Green Construction

Construction on # 7 & # 11 greens is going very well.  The sub grade is complete and the drainage system has been installed. A layer of pea stone on top of the sub grade is also in place and will aid in proper drainage.  The root zone mix is currently being delivered and is immediately moved into place and checked for proper depth of material.  Once we have the root zone mix in place we will begin to compact it before the final grading is completed.  Our staff will begin the installation of the irrigation system Tuesday morning and is expected to be completed on Friday.  Once the irrigation system is finished we will be able to seed the putting green surface and begin the grow in.  The Vintage Golf construction crew will continue working on the green surrounds, bunkering, and drainage.  We have only lost two working days to bad weather so we are still on schedule.

We Have Babies!

The T1 bentgrass seed has germinated and we are now seeing new bentgrass plants emerge from the dead patches of Poa annua.  We will continue to nurse these new plants with water and fertilizer until they have developed a healthy root system.  Our greens should look and play much better in just a few weeks.

# 11 & #7 Green Renovation Has Started



August 8



August 9

August 16



We have demolished the 11th and 7th greens and are currently shaping the new greens.  Once the rough grading is complete we will install drainage lines, irrigation lines, signal wires, and sprinkler heads.  Once that is complete we will add the root zone mix to the greens surface, seed with the new hybrid bentgrass seed, and begin the grow in.  Sand will be added to the traps and the green surrounds will be covered with new sod.  We hope to have everything complete by the end of September. I will continue to post pictures here showing our progression.

Green Recovery

This week we have taken steps to recover the turf we lost on the greens due to disease and Poa annua decline.  First we aerified with a solid 3/8" tine and then topdressed with enough sand to fill the holes.  We then seeded all of the greens with the same hybrid bentgrass that we used for #4 green and will use for #7 & #11 greens. Next we rolled the greens to push the seed down into the holes and below the turf canopy to insure good seed/soil contact. We will be keeping the greens moist so the seed does not dry out. This is essential for germination and seed survival.  At times it may be necessary to turn the sprinklers on for three minute cycles during the day.  We will keep the interruptions to players at a minimum.



Before Sand, Seed, & Rolling

 

Aerification



After Sand, Seed, & Rolling

Recovery

The temperatures have finally dropped low enough to take the stress off the golf course, mainly greens.  After the deluge of 6+” of rainfall followed by temperatures in the 90 – 100 degree range for many days, we are ready for a break.  During the Men’s Invitational we were also adding more stress to the plant by mowing and double rolling the greens. As you can now see the conditions were just too much for the old bentgrasses and the annual bluegrass to handle.  Some dye-off has occurred as a result and we are beginning the recovery process by raising the height of cut, venting the greens by aerifying with needle tines (pencil size), topdressing, and inter-seeding with the newer hybrid types of bentgrass.  If you compare the old greens to the new #4 green it is obvious how much better the new hybrids can handle the environmental extremes with the added tournament conditions.  These two pictures were taken after the men’s and ladies invitationals.

Turf Diseases

Our recent weather pattern has set up the perfect conditions for turf diseases to develop. The most damaging turf disease is Pythium Blight Pythium graminicola .  Pythium blight typically occurs on flooded or saturated turf areas in midsummer after 1 or 2 days of intense rain, plus daytime temperatures above 95 F and evening temperatures not dropping below 70 F.  Over the last few days we have observed many areas that have been infected with Pythium. We immediately treated the greens and tees to stop the advancement of the disease, fairways were spot treated in areas where the disease is most likely to appear.