GREENS

12 GREEN

The extent of the damage to the turf at 12 green is now obvious. Our goal now is to get this green back in shape and open it as soon as we can without subjecting the turf to a set back due to the traffic of regular play. The two simple options are to aggressively over seed, which will take at least two months to grow in, or sod it. If we were to seed, even 2 months from now when the green is looking much better, the turf would still be very young and not stand up well to the traffic once open. The turf would most certainly slide backwards exposing the young seedlings to regular play. And more importantly, we would still have to deal with the black layer.

This photo taken on 12 green this morning

clearly shows the black layer at the surface of

the green which is the root of all our problems.

Sodding on the other hand brings in mature grass plants which only need to root into the existing root zone. If we sodded this green, opening it back up to regular play in 4 weeks is a very realistic time frame. The other big consideration is the black layer which is the real problem, and is the cause of the turfs failure. The heat may have been the straw that broke the camels back, but the black layer is the real culprit. Sodding may be a more expensive way to proceed, but, it will allow us to physically remove this layer with the sod cutter as we strip away the old turf.

It has been approved by the Board of Directors to proceed with striping and re-sodding this green. I have already had a contractor that I have worked with in the past on site and made a plan to have them in on Monday July 19th to strip away the turf and the black layer, and resod the entire green and collar. We will still have to get on a regular aerification plan with the new turf in order to keep this green healthy and able to stand up to the traffic, and what ever "Large Marge" wants to throw at it. You will also notice over the next few week some areas on other greens getting aerified as we need to treat isolated areas which are beginning to show stress.