Pretty nice cycle of rain and sun working this week
We continue to move forward with the Latitude grow in. We are now mowed out through #18 which makes for 7 holes that have a mower working on them at just inside a month since first sprigging. The regular fairway mowers are out on 3 and 4 as well, dropping the height down and continuing to push the turf sideways.
This past Tuesday we finished our touch up work with an extra load of sprigs from the farm. The initial sprigs that went down on parts of 10 and 13 just got smoked out from the intense heat 2 weeks ago. A few other spots with lacking irrigation coverage were also re-sprigged. The rains this week have helped speed the rooting process up and 13 already has a nice green sheen working. We will use every day we have available to grow these last few holes in but we are still very happy with how our timeline has come together.
The turf farm was nice enough to let us borrow their slicer/crimper to plant the extra set of sprigs. We have also been using it to slice areas that are well rooted. Wherever the bermuda is sliced it will sprout off a new shoot and keep filling in faster.
One of the most boring jobs happening at the moment is the running the roller. It takes pretty much all day to get a hole rolled with the 3 ton roller. The results are great though and I am sure Roberto is working through some very intriguing podcasts.
In the mornings before the sun gets too high and we have to get the water flying again the tractor is out slinging fertilizer. The bermuda is being fed adequately and it is really starting to take off in the early holes. Weeks 4 and 5 are when the turf really hits the gas and we are starting to get right in the sweet spot. Sunny 90 degree days are perfect and there doesn't seem to be any shortage of those in the forecast for August.
The area between indoor and outdoor tennis was groomed into a more functional nursery this week. In the middle of some fresh latitude sprigs we added a truck load of greens sand construction mix and seeded it with bentgrass. This new bentgrass nursery green will allow us to plug out blemishes like bird droppings, alcohol spills and thinner old bentgrass voids from the greens on both courses. The green will take the fall to grow in and mature. We should be able to pull plugs out of it in the spring. In the meantime we use the same seed to fill in any thinner areas on the greens where the older bent has thinned. This newer seed was developed in Alabama through Auburn and has proven to be extremely tough in high stress summer environments.
Our Monday project on the Sabot was giving the fan on 4 green a better home. The fan previously was a solid 35 feet off the edge of the green. The effective range of the fan is only 100 feet. We extended the electricity to the back of the green and moved the fan to a new base. The throw of the air now reaches over 90% of the green. This new position will help keep this green in much better shape thanks to drop in both canopy and soil temperature. The new base was installed in a valve box which will allow us to easily take the fan down in the fall and store it until next summer.
Enjoy your weekend!