Seeding tees and posting trees

Here's a view from behind #6 green looking back at the new teeing ground.  Ironically it's also the old teeing ground as this hole used to be played from what is today's 18th tee.  Once this area is "grown in", we will be able to play again from the original teeing ground but also from today's teeing ground and all areas in between, giving us a lot of different angles and distances.  From this view you can see the teeing ground bright, and light green.  What you're seeing is the hydro mulch which we applied to the surface in order to accelerate establishment.  Here is what we did.

Once the surface was prepared to our liking, as in smooth and level, we used a drop spreader to apply ryegrass at about 7 lbs per 1000 sq. ft.

This is what the ryegrass seed looks like.  Now this isn't just your plane, ordinary ryegrass.  This is transition ryegrass.  It is genetically engineered to be a temporary component of the turf stand, or sward.  Unlike perennial ryegrass, this transition ryegrass will not be happy during periods of stress and should get out competed by the desirable grasses.  For us of course that desirable grass is Poa annua since that is what is predominantly covering every square inch of the course. The reason we put the transition ryegrass on the tee is because it quickly germinates and will give us some quick cover.  This will allow us to start mowing it quicker and play the tee sooner.  Over time, it will get choked out and we should end up with a sward of Poa.

So anyway, now we seed the tee again but this time the desirable grasses are introduced.  Now we seed it with a blend of Poa annua at 2 lbs/1000sq.ft., and colonial bentgrass at a rate of 1 lb/1000sq.ft.

This is Poa annua seed which is pretty small............

and this is colonial bentgrass seed which is super tiny.

Now using a mulch roller we apply one coating of the hydromulch.

After that we rake the surface very lightly to incorporate everything into the surface.  Then we apply two more coats of the hydromulch.

This is what it looked like when we were finished and before it was watered.  The temperatures are very good for germinating seed so we can expect to see that transition ryegrass pop up within 4 or 5 days.

Here you can see that seeding process being done to the massive teeing ground between 6 and 18 tee which will eventually serve both holes.  The guys who worked on this project deserve a big "high five".  As you can see this a huge area and it took several days to get the seeding process completed.  Way to go guys! This seeded area is about 25,000 square feet, but is only half of what will be the finished teeing ground.  So in the end, there will be about an acre of tee space being shared by the two holes........................very cool!!!

Also very cool, this week we successfully posted the old Garry Oak on #5.  This has been in the works for quite some time and the timing of this final step was perfect.  I say this because we have been dry for quite some time and the tree has not "leafed out" yet so there is hardly any excessive weight on the tree structure, meaning the canopy is as upright as it can be.

Once the holes were dug and the posts were placed, we called in the concrete truck.  Before I go any further, I must say it might sound easy that we dug holes and placed some posts, but that is far from the truth.  These posts weighed at least 500 pounds each so getting them is place was very difficult.  Kudos to my crew for remaining diligent with that task and finding a way.  So anyway we used the loader bucket to get the concrete out to the tree.  Again, it has been dry and the course is very firm so the weight of the loader had virtually no impact on the turf.

Each post hole took about 4000 lbs of concrete so these things are not going anywhere soon.  The project went very well which is gratifying since it is something we've never done before.

Well here is how she turned out.  I've already had some very negative comments about how it looks, but personally, I think it is uniquely fantastic!!  I believe in a short time it will just be the new normal and we won't think twice about it.  The best thing about it is we can rest easy that this tree is not falling over unless there is a significant wind event.  By the way, the posts are immovable obstructions.  You get relief if they interfere with lie, stance, and intended swing.   That is of course the ruling now, as the golf committee has not had time to review the issue yet.

Project Update 4/20

#17 BEFORE RENOVATION

#17 DURING RENOVATION

#17 AFTER RENOVATION

What a difference a little sod makes.   This week we brought in one more truck load of sod thus covered another 13,000 square feet of disturbance caused by the project.

Below is that huge area on 18 fairway that has been bare dirt for months.

Today it is turf once again.  Yes that puddle there is unusual but this pic was taken right after a heavy shower, and once we vertidrain that area, you won't see a puddle there again for a long time.  The heavy rain we just had was good though.  Good for keeping the sod wet but also for firming up the bunker sand.

