Covering Ultrdwarf Greens

Date: Friday, November 10, 2017

The weather up until this point has been very mild for this time of year.  The average first frost for our region is typically October 15.  So far we have only had one or two nights that have been cold enough to produce very small pockets of frost in a few of our low lying areas.  Tonight will be different as the temperatures are expected to drop to a low of 25 degrees by sunrise tomorrow and as such we are are expecting a fairly significant frost or freeze.  They are calling for winds to continue throughout the night and if so that may reduce the amount of frost we would normally see with this type of temperature.

Covering Ultradwarf Greens

The decision to cover or not cover and when to uncover takes into account a lot of different variables but the one factor that is most important is the temperature.  The USGA, based on field observations and University research, has shown that the low-temperature threshold to strongly considering covering Ultradwarfs is 25 degrees Fahrenheit.   There are a lot of other factors that come into play such as duration of the low temperature, soil moisture, wind speed, revenue, soil temperatures, high temperatures on the following day(s), etc. all can play a part in when we decide to cover the greens.

 

The simple rule of thumb as for when to uncover a green is if the following day temperature does not exceed 50 degrees and the following night's temperature once again drops below 25 degrees.  When this scenario occurs the covers might remain on the greens and the course will, therefore, remain closed for the day.

Based on temperatures currently forecasted for tonight we will be shutting down the front nine of the Farm course around 1:30 today to cover the last two greens that were planted (the two chipping greens) along with #5 and #8.  Our number five green was also planted late and the #8 green is our shadiest green on the course, which results in cooler soil temperatures than the remaining greens.  As Saturday night's low is currently 28 degrees and the high on Saturday is 45 degrees we will uncover these greens Saturday morning and not recover Saturday evening.  Part of the covering and uncovering strategy is to allow the plant to go dormant and retain some of its cold hardy tolerance, so it is not always bad to allow some cold temperatures to come into play.

As this is our first time covering greens this unique set of weather conditions will provide a good training exercise for when we eventually have to cover all the greens.  Tomorrow is our first 10:00 shotgun start on the Farm course this winter and based on the risk of frost, time spent with covers and with plenty of leaves on the course we are expecting a slight delay to the planned 10:00 start.

Doug Lowe, CGCS

July 24 Update

The course was officially closed on May 23 to begin all the work associated with converting the Farm greens to the new Champion G12 Ultradwarf Bermuda.  Tomorrow marks the beginning of the 10th week (9th-week post planting sprigs) and a lot of progress has been made since we embarked on this project.

#5 Green Complex
A lot has been said in previous posts as to what was involved in the reconstruction of this green complex and why this work was needed to make this green more playable with the new Ultradwarf surface.  The green was planted on June 27 and is now four weeks old.  The gravel layer of the two new bunkers have now been treated with the Better Billy Bunker polymer and filled with new sand.  The green was aerifed last week and a moderate layer of topdressing sand was applied.  When the course opens on August 18 this green will be just a little over 7 weeks old and as such, this green will be visibly behind the remaining greens that were planted some 25 days earlier.

#5 7-21-17

Short Game Area
Once the construction efforts concluded on #5 our contractor quickly turned his efforts into making the various new improvements to our short game chipping and practice putting area.  The newly improved area was effectively enlarged by removing the large concrete cart path that once bisected the area between the putting green and the chipping green.  A new chipping green was constructed on the area closest to the clubhouse and the chipping area around that green was expanded slightly towards #2 green.  The new green was designed to simulate the #7 green on the Farm course.  Two new practice bunkers were created in front of the old chipping green and the three previous bunkers were all filled in.  The area around the new green and the old green was sodded with Zeon Zoysia and the few remaining areas in the corners were sodded with 419 Bermuda.  A small area of overflow parking was created near the old chipping green and #1 tee.  The two chipping greens were sprigged on July 13 and will only be 4.5 weeks old on August 18 and will therefore not be open for practice until sometime in early September.  However, the putting green was one of the original greens to be planted and it will be open for practice putting and limited chipping on schedule.

