Course Update - New Turf Establishment

Now that the irrigation installation is finished and many other early season projects are concluding, more time will be available to bring you new blog posts on a more consistent basis. For today's post, we'd like to give you an update on the progress of several of the new establishing turf areas (ie., winter damaged greens, expansions, and over-seeded rough areas).

Winter damage #3 and #11 greens
Recovery on both greens has been quite good despite such a cool and wet spring. We have seeded the areas twice to this point, and new plant growth has filled in 90% of the areas. Sod was only needed on the small spot on the back left of #11. With more topdressing, watering, and care, we believe the remaining thin spots will be completely filled very soon.

#11 damage shown shortly after the green covers were removed.

Recovery shown below - picture taken June 6, from the same location.

Winter damage #8 fairway:
Similar to #3 and #11 greens, the right side of #8 fairway is recovering nicely from the winter damage. This was seeded a few weeks later than the greens, but the seedlings are thriving well now.

Damaged turf in #8 fairway - mid-April.

New seedling growth.

#4 approach expansion:
The new expansion on #4 approach is filling in very well and beginning to really take shape. The process began last November and involved sod cutting out the new area, followed by the planting of aeration cores (we will elaborate on this process in a future post). Some of the areas did not over-winter that well, requiring supplemental planting and seeding early this spring.

This particular expansion will make for more interesting and optional approach shots into the green and greatly enhance the "reward" for clearing the bunkers... as intended by the original design.

Before and after pictures of the new expansion.

Rough overseeding:
Each spring, we have a fair amount of over-seeding to do in the rough. High traffic areas and rough around and beneath trees require the bulk of this work. Most of these areas are aerated, seeded, and finally topdressed with a soil/sand mix material. It generally takes 3 to 4 weeks for the areas to fully mature, at which point we are able to take the protective rope lines down. Sod is also used in the worst of these areas, which you may have already seen on the course.

An example of thinned out rough in a high traffic, tree competitive area.
New seedling establishment in a similarly worn rough area.