#2 Green Renovation Continued

The shaping is done and has been approved by David Kidd and now we can start installing the drainage system, pea gravel layer and then the USGA Greensmix. The following pictures show you all the remaining steps besides the grassing. This coming Monday, we will start sodding the new green and this should take us approximately four to five days to complete.

In my opinion, the sodding is the most difficult task in a greens renovation. During the sodding process, the staff is very meticulous in placing the sod pieces so that the seems are smooth and consistent. A quality sod job ensures a quality putting surface.

Hearing bone drainage system.

Perforated drain pipe is laid into the trenches. Then a four inch layer of pea gravel is spread out over the entire area.

After the pea gravel is installed, we check the final grade and make any adjustments necessary.

Then the sand installation begins. Twelve inches of USGA Greensmix is installed.

Once all of the greensmix is installed, we take a lot of time compacting the sand so that settling will not occur in the future. In order to compact the sand we use the mini-ex, plate compactor and a lot of water to make sure not only are the depths accurate but to ensure the stability of the sand. This process will take several days. In comparison to time, the installation of the drainage ditches, pipe, pea gravel and sand only took two and half days.

See you when we are sodding.

#2 Green Renovation

Great golf courses are a work of art. Many of the top golf courses in the world have gone through many changes over the years. These changes are generally intended to enhance the playing experience, turfgrass health, technology, etc.

At Tetherow our ownership is committed to making the course its very best. With the guidance and support of David McLay Kidd and his talented team along with an in house construction team lead by Golf Course Superintendent Chris Condon, we will be improving areas that will ultimately increase the overall playability, agronomic health and enjoyment of the golf course.

After last seasons' successful projects, most notably the #3 green extension, the ownership has given the green light to continue the success. Currently we are working on the #2 green and when completed will have an additional 1700 square feet of putting surface which will make the entire green size approximately 6600 square feet.

Following are some pictures of our progress. Please look through them and watch the progress in additional blog entries.

We started by stripping the turfgrass in the proposed construction area. This sod with be replaced in a couple of weeks once construction is completed.

With any renovation work, the existing irrigation system requires some re-routing on additional sprinkler heads added. Fortunately for us, the work on #2 will only require irrigation to be re-routed or repositioned.

You can see just a portion of the green that is affected by the renovation. This picture only represents about 5% of the entire green surface. To the left of the green/sand/pea gravel is the new portion of the green.

This is the end result of shaping the area prior to coring for the future green bowl. The shaping is being done in house by yours truly. It is very important to re-create the same type of playing surfaces in and around these green sites. The goal is for the new areas to look and play as if they were originally designed and constructed during initial course construction.

Along with shaping a new area, it is important to incorporate existing features such as this bunker. With the new green, this bunker will really make one think about which line of play they chose. #2 is a 546 yard Par 5 which is rather easy to reach in two. After we are finished and the entire green is in play sometime early next season, certain pin positions will raise the risk/reward level.

So far so good. The construction process is progressing very nicely and we should be grassing within the next 7 to 10 days.

Secret Owner's Tee #9

The par 5 ninth at Tetherow Golf Club is already a difficult hole. When the wind is coming from the South or Southwest, the tee shot is very difficult due to the tightness of the landing area which is surrounded by bunkers. So with that, a new tee was installed when renovation work was being done on the green surround of #8. As I stood behind the #8 green looking up the #9 fairway, I saw an opportunity to add a tee which would create a challenging tee shot. Those people who can hit their drives a long way with accuracy, this tee will definitely be a challenge. The tee is not intended for everyday play but possibly be a tee location for the Tetherow Two Ball or the next time we host the Pacific Northwest Club Professionals Championships.


Look for the tee to be ready for play this fall.

Walking Trails

Walkers look for our new trails from tee to fairway and a few from green to tee. We have added quite a few walking trails or shortcuts to and from to help the walking golfers get around easier. Try the trails on holes #1,4,5,6,7,8,9,11,13,14,16 and coming soon 18. If you see any other ways that will make your walking easier just let us know.

#3 Open

I apologize for not updating the blog for a month. I have been working many long days. But there is good news, the new extension on green #3 is open for play. It opened last weekend and it is a real treat to see new pin locations. Here are some pictures taken today. Seeing a pin location behind the pot bunker is great.

#3 Green Update

Here are a few recent pictures of the new extension on #3. The extension is doing rather well considering the weather and temperatures. This past week we applied another heavy amount of sand and have been lowering the mowing heights. In a past posting, I said that we could have the green open in the middle of June. Well sometimes the weather does not cooperate and puts the progress of opening the green off for another few weeks. Now that we have consistent good growing weather predicted for the next week we should be able to open the green in two to three weeks.

Consistency

One our biggest goals this season concerning the golf course is "consistency". We are still learning and will continue to learn how fine fescue actually behaves in a high arid environment. I know of only one other golf course that is in almost exactly in the same environment as we are and that is Ballyneal Golf Club in Holyoke, Colorado. I have spoken with the golf course superintendent a few times and he has experienced the same challenges that we have. After discussing our similar situations, the conclusion is that fine fescue behaves much differently than if we were located in a coastal environment such as Bandon Dunes Resort. No matter what particular climate we are in, it is my job to make the necessary adjustments in order to provide high quality turf conditions day in and day out.

This season we are doing a few practices a bit differently than the past few seasons. The number one priority in our efforts to consistency are green speeds, firmness and color. We have started our efforts in our fertility plan in which we have chosen to use a line of products from Floratine. The Floratine company has a long history of providing quality turfgrass when using their products and programs. The plan we have implemented since the beginning of May is to provide the turfgrass with all of the necessary nutrients. The amount of nutrients that are applied come from soil samples that have been taken to measure how much of each nutrient is required for optimum turfgrass health.

We all know that nitrogen is the key component however in our case a very small amount of nitrogen is applied. The plan is based on giving the fine fescue all of the required nutrients minus nitrogen in order to create a health plant. The idea is to provide the necessary nutrients for healthy fine fescue from the bottom up. The bottom up idea is that the soil would provide the nutrients once the values have been met to the plant rather than us through spray applications. We will see how this plan works out when the weather becomes more suitable for plant growth. Along with our fertility plan we have added a growth regulator product to our plan to help control the top growth of the fine fescue so that putting speed and quality is consistent from morning to evening. Coupled with the decrease in top growth, the plant will grow more laterally thus increasing the density of the canopy. We are on application number one in a four month period and already I can see a difference.

The firmness of our greens will naturally become softer as they age. As more organic matter builds up in the greens they become softer. In our efforts to keeping the greens firm, we will rely on topdressing and water management. The addition of small amounts of sand through topdressing will continue to dilute the organic matter thus create a continuous soil profile as well as firmness of the greens. Our water management strategy will be to do more deep and infrequent irrigation cycles so that the surfaces of the greens remain "dry" thus firmer. So as we continue to topdress, irrigate and fertilize the greens, all of these components are key to creating the consistency in our green speeds.