The New Chipping Green with Mix Installed

Brooks Turner examining the new Better Billy Bunker Polymer

New Overflow Parking

Chipping Greens 1 Week After Planting

#14 Bunker Reconstruction
After the short game area improvements were finished the contractor set his sights on making improvements to the bunker and surrounding green slopes on #14.  The purpose of this change was to allow golfers a better opportunity of shooting at the back or right side pins on this green.  The old bunker had a lot of severe sloping that added to the kick effect of balls landing short of the green.  To achieve this goal the bunker was lowered some 2.5 feet and the mounding between the new bunker and the green was all but eliminated.  While lowering the bunker the contractor ran into a significant amount of bedrock that had to be chipped away, which resulted in another three days work of unplanned work.  The end result is a bunker that most will not even know was completely rebuilt but one that will play much fairer for all those shots that land just short of the green.

Rock Removal

#14 New Softer Bunker

#14

Collar Sod - Latitude 36
As we worked through this whole process a lot of people on their way to the range would ask why the collars looked so bad.  The old collars were sprayed out at the same time the greens were sprayed but were left unplanted until the very end.  This was in an effort to limit any contamination of the sodded areas into the sprigged areas as the sod would have greatly out competed the sprigs throughout that first 6-8 weeks.  The collars were the last thing the contractor worked on and the last collar was planted on Friday, July 21.  The new collars were planted with Latitude 36 Hybrid Bermuda that has a slightly darker green color than 419 and has shown to be slightly more cold tolerant than 419.  The new collars will take another 4-6 weeks to get the height lowered and the surfaced smoothed down to a suitable collar quality.

Removing the old collar

Latitude 36 grown beside 419 under the same conditions

Collar removed and ready for planting

Low Areas on the Original Set of Greens Planted on June 1, 2017
With everything that has taken place throughout this project, our only real hurdle has been to overcome the weather.  The heavy rains early in project totaled close to 20 inches before the tap shut off.  We were fortunate that the rains had little washing effect each time we went out with the new sprigs.  But the heavy rains along with all the additional irrigation required to grow in the sprigs did apparently create some difficult grow in conditions in the low areas on the greens.  These areas have been slower to grow in than the higher areas of the greens throughout these first few weeks of July but we are now seeing some notable growth in these areas and expect them to catch up with the remaining healthy portions of the greens by sometime in early August.

Watering the new Latitude 36 sod along side of one of our thin low areas

Going Forward
The next several weeks will be spent trying to establish all the new sod and get the newly sprigged greens turned into something that more closely resembles the high - quality putting surface the Members will expect on opening day.  The current mowing height on the greens is set at .130 and if all goes well it will be lowered to .120 this weekend or early next week.  Next week we plan to conduct our first vertical mowing followed by a topdressing sand that is finer than the one used during the early stages of grow in.  Each week after that will see the same process repeated at slightly lower mowing heights and slightly finer sands until we reach the opening day where we expect the greens should be smooth, uniform and stimping around 10.5 feet.  From there we do expect the greens to get slightly better in the month of September as they continue to grow-in and we continue to focus on the final conditioning of the new surfaces.

Week 6

The first week of July marks the start of week 6 and we continue to make steady progress.  The green on #5 was sodded on the last day of week 3 and throughout week 4 we focused on getting the Bentgrass sod to root down and stabilize.  Once the sod had established itself we applied an application of Roundup herbicide and waited 7 days to begin aerifying and verticutting in an effort to prep the surface for the new sprigs.  The new sprigs were planted on the afternoon of June 27 and will take approximately 10-12 days to begin setting new roots.  On day 16 (July 13) we hope to begin mowing the new surface.  Our nursery that sits to the left of the #16 teeing area was also prepped and planted at the same time.

Spraying the newly established Bent sod

Aerifying the recently sprayed out Bent sod

June 27 watering of newly planted sprigs on #5

Short Game Area 

The same week that #5 was planted was when we began making the new improvements to the short game practice area.  There was and still is a lot to do in this area.  As of today (July 2) we have constructed the new green and roughed in the two new bunkers in front of the old chipping green. We have also rough shaped in the entire chipping area between the two greens and installed the new irrigation for this area as well as an extensive amount of new drainage.

