17th Green Update

*report written on 23rd April

Dear members

We are now well under way with the turf establishment of our new 17th green complex and those playing regular golf would be seeing the visual progress that’s been made over the past five to six weeks.

The green received its first cut at 10mm on the 16th of April some 5 weeks after it was hydroseeded and the process will now be to lower the height every 2-3 weeks in 2mm increments until it’s at 6mm. Once at this height we will keep it at 6mm throughout  the winter months before lowering it down to 4mm in early spring and then eventually 3mm in readiness for golf.

I would estimate that we now have close to 90% grass coverage and the aim now is to get the grass spreading into the last of the weaker areas. This is done through regular fertiliser applications and regular cutting ensuring we change the direction of cut which assists in quicker and more horizontal growth.

At this stage the surface is still very soft and to begin the process of trying to firm the surface up we have been giving the green a light roll every couple of days which helps compact the surface and smooth it out all in one. Given that there is 300mm of sand directly below the surface this process takes some time as the entire profile binds together and forms a more stable structure for the turf and roots to grow and ultimately enable machinery and foot traffic to move on top of it.

We will continue to cut the green with our much lighter walk behind mower well into the winter months to help alleviate as much stress as possible and only when the green is very close to opening will we begin cutting with our heavier and larger triflex mowers that we use on the rest of the course.

Providing nothing goes wrong I would expect by the end of May to see a green that has close to 100% grass coverage but even though it may visually look ready there are a number of factors involved that can’t be seen by eye.

Root health and root depth are very important guidelines and I would like to see the roots a minimum of 10cm deep before play begins (they are currently 5-6cm deep) As I’ve already touched on the surface firmness is critical and the goal is to have things firm enough that we are seeing very little in the way of ball plug marks, tyre marks and/or foot print indentations before I deem it ready for golf.

Once I’m satisfied that the grass/roots are healthy, dense and strong enough and the surface is firm then I’ll likely give it another two to three weeks of preparation while also announcing an opening date somewhere during that period. A lot has to happen before we get to that point but as I’ve reiterated it would be highly unlikely that we will open the green leading into winter due to the grasses inability to recover in the cooler conditions especially at such an adolescent age. A more realistic timeframe of mid spring when conditions warm up and grass growth is more active is the likely target for opening the green for play.

Ryan Hammond

DG&CC Course Superintendent