish four things in this renovation that will enhance the quality of our greens for years to come:

1. Eliminate the common Bermuda grass in the green surrounds.
2. Re-grade the edges of the greens to improve drainage and to smooth the transition from the surrounds to the putting surface.
3. Remove the plastic perimeter strips that kept the common Bermuda grass from encroaching onto the greens.
4. Perform the next phase of aggressive aeration and sand top dressing that will improve bent grass root growth in the greens.

This week, John LaFoy, our architect, and Marc Gooden, president of Double Eagle Golf, met with Jay Long and the Green Committee to discuss the project schedule and to lay out the renovation work. We also began treating the green surrounds to kill the existing grass.

On Friday, September 26, we will close the back nine for the three weeks necessary to complete the back nine renovations.  On October 3, we will close the front nine for three weeks.  Both nines will be closed from October 3 to October 13 – nine playing days. 

Putting Green

No one wants the course to be closed at all, but everyone wants the greens to be better. If we get good weather over the next six weeks, we will beat the schedule.  There is a good chance the time that the entire course is closed will be less than nine days.  But most of us know how unpredictable construction can be.  In any event we plan to be back in full operation the week of October 20.

In the meantime, take the opportunity to try some of the other courses in the area. Jeremy and Sean will be happy to make arrangements for you. You can call the pro shop at 596-3112.

Hole #14

Hole #14

When completed, you will see finger tips

Hole #7. Visual evidence for the renovation

Hole #7

Looking forward to seeing green grass

Area in need of regrading

Aggressive aeration of putting green