Earthwork Day 1 Short Game Area

Day 1 Storm

Subsurface Drainage in new chipping green

Gravel layer in new CG

New mix installed in new CG

New bunkers getting roughed in

Moving Forward

Our goal is to have the short game area finished and completely planted by Sunday, July 9.  At which time we will move our construction efforts towards re-shaping the bunker on hole #14.  We will not be making any changes to the putting surface on #14, rather we will be lowering the right greenside bunker and eliminating the large mounding that currently exists between this bunker and the green. The end goal is to be able to see more of the green from the tee and eliminate any bad bounces from balls that land just short of the green.

Once we are finished with our work on #14 we will begin installing the collar around the greens on the course.  The collars will be sodded with Latitude 36, which is a hybrid Bermuda that is very similar in looks to the standard 419 hybrid, but has shown a higher degree of cold hardiness.  We hope to be finished with the collar installation by the fourth week of July.  This will be about the same time we expect to have 100% coverage on the greens that were planted on 6/1 and 6/2.  The first few weeks in August will be spent fine tuning the surface of the new greens in an effort to get them ready for our August 19 opening date.

Week Three Comes with Heavy Rains

The start of our third week on the project has come with back to back heavy thunderstorms bringing nearly 5 inches of rain over the last two days.

Hole #5
The first heavy thunderstorm came on Tuesday, June 13 at around 4:00 when there was just a few more hours worth of work left to complete the final sodding of the green complex surround. Two systems came through that evening bringing 1.5 inches of rain and then 2 more a few hours later. The resulting damage was fairly small due to the size of the area affected. The bunker faces washed out and the exposed gravel in the drain lines were covered with silt. Repairs were made to these areas on Wednesday and on Wednesday night we received another 1.3 inches so we will need to go back and make a few more repairs.
The green was sodded with Bent on Friday, June 9 and once the sod is well rooted we will spray out the surface with Roundup.  We expect to do this on Monday, June 19.  Once the Roundup has taken effect we will begin our aggressive verticutting procedure to remove the surface plant tissue.  We expect to sprig the putting surface sometime during the week of June 26-June 30.

Bent  Sod Going Back on #5

#5 Green Sodded

#5 Green Surround Sod Installation

New Bunker on #5 Damage from Storm Water

Short Game Area
With the construction efforts slowing down on #5 the contractor has relocated his earth moving equipment to the practice area.  With only one day of earth moving underway we were hit with the first 3.5 inches of rain.  As the shaping work really hadn't got going we were able to push the wet soil off the surface and continue shaping on Wednesday.  But with another 1.3 inches last night the earthwork is at another standstill.  Eventually, the practice area will see another chipping green installed closer to the clubhouse and a large practice bunker constructed in front of the existing smaller chipping green.  We had hoped to sprig this green with #5 but with the weather delays we will move forward with #5 and get the new chipping green planted on what now currently looks like it will be as many as1-2 weeks later.

Existing Short Game Area 

Area Where New Going Will be Installed

Day 1 Earth Work

Day 1 Storm

Day 1 Storm on Newly Planted Practice Green

Day 2 New Green Cavity Water Filled

Farm Conversion - Week 2 Concludes in Rain

New Construction
The final day of our second week comes to an end today the same way our first few days started with rain shutting down the new construction taking place on hole #5.  To date 6 out of 13 normally scheduled contractor days have been canceled due to rain so that part of the project continues to lag behind our original schedule.  But despite the above average rainfall, we have made progress.  The old green was cored out and the new green sub-floor was shaped in and approved by our architect, Billy Fuller, on Tuesday, May 30.  The new contours are somewhat reversed from the original contours on the left side of the green.  The new grades are now pitched towards the tee moderately at around 2%.  Versus the old grade that pitched 3-5% away from the tee and to the left.  This should result in an incoming shot that is much more receptive to holding close to its landing spot. The following two days were spent installing new drainage and adding a four-inch layer of gravel.  On Friday and Saturday the contractor started adding the new mix but as of today, Monday 6/5, there is still ~40% of greens mix yet to go in.

Mix Removal

Billy Fuller Reviewing Final Sub-Grade

New Drain Pipe

4 Inch Gravel Layer Installed

New Mix Going In

With the current forecast, we expect Wednesday may be the next day before operations reinitiate.  We are now looking at re-installing the old Bentgrass sod back onto the new surface early in the week of 6/12-6/15.  We will allow one week for the new sod to stabilize and one week for the sod to be sprayed out after its re-installation to allow for a modified no-till planting.  That puts us installing the new sprigs during the last week of June or possibly the first week of July. This will allow for a 6-7 week grow-in window before the course is slated to be re-opened. which will result in a much younger surface than the primary set of no-till greens on our Opening Day.

