April 21, 2012

We finished up the driving range tee this week! We still need to sod the perimeters and fine tune a few things here and there, but the Bermuda grass is down and ready to root and grow. The Bermuda is till a little bit dormant underneath the overseeded ryegrass. It will root (roots never go dormant!) and then as the temperatures warm, the Bermuda will take over!

Irrigation installed and working!

Before sodding the tee is fertilized.

Sod has arrived!

The staff rolling out the sod.

Finished!

The next question is " When can we begin hitting off the new grass?".
I am hoping that it will be rooted and ready in four weeks, depending upon the weather. The warmer the weather, the sooner we can hit from it!

April 14, 2012

The range is coming together! This week we worked on the irrigation, moved around more soil, extended drains, and had the top laser graded! If nothing out of the ordinary occurs, we will be laying down sod this coming Wednesday.

Max working on irrigation.

Georgia Golf came Wednesday and Saturday to laser level the tee.

The laser (foreground) controls the level of the box blade (background).

The box blade leveling the tee.

The leveled tee.

April 7, 2011

Now that the sod has been stripped off the driving range tee, we spent most of Thursday taking off the “mat” and trenched for the irrigation. Mat is a layer of combined thatch and soil that develops underneath the turf and at times acts as a barrier for fertilizer and water, and as such, limits root growth.  To remove the mat, we tilled it to a 3” depth to break it up, and then loaded it into the dump truck to take to our composting site. Meanwhile, another crew dug the trenches for irrigation pipe and wire. We hand dug because we are not quite sure what is under the tee – electricity, drains, etc – and we didn’t want to trench through anything that could compromise someone’s safety, or disable a pre existing service.

On Friday we began to do a rough grade. The tee actually sloped up from the back to the front an average of 15 inches! Whether you knew it or not, you were practicing an uphill lie! We are pushing this extra 15 inches of soil to the front and using it to extend the tee an extra twenty feet! This will add 3,500 square feet of teeing space!

The tee after tilling with irrigation work in the foreground.

Beginning the rough grade, extending the tee 20 feet.

New irrigation piping along the back of the tee.

One of eight new heads installed, along with a quick coupler valve.

April 4, 2011

Yesterday we began the driving range practice tee renovation. The renovation includes updating the tee irrigation, leveling the tee, and sodding it with Patriot bermuda grass, a variety that is cold weather hardy. We chose bermuda grass over cool season turfs because it is very aggressive in the summer months and will heal over quickly when the tee gets its most use, while conversely, the cool season turfs are weakest at that time of the growing season and don’t heal well. At the same time, Patriot  bermudagrass will provide a tight surface for hitting balls which we know everyone will enjoy. I am really excited about this project because I am confident that it will make your golf experience here an even better one!

Isidro cutting the old sod off the driving range tee.

Roberto pushing the sod into a pile that will be picked up and moved to our composting site.

March 24, 2012

My last post was about stripping and sodding the forward tee on 9 and the middle tee on 12. Yesterday we pulled the covers and I have to say that I am amazed at the results. The short cut bluegrass sod was growing wild and had already rooted down more than 2’’! Since it had grown so tall so fast, we used the push rotaries to cut it. We will gradually lower the height of cut over the next few weeks, let the roots get stronger, and get the tees in condition to open.

Clara helping to remove the turf cover on 9.

The short cut blue really took off!

Ryan and Clara "pushing thru the blue"!

All mowed.

March 10, 2012

Last week we stripped, leveled and sodded the forward tee on 9 and the middle tee on 12. Over the years these tees became camel backed from divot taking and divot filling. We sodded both tees with short cut bluegrass, which we are trying out after it was suggested and recommended by Dave Oatis, our USGA consultant. Last fall we sodded other tees on the 7^th, 9^th and 13^th holes with short cut blugrass. Short cut bluegrass is being used at Bethpage and other courses with much success.

The 12th middle tee stripped and leveled.

Silvio and Isidro sodding the 12th tee.

Silvio rolling the sod after installation on the 9th forward tee.

March 3, 2012

On Friday we lifted the covers that are on the 5, 7, 9 and 13^th tees. The covers protect the turf from drying winds and act like a greenhouse, trapping radiant heat. The results are less winter damage and earlier green up and growth....and better and earlier seed germination.