View from the clubhouse putting green on a gorgeous December day

The last few months have flown by at Florence Golf Links.  The agronomy staff has been working hard on a variety of projects.  In September, tees and fairways were aerated in addition to routine golf course maintenance.

Thad harvesting cores on 13 fairway

In October, greens and approaches were aerated.  We had great weather for greens aeration.  The greens healed up from aeration faster than usual with the ideal weather.

Aerating and cleaning up 2 green

Love seeing the bright blue sky during greens aeration!  It was a short sleeve kind of day for sure.

Jerry top dressing 2 green after aeration and cleanup

Also in October, a new green was built on hole 7.  This was by far the biggest project of the year. 

New green on hole 7

Casa Verde Golf with assistance from our staff shaped and installed irrigation for the new green.  All the greens at Florence Golf Links have been constructed using native dune sand.  Typically, golf courses use USGA specs to build greens which includes internal drainage and specific particle sizes in order to ensure proper infiltration and water retention.  Adding a green using the native dune sand is a far easier process.  That said, it is still a ton of work.

Casa Verde scraping sod off the new green complex site

Sod had to be removed from the site of the new green complex prior to shaping.  Some of sod was used in other areas of the golf course.  Most was used to fill in a void where sand in the adjacent dune was blowing onto the golf course.

Rough shaping was performed using a dozer.  Final shaping was performed with a mechanical bunker rake and hand tools.

Casa Verde Golf shaping new green complex on hole 7

The golf course maintenance staff did an amazing job pitching in and helping out as needed on the project in addition to performing all the usual golf course maintenance tasks. 

Jerry in particular put in a huge amount of time and effort into the project.  He was on the project site for about two weeks straight performing a multitude of tasks.  Jerry works extremely hard and is very good at his job.

Jerry installing irrigation 

The green was sodded by our staff with Dominator Creeping Bentgrass.  Dominator is a blend of 007 and Tyee creeping bentgrass cultivars.  All sod for the 7 green project was purchased from Bos Sod.  We sodded the green and 1st portion of surrounds two days prior to greens aeration.  It was definitely a busy week.  The green was sodded on October 11th.

Florence Golf Links staff sodding the green

The weather was absolutely gorgeous the day we sodded the green.  It was all hands on deck working to get the job done.

Florence Golf Links staff sodding the green

With the weather being so nice, we were eager to get the new sod watered as soon as possible.

First irrigation of new green after sodding

The first order of business on the second day of sodding was to edge the bentgrass sod in order to make a smooth transition for the surrounds sod.  The first portion of surrounds was sodded on October 12th.

Bentgrass sod edged in preparation for surround sod

Green surrounds were sodded with a coastal sand based perennial ryegrass and kentucky bluegrass sod mix from Bos Sod.

Florence Golf Links staff installing green surrounds sod

After the sod was laid and watered, a water filled roller was using to smooth the surface.

Irrigation of green and 1st portion of surround sod

Emerald Lawns sodded the remaining green surrounds area over a two day period (October 23rd and 24th).  They laid the sod, and our staff tied in the transition areas to ensure a smooth transition. 

Emerald Lawns installing remaining green surrounds sod

No irrigation was required after the surrounds sod was installed.  The rain was taking care of that for us.

New green complex after sod installation

The first mowing of the new green took place on October 29th.  The first top dressing took place on November 20th.

New green after 1st mowing (nowhere near playing height yet)

We have been mowing the green surrounds as needed.  We have started to drop the height of the low mow portion of the green surrounds slowly.  Eventually the low mow portion will be mowed at approach height.

View from behind 7 new green looking toward the tees

At this point the green has been top dressed 5 times.  We are slowly bringing the mowing height down.  It is currently being mowed at 0.375" which is a little lower than our collar height.  It is progressing well.  We don't have a target date for opening the new green.  Our goal is improve the smoothness with top dressing and slowly lower the cutting height down to greens height.