Spring 2016 Greens Aerification

On Monday, April 4th we will begin aerifying greens. We are using solid tines which means we will NOT be pulling cores. Sand topdressing will still be applied then brushed and dragged in. Soil amendments applied after the brushing of the sand and watered in. Depending on the weather this process may go into Tuesday, April 5th. Our goal is to have the course open first thing Tuesday morning but please check the website in case we have weather or other unforeseen delays occur.

Couple of questions that some may be asking:

Why are we aerifying when the holes from last Fall are not completely healed?

We are doing this to reduce organic matter in the greens. A detailed description from a previous blog post can be found here: Organic Matter Blog Post

Why not hollow tine the greens?

The physical removal of the organic matter via hollow tines will increase the rate of organic matter removal. However, we also want to make sure our members and guests have the best conditions possible for the Spring start to the golf season. The solid tines will allow the greens to heal faster while still helping with organic matter removal. Specifically, allowing sand into the thatch layer to disperse the organic matter in the thatch and allowing air for increased microbial degradation.

When is the Fall aerification of greens?

Schedule for Monday, August 29th, weather dependent. With ideal weather conditions greens should be healed in roughly 10 days.

Will there be a Spring aerification of tees and fairways?

Tee aerification will occur once our regular staff returns which we are estimating to be mid-April. Certain areas in fairways will be aerified as well at this time but a full fairway aerification will not occur.

News and Notes 3.29.16

• Weather reports show April 2-7 will be especially cold and that Spring should arrive for good April 10th.
• Due to the rain on Monday the bunker on #18 is too wet for drainage installation. Once it is dry, drainage, gravel, Better Billy Bunker liner and new sand will be installed. Plus new sod along the top of the bunker.
• Our regular staff should be on-site in the next 3-4 weeks. Hopefully before opening day.
• There are 7 temporary workers who will be mulching around the clubhouse, picking up sticks on the course and helping rake and distribute sand in our bunkers. 
• We are lowering the height of cut on the greens a little each week.
• Greens aerification is April 4-5th. We will be using solid tines (not removing cores) and applying sand topdressing. Look for a blog post next week as to why we are doing this and not hollow tining and as to why we are aerifying when the holes from last October are not completely healed.
• Depending on weather the plan is to open the chipping green and to move the driving range tee to grass on April 9th.
• We will be putting tees back in their regular locations by this Thursday and removing the extra hole locations on the greens next week.

Durabunker Construction Day #6

The stacking of the Durabunker material was completed Saturday morning. Afterwards the bottom of the bunker was shaped and is now ready for drainage installation.

In the next few days I will be updating the blog as to the status of our seasonal workers as well as what we will be focusing our resources on in the next week.

Durabunker Construction Day #5

By the end of the day on Friday there was just a few rows left to finish the stacking portion of the project.

On Saturday morning the final rows will be stacked and Miguel from Southeastern Golf  will shape the bottom of the bunker. When shaping the goal is  for the middle of the bunker to be the low spot. Therefore the perimeter of the bunker floor will be sloped away from the edges in order for a golf ball to not rest against the wall or along the bunker edge but funnel to the middle.

Durabunker Construction Day #4

Thursday was all about stacking.

Hoping to finish the Durabuker stacking by end of day on Friday. Then Miguel will shape the bottom of the bunker possibly Saturday morning. From there the Fieldstone Agronomy staff will install the drainage and gravel possibly next week depending on weather and other factors.

Durabunker Construction Day #3

After a couple of hours in the morning of cutting pieces the entire crew went to #18 for installation.

The goal is to use as little as backfill as possible behind the Durabunker material. As seen in the picture below Miguel is building the stack sod bunker as close to the existing soil as possible.

Our golf course architect David Whelchel was onsite Tuesday and Wednesday to ensure the design matched the original intent of the bunker when he did the layout for Fieldstone in 1998 while working with Hurdzan/Fry.

An important design decision that he made was to double stack the Durabunker material. Two pieces of Durabunker are laid on top of each other vertically. Then the next row up is offset slightly back so the wall is at a roughly 60-65 degree angle giving it additional strength compared to a wall built at 90 degrees. This picture shows an up close view of the stacking.

Durabunker Construction Day #2

On Tuesday finish shaping was completed and the stacking of the Durabunker material began.

The most important part to successfully building a bunker with the Durabunker material is to have a compacted and level base as shown in the picture below. We were able to accomplish this using a plate compactor and laser level.

The above picture shows an example of a curve using the cut where triangles were removed from the pieces.

This picture shows an opposite curve to the bunker where pieces were cut with straight lines to achieve the needed angle.