Our verticutting process got started quickly this past Monday. We made it through 14 before the rains came on Tuesday and brought this beautiful weather in to town. The verticutters were set about an inch deep. The process tears old thatch (dead stems and roots) out of the surface which is essential for healthy bermuda growth.
The cleanup process is an amazing chore considering we verticut all 55 acres of short turf. Blowers move the debris into the rough and then our sweepers pick up the windrows and it is transported to the dump.
A little over 400 tons of sand was spread out evenly through the fairways, approaches and tees. The sand fills in the verticut lines and helps keep the surface firm and water moving quickly.
When the sun is out the sand dries quickly and brushes right in.
The turf is again blown off, then lightly watered (or rained on!), then blown off again and then mowed. The finished product is beautiful from an agronomic perspective. From the golfer perspective things will be pretty firm for a while now and conditions will be back to normal quickly. This entire process will be repeated on the Sabot fairways on July 19th and 20th. Being able to close these few days to get this work done is a massive benefit for course conditions this summer.
We also raked all the rough with our new tractor mounted de-thatcher. We'll be able to use this unit on the fairways later on in the summer. The rake pulls up thatch a little more gently than the verticutters so disruption is almost 0 but it still helps keep the turf tightened up.
The tennis lawn was also verticut and then debris from the fairways was hauled in. These "sprigs" are not as hearty as what we got from the sod farm to do the Manakin two years ago. Real sprigs are pulled out of 3 inch tall turf and contain significantly more roots and stems than what we tossed on this lawn.
With that in mind we about doubled the amount of a normal sprig project. This area will be kept as wet as possible over the next few weeks. Hopefully the Latitude takes and we'll have a beautiful new bermudagrass lawn this summer!
