7-20 Sprigs on the Range and Presidents Cup Nearly Here

Sprigging the Farm Range

Day 1 - 2 (7/13 - 7/14)

The first two days were spent heavily aerifying the damaged areas where the new sprigs would be planted.  The entire site was also fertilized with a high rate of starter fertilizer

Day 3  (7/15)

Sprigs were hand planted on the Farm range on Wednesday, July 15.  The process started with the delivery of the sprigs at 5:00 A.M.  The dump Truck that brought the sprigs had a mechanical failure, so for the first three hours the sprigs were off loaded via our backhoe reaching into the truck and pushing the sprigs out the back a little at a time.  But by 8:00 our Mechanic, Wayne Vernon, had helped the driver fix the hydraulics and the load finally hit the ground.  Much like on the Irving Park course the sprigs were manually loaded onto carts where the crew of 30 plus guys drove to the damaged areas and spread them out evenly across the ground.  Once the sprigs were on the ground two guys came behind with tractors and cut the sprigs into the ground.  Once the sprigs were cut into the ground two more guys topdressed the planted sprigs with a moderate level of organic compost. The last step of the process included irrigating the entire site to the point of saturation.  Despite the slow start to the day, the crew did an excellent job and the process of planting the sprigs couldn't have went much better.

Innovative Unloading

Hand Planting Sprigs

Cutting, Rolling and Topdressing

Brooks Running the Water

Day 4 - 14 (7/16 - 7/26)

The first week and a half will be spent keeping the newly planted sprigs saturated, which will allow them to sprout new roots into the wet and softened soil.  As the roots begin to develop the amount of water required to keep the plant alive will lessen a little bit everyday.

Saturated Sprigs

Day 15 (7/27)

By this point the sprigs should be firmly established and the amount of daily watering should be down to a limited amount of watering just a few times a day.  Day 15 is the first chance we will have to get back onto the site and fertilize everything for the second time.

Day 22 (8/3)
By now we should be watering just at night and this will be the approximate day where we put out our third fertilizer application.

Day 29 (8/10)
This should be the day we put out our fourth and final fertilizer application.  If all goes well we will have the driving range reopened by this date on a shortened and structured schedule to allow the range staff enough time to hand pick the balls off the range.

Presidents Cup

The Presidents Cup begins on Friday night with a new nine hole Par 3 Tournament on the Irving Park course.  Saturday's first official round will be held on the Irving Park course.  It seems like a long time ago when the sprigs were planted on this course but 5 weeks really isn't that long when it comes to growing sprigs.  With that said, we are very pleased with the establishment rate of the sprigs on the Irving Park course.  While numerous areas are still very visible there are also areas that are now far enough along you would never know they were sprigged just a little over a month ago.

Irving Park #4  (7-20-15)

Sunday's final round will be held on the Farm course that just hosted a very successful Carolinas Am.  While we continue to make repairs to several areas in the rough the vast majority of the in-play areas of the course are in very good condition and should make for some very good playing conditions.

Farm #12  (7-20-15)