Course Changes

As a follow-up to the mass email that I sent to the entire membership earlier this week, here is the blog post, as promised, with some more detailed information about some of the changes we are making to the golf course this spring.

The first photo below shows what the ridge on the 18th green will look like for a while.  As stated in the email,  Arthur Hills, architect of the green, made a return visit to check on the green and to evaluate some minor scalping issues we were having at the crown of the ridge that runs between the two tiers.  Under his recommendation, we will be aerifying the ridge 3-4 times with the hope that the ridge will soften over time and that the scalping will be eliminated. The holes will not be filled in order to encourage the soil to settle more rapidly. It's a little difficult to visualize based on this photo, but hopefully you get the idea.

Aerifying the ridge on #18 green

Another change that was implemented during last season, was the narrowing of the collars around the greens from two mower widths to a single mower width.  This has been a long process of multiple aerifications and mowing at gradually lower levels in order to achieve the final result, but I believe we are finally there.  This next photo shows the appearance after what should be the last aerification of the collars.  During the visit from Mr. Hills, he specifically commented on how much he liked this change and felt it helped establish better definition around the greens.

Finally made it! Successful transition to a narrow collar.

An additional change that Mr. Hills strongly recommended was to eliminate the Intermediate or "step" cut around the greens.  He felt this would help accentuate the change to the collar, create even more definition and be a better architectural fit for the type of club that we have. He also felt the intermediate was far too forgiving since many people could actually putt from this area. This change was discussed at the last meeting of the Green Committee and was approved unanimously.  Below is an edited picture to help summarize the changes that have been made. I encourage you to click on the photo for a larger view.

Summarized Photo

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Collar Adjustments

Ball resting against green/collar transition

Last year it was decided to begin taking an aggressive approach toward eliminating the drastic transition from the green to the collar surrounding the green. It was also decided to reduce the width of the collar from two mower passes down to a single pass. Over the last several years, the sand that has been used for topdressing the greens has begun to build-up the collars in such a way that there is now a drastic transition from the green to the collar.  The reason for this is that the collars are mown at a higher height of cut as compared to the greens making it easier for the sand particles to work their way through the leaf canopy leading to less removal from the mowers. On the greens, since they are mown at a much lower height, a higher percentage of sand is removed during mowing leading to less build-up over time.  This transition between the green and collar has now led to a playability issue where it can actually be difficult to putt a ball that is on the green if it is resting against the collar.

Our initial thought last fall was to gradually lower the mowing height of the collar to transition it to greens height, therefore making each green slightly larger and the collar more narrow.  As we began lowering the mowing height on the inside portion of the collar, it became very evident that scalping was going to be a major issue and that a different approach was necessary.

A few weeks ago we began trying a couple different methods to minimize the transition which will allow us to begin reducing the width of the collar. (click on pictures for larger view)

Test #1: Strip Sod

This method will provide immediate results and decent playability but will take a significant amount of time and labor. The process involves stripping all of the collar, removing excess material (soil) to help the new soil level match the level of the green, re-laying the sod, tamping, watering and rolling.  It took three individuals approximately 3 hrs. to complete the process on only half of the big putting green by #1 tee.

Strip existing collar

Remove material to lower the level
of the collar

Re-lay sod in its previous
 location and tamp

Finished product after watering
and rolling

Test #2: Aggressively Aerify the Collar

This method will take a little longer to achieve the desired results, but the process itself is very fast and is expected to take less time and labor to complete.  The process involves 2-3 aggressive aerifications of the collar within a month or two, removing the cores, heavily watering the collar to soften it then driving over the saturated collar with a tractor to lower the level of the collar to the level of the green.  It took two individuals approximately 30 minutes to complete the process on the other half of the big putting green by #1 tee.  Keep in mind that this is not the final result we are wanting to achieve.  This process will need to be done 1-2 more times to get it to the point where it matches the current condition of the collar that was done with the other process.

Drive over saturated collar to begin
lowing soil level

Aerify the collar and a small
portion of the gree

Finished product with holes
remaining open

A couple of points to consider:

Test #1: This is not a perfect process.  Sod seams will be visible and there may be some inconsistencies  with evenness until the sod fully matures (this process is similar to the stripping and re-laying of the sod on #18 green).

Test #2: Holes will be visible for a period of time as we want to encourage the soil to fill the holes leading to additional settling of the collar.  If the minimal amount of holes on the green itself is a concern, we will need to fill them with sand, lengthening the amount of time it will take to achieve our goal.