Greens

Work on the 12th green is complete

Crews began stripping off the old sod and the black layer from the 12th green at 7am yesterday morning. The sod was shoveled into a front end loader and hauled to the dump. Plywood is used to prevent the tractor from making ruts in root zone.

Anywhere the black layer was thicker than the sod cutter depth, the layer was removed with shovels and fresh greens mix was added to tie in the grades and level out any low spots. This process know as "floating" is multi layered and uses different tools and equipment and can be a painfully slow process, but is extremely important to getting the finished grade or greens surface to where we want it before any sod is installed.

This is the black layer we sod cut and shoveled out

Once the green surface had been shaped and leveled out, the crew began laying 6000 sq ft of Bent grass sod which was grown on the same root zone as we have on our 12th green. This reduces the layering issue we have when bringing in sod grown on soil slightly different than the soil in which it is installed on. The cultivar of Bent grass chosen is called A-4 which was developed through Penn State University and did extremely well in trials in Augusta Georgia, hence the "A" in its name. This turfs ability to better withstand the heat and humidity will make it an excellent choice for the environment at 12.

The last step is rolling the green to smooth out any imperfections. The roller the sod crew brought with them was used in two different directions, but did not quite accomplish the quality I want to see. So on Wednesday July 21 I have a 18oo pound roller coming in. We will used plywood sheets between this roller and the turf to protect the sod and prevent the roller from sinking into the green. This will give us an excellent roll and give us as close a smooth surface as we desire. This green will still need to be top dressed and aerified before it is exactly where we want it for speed and smoothness in ball roll. We hope to have this green back in play in 4 weeks. Until then please admire it from the bluegrass, we would like to keep all traffic off this green giving it full opportunity to grow strong roots and become established before it see any traffic. Like a young child this green will need extra water, small amounts of fertilizer at regular intervals, and general "babying" in the weeks to come. The first mow will most likely be mid next week.

The finished product