No-Till (Holes 1-4, 6-18 and Practice Green)

The really good news is the rains have had little effect on the no-till portion of the project.  The greens went through an extensive preparation process and were sprigged one day later than originally scheduled.  The Champion G12 sprigs were successfully planted on Thursday and Friday (6/1-6/2) and new leaf formation was noticeable on Sunday for the first set of greens that were planted on Thursday. We have some very unstable moisture in the atmosphere today and the only thing that could set us back now is a heavy thunderstorm that could wash the sprigs and force us to re-sprig damaged areas and continue our heavy water cycle for several days longer than without the occurrence of a storm. Moving forward on the no-till greens we expect to begin cutting the new grass in 17-21 days.  We will be implementing some fairly standard practices of weekly fertilization, frequent topdressing and rolling as well as additional aerifications and grooming over the next several months in an effort to turn to the existing sprigged surface into a high quality putting surface.

Verticutting Old Surface

Aerifying Old Surface

New Green Perimeter - New Bermuda sod will be sodded to the right of the yellow line in July

Sprigs Going Down on #11

Sprigs Being Rolled

Sprigs First Water

Sprigs Day 3

Farm Ultradwarf Conversion Work Off To A Slow And Wet Start

The Farm course closed on Schedule to begin the conversion work from Bentgrass to Ultradwarf Bermuda on Tuesday, May 23.  That's the good news,  The bad news is the first week of the project was the wettest week of the year with over 7 inches of rain recorded on the course throughout a 5 day period.  Despite the wet start, we have made some good progress. The No-Till greens (1-4, 6-18 and the Practice Green) were aerified and have now been vertically mowed in 8 different directions and mowed at .06 5 times. Prior to the course being closed the no-till greens were sprayed with a Roundup application and are scheduled for a second and final Roundup application on Monday, 29.  On Tuesday, May 30 the greens will be aerified one more time in an effort to create a good sprig plant bed. On Wednesday, May 31 the greens will receive a  pre-plant fertilizer application, which will include six different products designed to get the new sprigs off to a quick establishment.  The sprig planting date has been put off one day from the original schedule and the new grass is currently scheduled to be planted on Thursday, June 1 and Friday, June 2.

Roundup Application

Aerify and Drag Plug

Verticut

Surface Thinning Down

 #5 Rebuild

Despite staying close to our schedule for the No-Till preparation the part of the project our #5 reconstruction segment has not been quite so lucky.  Thus far the rainy conditions have resulted in nearly three lost days in the initial effort to rebuild #5 green. The first day of the #5 project was a complete washout.  Despite steady rain on the second day, we mobilized the majority of the staff from both courses to aid the contractor in the removal of the bentgrass surface all day throughout steady rains,.  This grass has been stored to the side and will be re-established on the newly designed green.  This is an important step that we are taking in an effort to provide a consistent surface in relationship to the remaining greens that will all (exception - new chipping green) be planted on an organic thatch layer.  This is an important aspect as the new Ultradwarf greens will be much firmer than the existing Bentgrass surfaces and maintaining the organic surface layer will result in a softer surface compared to planting in a straight sand surface. Thursday was also a day where the contractor was limited to what he could do based on the continued rains.  Friday was the first day the contractor could really make some headway into coring out the existing green.  Mix from the existing green has been stored on site and will be reused once the rebuilding process starts.  The existing gravel layer cannot be salvaged due to contamination of the mix and subsoil.  The drain pipe at the base of the green was salvaged and will be used on small drainage projects throughout other parts of the course.

Sod Removal

Bentgrass Storage 

Stripped Green

Removing Mix

Base Layer After Gravel Removal

We received another .5 inches of rain last night (Saturday), which will once again limit how much work the contractor can accomplish today as he is now into the earth moving and bulldozer stage and the site was already too wet.  We hope to have the new base contours finished by sometime on Tuesday when our architect, Billy Fuller, will be in town to sign off on the new design and contours. The remaining part of the week will be spent adding back the new materials and eventually recapping with the old Bentgrass sod.