Fall Projects

 

A major in-house project began this fall was re-grassing bunkers on #5 and the left side of #6 green.  The pictures above show the finished faces.  Both of these areas had built up a great deal of sand over the years.   This made it extremely hard to keep quality turf in these high profile areas just off the green.   

The crew removed the years of buildup down to the green netting/mesh from the original sod.  We were able to find this netting on all the bunkers we re-grassed so they were unchanged from the original design.   The new sod installed was a turf type tall Fescue, which will survive better on these bunker faces because it is more drought tolerant.

Before and After shot of #5 Left Side

We also cut down the all the high rough mounds that were sodded last fall.  Below if a Time Lapse video that highlights how much work goes into these areas.  I'm hoping to add more videos like this in the future to better show what goes into maintaining Rockville Links Club.

Late fall aeration

This week was set aside for Rockville Links late fall aeration.  We began the process by using our deep scarifier verticut blades.  These do a great job removing thatch and organic matter from the surface making room for sand.  As you can see in the pictures above there is plenty of excess sand after Drill and Fill.

Drill and Fill is a very slow process that we bring in an outside company to complete.  3-4 machines operated for 20+ hours to complete all 18 greens, putting green, and target green on the range.  The huge advantage of this process is it removes material at depths of 8-10" and completely fills the 1" holes with sand.  

While the drill and fill process was ongoing, Rockville's crew aerated approaches.  The sandy mix left behind on greens was then dragged onto apps to fill the holes.  

Once cleanup was complete on greens they were rolled and then aerated.  The above picture is how they looked directly behind aeration.  The greens were then rolled again and amendments were added to the open holes.  Sand topdessing was then applied and brushed to fill holes.  

Weather cooperated all week long.  There were no frost delays and rain came as soon as cleanup was complete.  There will be ongoing work in the next week to help ensure sand is distributed evenly.  The greens will also be rolled a few more times to help smooth the playing surface. 

Irrigation in the Rain?

Anyone at or around The Links this afternoon saw sprinkler heads running on the greens.  The timing just seems off with the light rain Mother Nature provided, but this was done intentionally for multiple reasons.

• Test sprinkler heads after deep Drill and Fill aeration to make sure no wires were damaged.
• Clean sand and debris from drives.  The kiln dried sand seems to hang around even after the head is cleaned off
• Rain was not enough to wash in fertilizer, amendments, and the wetting agent/soil spray.  The spray this afternoon needed to be washed in thoroughly, and the rainfall was not heavy enough to do it alone. The rain also was off and on, so there was a chance of burning the grass blades if the spray sat to long. 
• The extra water will help sand get washed in better/faster.