One Week to Go

I wanted to give you a quick update on where we are with the project.  Today the course finally started drying out after the rains over the weekend.  Unfortunately, it looks like more rain is heading our way tonight.

With a drier golf course, we were able to use the tine harrow in the rough.  The tine harrow is a heavy metal drag that helps to lift dead plant material and thatch off the soil surface.  Once the harrow loosens the material, we are able to blow the debris out into the deeper rough.  This is a great tool for preparing the soil for seed. 

Tine Harrow on #1.

We are also in the process of leveling areas throughout the course.  Most of the time we are dealing with sunken trenches on our irrigation main line.  With the soil exposed, it is easy to locate all of the problem areas that need to be raised.

Irrigation trench leveled on #1.

The remainder of this week we will continue to work on the above mentioned items.  We are working to get all of our irrigation issues taken care of before Monday.  Today we replaced another valve that was leaking on #2.  By Monday, irrigation should be ready to go for the grow in.  We also brought in a contractor to clean out several of the drains in fairways (#4, #2, #9) that have been slow to empty.  

After aerification and dragging, most of the rough will not require any type of scalping.  There are a few areas, primarily around bunkers and tees, that still have more vegetation than we would like to see.  Most of these will be push mowed and bagged to remove the dead material.

Assuming weather doesn't slow us down, tomorrow we will begin stripping the dead sod off of the back tees.  Eventually all of the tees will be stripped, however, with six more days until the shutdown we are trying to keep the course as playable as possible.  Tees will be the most labor intensive portion of the project.  Stripping, leveling, and sodding 75,000 sq. ft. of tees in a short amount of time will be our biggest challenge.

And finally we will continue to touch up any remaining grass in the rough that was not killed by the three applications of Roundup.

Bottom line, all is well.  We are on schedule and working through the items we need to be dealing with prior to seeding and sodding.  We can't control the weather so we will deal with whatever we get.  Looking forward to Monday!

Project Update

It's hard to believe that we are only 10 days away from putting seed in the ground!  Overall, we are right on schedule for where we need to be.  Luckily we were slightly ahead of schedule before the June rains hit. 

Up to this point we have been focused on killing the existing turf.  This past week our third application of Roundup was applied to the areas that we are renovating.  By early next week we should see a complete kill.  Any remaining green will be spot treated right up to a few days before we begin seeding.

On Thursday we began adding topsoil to low areas that needed to be leveled.  We have waited as long as possible, due to the potential for these areas to wash out following rain.  Most of the areas we are leveling are old trench lines that have settled over the years as well as low areas that tend to hold water.  With the turf out of the way, the grade imperfections become much more visible.

We have had a slight change of plans in regard to the tees.  Initially we were planning on seeding the tee surfaces with Riviera Bermuda.  As we continued to evaluate the tees, we made the decision to hire a contractor to laser level the tee tops.  Following the leveling we will now be sodding the tees with an improved variety of Bermuda called Latitude 36.  Not only are we improving the grade of the tees, by sodding we will also rule out any concerns of not having tees ready in time for opening.  

Moving forward, we are crossing our fingers for dry weather.  We will continue with the dirt work through next week.  We will also begin stripping the existing turf off of the back tees in order to get a jump on the tee leveling prior to July 7th.

And finally, we will be closing the golf course for approximately four weeks on July 7th.  On the 7th, we will have two seeders working on the rough, with the bulk of the crew focused on the tee process.  Not to be forgotten, greens will receive the normal attention required during the heat of the summer.

We will be posting updates to the project through this blog as well as on Twitter (@wccbrian).

Project Update

 "What happened to the Rough?", this is a question I have answered on more than one occasion over the last couple of weeks!  After years of working hard to make the course look its best, we are now working equally hard to kill it. 

We are now three weeks into the project and so far things are right on schedule.  Actually, we are one week ahead based on the original schedule we mapped out months ago.  As you may have guessed, our primary focus is killing the existing turf.  We have applied two applications of Roundup, with the next application scheduled for late next week.

Overall, we are getting a good kill, although, I'm amazed by some of the random grasses that are showing very little injury.  We might need to do a Roundup resistant study on a few areas.  With the third application we should finish off any signs of living plant material. 

Over the next couple of weeks we will begin to scalp the rough to remove excess plant material.  We will also verticut  to reduce thatch for better seed to soil contact. Seeding is still scheduled to begin on July 7th. 

Looking across #8 Green.

#9 Fairway.