This last truck load of sod also took care of about a dozen smaller areas that needed the final touch of instant turf.  For example this little area around the satellite box on 9 tee was waiting for sod for some time.

This week we got to do something normal finally.  We got to spray fairways and that was an adventure considering all the new fairway bunkers are in different positions.  This meant that we had to figure out new spray patterns.  Also, as you can see below, the fairways of 9 and 18 are combined now making them one big fairway that is over 250,000 square feet or close to 6 acres.  It's really a big area and it's really, really cool.  It's nice to do some basic maintenance though.  The bunkers are done and now we are just finishing up the little things.  This week we will seed the tees and then it will really feel like we've got it licked and then it's just time to maintain. 

Here is 17 again but in full sun.  Just gorgeous!!  When the oaks leaf out, it will have a totally different look again.  What a great, classic par 3

DONE! .....kinda-sorta

Friday was a historic day for the Tacoma Country and Golf Club, and that's saying something considering the Club has almost 120 years of history.  Friday we finished rebuilding all the bunkers (okay the practice hole is still under development......more on that to come).  I know a lot about this Club's history and I think it's safe to say this is the first time all the bunkers have been remodeled in entirety.  Before this project, bunkers at Tacoma were renovated in phases, and under the guidance of several different architects.  Many bunkers were built or renovated without the guidance of an architect.  In addition, the quality of sands has changed throughout many of the improvements in the past.  For several years, the sand supplied was not produced with adequate quality control and many, many tons left the quarry containing too much silt and clay.  Given that information, one would expect that until now, the bunkers have been very inconsistent.  Well today, all the bunkers are not only built in the same style, but they are built with very good quality control and should play with excellent consistency.  These last couple of days have been pretty frantic as we prepared for the bunker sand installation.  In just two days, 23 bunkers were backfilled.  They are all beautiful but check out these pictures of some of my favorites.

 Above is hole #3

 This is the green on #4 and this bunker in the foreground is already catching a lot of balls and irritating people.

The pair of bunkers fronting #10.

 The large bunker left of #17 green

 These two on #18 green turned out amazing

 This is #15 green and this bunker was the last to get backfilled.  The crew is pushing real hard in this picture to get finished.

Here's a picture of Kip's guys moving sand.  This was hard work and these guys did not slow down.  I'm so thankful for the effort by the whole team to get this job done.

In addition to building bunkers, don't forget we filled in 14 of them along the way.  Here's #2 green and the bunker is impressive but now everyone loves the right side where a bunker was removed.  It really  turned out good.

Another area where bunkers were removed.  This is the 5th and 8th green, now joined by fairway.

This is a picture of #1 green and the bunkers here are very cool, but I want you to see the new fairway turf wrapped around the green.  This is pretty much what's going on throughout the course.  In fact, there is almost no rough close to the greens anymore except the fescue bunker eyebrows.  People are finding this kind of golf very fun already, but really these areas need a lot of work to get smooth and that's when they will play like we envision.

In order to make these fairway wraps really good, we are removing the ryegrass rough around many of the greens and replacing it with poa sod taken from fairway edges.  Taking this extra step will really make it look like these areas have always been mowed tight like fairway turf.  This kind of work will continue throughout this month.  So are we done?.............Kinda sorta.  This started out as a bunker project, but then turned into more of a complete renovation.  YES the bunkers are done, but we have a lot to do before we can just start maintaining so stay tuned.  The last truckload of sod comes in Thursday, and we hope to get all the teeing grounds seeded in the next couple days.

New Course Yardage and Rating

When the renovation project is completed, 53 bunkers will have been completely reconstructed, 14 bunkers will have been removed, and 10 new tees will have been added.  Obviously these alterations have influenced the degree of challenge the course offers.  The new teeing grounds will allow for a wide range of different yardages on many holes and has significantly increased the overall yardage of the course from the back tees. The renovated course has been rated and following is a summary of those values showing the rating and slope as it was before the project and what it will be once the project is completed. 

With the new teeing grounds, several holes got much longer from the back tees but also, holes 6, 7, and 11 have lengthened from the blue tees.  Following is the official yardage of the renovated course from each tee on each hole.