Dear Members,
I first want to thank our volunteers who came out to support the sprigging process, which made it much better and certainly faster, but most importantly gave them a look at how the process works. A special shout out to Mark Calcutt who has been tilling up some lagging areas on the front nine barer areas and core aeration (by mechanically punching three quarter inch holes in the ground removing dirt and grass from the top four to five inches of soil to aid in air/water/fertilizer exchange) by which will pay dividends for the playability of the already good golf course fairways. Over the next weeks he/we will be core aerating the rest of the front nine holes in the previously mentioned areas.
The front nine greens renovation went well, and we are in the process of growing in the new Tifeagle sprigs and after five days it is going very well. It is imperative that dogs remain on leashes on the front nine because if not the dogs running can easily rip up (which happened on #2 green ) the sprigs from the bed and it will delay the growth, which will turn a ten week process into eleven or twelve weeks before we can release the final product back to the club. People as well must refrain from walking on the greens until you hear from me that the grass is healthy enough to do so. The sprigs are very tender, the greens are very wet due to the intense watering schedule to keep them moist so they do not dry out. I realize that folks are extremely excited and want to take closer looks but please refrain from walking on the greens.
After five to six weeks of growing in the sprigs on the greens we will sod the collars of the greens with new 419 Bermuda grass. The purpose of waiting to sod the collars is to minimize the opportunity for the 419-collar grass to grow into our new sprigs and thus contaminate the Tifeagle.
Once the sprigs begin to grow out and fill in, we will begin to roll them, top-dress them, spray fertilizer and micronutrients that the sprigs will need to properly grow in. There is not a time line on this part of the process but suffice it to say within six to seven weeks the sprigs will become grass and at the final mowing height and the rest of the grow in period will be just that, spreading the grass naturally through chemical inputs such as fertilizer, vertigrooming, topdressing and rolling etc. For the next several weeks its all about growing grass and minimizing washouts due to storms etc.
In June we will continue to focus on the front and back nine, spraying post herbicide applications throughout the course and coring as much if not all the front nine fairways, roughs, and green surrounds.
Mike
