#12 Greenside Bunker Lining

The recent redesign (2011) and resulting reduced square footage of the front-middle hazard protecting the green has hopefully saved a few strokes from one's game.  Lining bunkers with synthetic fabric to prevent contamination has been a standard practice for the past decade.  The benefits and longevity out way the negatives and cost a majority of the time, but ONLY if the liner is installed correctly and adequate sand is maintained within the hazard.   There are several pitfalls to avoid during the installation process and the most important one is to not skimp on the number of staples installed.  The staples secure the liner to the sub-floor and prevent the liner from lifting when snagged by raking or golf clubs.  In practice, I've learned that 8" is the minimum distance you want to space staples and they need to spaced no more than 4" apart on the seams and edges.  Installation of the liner should also mimic that of shingles on a roof.  The liner on Hole #12 had failed and required replacement for multiple reasons, but number one and number two on my list were lack of adequate stapling and lack of sand depth.

Only 1" of sand depth in most areas of the bunker

Removal of old liner and regrading of the sub-floor

Proper liner installation and adequate staples (1000+ staples for 450 sq ft)

Installing staples (mechanical staple guns can be used on large projects)

This is the volume of sand within the bunker to create a depth of 4"- more sand to be added

Champions Club Score Card

Venting

One of the most popular trends in the golf maintenance industry over the past few years is venting.  Venting is a critical component to a cultural program aiding in turfgrass health.  The practice is minimal disturbance and DOES NOT impact playability.  Venting opens up the surface in a minimal fashion to allow for gaseous exchange and improved water infiltration.  When utilizing "pencil tines" or 5/16" solid tines the holes produced are small (the dimension of a lead pencil) and can be as deep as 8-10", if a deep tine unit is utilized.  The Champions Club does not possess a deep tine unit, so standard John Deere Aercore aerifiers are utilized providing a 3" depth.  The practice is scheduled to be completed on a monthly basis and is key to the re-establishment of Bentgrass as a dominant species on the green.  Rolling post procedure smooths the surface and produces a true putting surface void of disturbance.

Needle-tining #4 green

Surface prior to rolling- note "tufting"

      

Raising Drain Basins

The "finish work" at Champions Club could be rated poor in several categories.  Although the course has only been open for seven years, the installation of the infrastructure has signs of poor quality workmanship.  One item I will focus on in this post is grade of the fairway drain basins.  Many of the 12" Nylo-plast collection basins present in the fairways present playability issues due to their "grade" within the fairway.  We have spent many man hours addressing the level of these basins this season and plan to continue to address these issues in the upcoming season.

Compaction Relief

One of the challenges with maintaing both a mountain style course and a Nicklaus Design is managing traffic and wear areas.  The design leads to the funneling of traffic to narrow corridors and limited access points.  One area we have addressed this season is the wear area at the walking access point to Hole #10 green.  The bare soil area was carved down and grass cell was installed.  The "honeycomb" style high density plastic material was pinned down and a mixture of soil and Bermuda sprigs was planted to produce the desired result.  The exact same product was later installed at the exit point of Hole #13 green to limit wear.

 

Start Up

From Day One I had intended on maintaining a blog to inform the membership and golfing public of our direction and provide a detailed account of the "restoration" process at Champions Club at the Retreat.  The blog that I authored at Arrowhead Country Club in San Bernardino, as Superintendent, was well received by the membership and within the Golf Industry.  It has been eight months of dedication, long hours, sweat, stress, and re-organization to get to this point.  With the "winter season" about to set in and the modified overseed established I finally have the time and energy to maintain this site.  I have a lot of chronicling and posting to do, so let the barrage begin.

Greenway Golf was hired by the ownership in March to put an end to the decline in turfgrass conditions, re-establish the Bermudagrass to the prominent turfgrass in the fairways, and prevent further deterioration of the Poa annua/Bentgrass greens.  The contract begin in Mid-March 2012 and it happen to coincide with the inhabitation of the new maintenance facility.  Amongst trying to get a grasp of the routing of the course, course infrastructure, inventory, hiring employees, updating compliance, and training employees we had the task of organizing a new building.  The blank canvas of a new maintenance building is the envy of many within the business as most maintenance facilities could use major restorations and updating.

Here is a glimpse of what we walked into:

Improving Green Surfaces

When we began our contract for Golf Course Maintenance in March, the greens contained high populations of Poa annua, algae, and moss (as indicated in the photo of #6 green).  The seven year old Bentgrass was still present as a base, but was smothered within the gooey poa turfgrass canopy.   The agronomic and cultural programs in place where favoring the establishment of poa and limiting the Bentgrass' ability to compete.  Within months of implementing the Greenway management systems the Bentgrass began to outcompete the poa and moss and re-establish itself as the dominant turfgrass surface species.  The photos below show the turf quality at the beginning of March and then again in September.
 
NOTE:  No chemical treatments were applied in conjunction with the transformation.

#6 Green (March)

#6 Green-  Same Location (September)

Over-Planting

With the decline of the Tifway II Bermudagrass within the fairways over the past several years an aggressive attempt to re-establish the surface had to be implemented.  The previous procedure of seeding Bermudagrass was both expensive and ineffective.   Conditions in the summer were declining to the point of golfers playing off of bare soil.  Sod installation would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and could not be justified by the club in the current economy.  The decision was made to bring in the only Over-planting unit in the United States and to over-plant 11.5 acres of fairway.  Santa Ana Hybrid Bermuda was selected as the desired cultivar and was over-planted into the existing soil/canopy- depending on what was present.  The process consisted of:  closing the golf hole for the short duration of over-planting (in most cases a half a day), over-planting the fairway, mowing the fairway post planting to disperse the chaff, and re-openning the hole for play (on the same day).

Adequate irrigation was applied to maintain "sprig" hydration in the days/weeks following over planting and additional fertilizer was applied to promote establishment.