2025 Fairway Aeration & Expansion of Our Santa Anna

In our previous Granite Bay Course Update we outlined our planned Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda expansion and the steps we took to prepare areas for re-grassing with aeration cores. This past week beginning Monday July 7th we were closed for fairway aeration in which we utilized the extracted cores from the fairway aeration process for the re-grassing of the areas we prepared the preceding weeks. 

This was the first time we endeavored to expand hybrid bermuda in this fashion and we learned quite a bit from the experience. Below are pictures of the process for those who are interested.

Step one in fairway aeration is all sprinkler heads, valve boxes & yardage markers have to be flagged so aerifyer operators can lift and avoid these obstacles while aerifying. 

Second step for us is to aerate around these sprinkle heads creating a buffer zone for the following aerifyer.

Third step is we aerify up the fairway now that we can navigate around sprinkler heads easier having aerated around the sprinkler heads ahead of this aerator.

The fourth step is to collect cores and place them in the prepared areas that we described in our last course update. This is the step that we knew the least about going into expanding the Santa Anna. After some experimentation with other pieces of equipment and methods, we settled on careful removal of the extracted fairway cores using our front end loader to push, pick-up and move to the expansion areas. This was a relief as it is productive of a process as there is, and we ended up using substantially more cores then we initially thought. The areas stripped and prepared on #9 & #8 measured approximately 12,000 square feet and they took all of the cores generated on hole #8 & #9. We wanted to keep the cores intact for a better end result so using the loader turned out to be a BMP versus sweeping up the cores with our giant sweeper which would have broken these cores up.

Step five, move the cores to the prepared areas.

Step six was to rake the cores onto the prepared area.

Here is the finished product after raking.

Step seven after we have removed cores for re-grassing expanded areas we drag remaining cores for removal.

Step eight is to remove the cores with sweepers and blowers.

Step nine is to mow ahead of  sand topdressing

Step ten is to sand topdress the aerified fairways.

Sand topdressing is the process that is the most time consuming of all of the fairway aeration processes. This year in  31/2 days we moved 700 tons of sand, covering 30 acres of fairways, 4 yards at a time from three strategic locations

2024 picture of the topdressor working in front of #4 green.

The area above circled in green is another 2024 picture showing one 4 yard load spread out on #16 fairway. 

Enrique Reyes Hureta, the man, the myth, the legend, the one behind the spreading all of that sand in 3-1/2 days. We couldn't do it without him

The last step in the fairway aeration processes brushing in the sand. We brush all fairways twice during the process. 

What To Expect When You Return To The Club Saturday 7/14/25

When you return Saturday you will encounter freshly aerated fairways with open holes and remnants of topdressing sand. Open holes can dry the surface out so the fairways could be a bit wet in areas initially. There will be sand present so if you do not want to scratch you irons, you might consider a using older irons until the sand disperses.

Here is what the freshly aerified  fairways will look like from afar.

And a closer look you will see aerification holes which will be gone by the end of next week

You will also notice all of the areas that we put the aeration cores into having some temporary soaker sprinklers installed on the surface. The trick to getting these cores established is to keep them moist during the initial rooting stage and this temporary soaker irrigation will help us achieve just that. The re-grassed area doesn't look like much now, but by the end of next week we will see green grass getting started. By the end of July we hope to see substantial coverage over the area and by the end of August we hope to have full coverage.

More to come on our Santa Anna Expansion. Thanks as always for your support of our efforts on the course.

Planned Santa Anna Expansion

Last week as planned, we started preparation for expanding our Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda in some high traffic areas on the golf course adjacent to the cart paths. These areas include the left-hand side of #8 near the green, the right-hand side of #9 middle of the fairway, the right-hand side of #12 near the concrete bridge, the left-hand side #12 near the path entrance to the restrooms, the left-hand side #13 where all of the cart path traffic exits and finally the left-hand entrance area to the fairway on #15 after crossing the shared #15 & #16 bridge.

Our previous course update described the process of us stripping the old sod in these areas followed by conditioning the soil by adding sand and rototilling the compacted soil existing in these areas. These six areas totaled about a half an acre in size and will be re-grassed utilizing the cores from our upcoming fairway aeration starting the week of July 7th. Below are pictures of the process for all who are interested.

Step #1 is to remove all of the battered sod in the individual areas. We use a sod cutter to make strips of sod so we can easily pile up and remove with an excavator or front-end loader.

Removing and finding a home for all of this old sod is strategic as too far of a haul would add to the length of the job and we were under a hard deadline of getting the areas stripped and prepped prior to fairway aeration. We gave ourselves a couple of weeks for preparation and that ended up being about right as we stripped the sod last week and are preparing the soil this week, while setting up and maintaining the golf course for Member play.

The areas on #8 & #9 we hauled around #9 fairway to the pond edge near the new as of 2021 fairway bunker on the left. The addition of this bunker created a tricky maintenance scenario along the water's edge that needed some expansion to make it right. Above we are compacting the sod and soil placed there that was removed for #8 & #9

Above is the #13 cart exit area which has always been some of the worst turf on this golf course because all of the cart traffic exiting the fairway near the green to the left, a classic golf course pinch-point. In 2009 during a bunker renovation, we hauled tons of old bunker sand into the area to improve the grade and soil conditions which made the area better but still didn't solve the problem. 

Part of the problem on #13 is it's a very small area to concentrate all of the cart traffic and we don't have enough square footage to spread it out. If you remember there used to be a much larger rock at the end of the cart path curb that was removed during renovation in 2021. Unfortunately, there were some smaller, at least on the surface, rocks that remained that were now an obstruction to softening the grade to facilitate more exit areas. We were going to dig around them so we could jackhammer off the tops and re-grade, but once Enrique started digging, he was able to extract some of the rocks and move the other side of the cart path. The rock pictured above however was too big to extract for our equipment, so he kept digging and was able to push it into its own hole and bury it with dirt allowing us to re-grade and soften this area creating more exit spaces.

Above is a good look at the rock before Enrique pushes it on its side into the hole.

Our next step after stripping all of the sod off of all of the areas was to condition the soil prior to
re-grassing. Part of the reason these areas struggled with traffic was the underlying decomposed granite soil that the turf was trying to grow in. Here we are rototilling the area near #8 after we added sand.

The tractor mounted rototiller can't maneuver in the tight spots or edges, so we utilized our walk behind rototiller in these narrow areas.

This is the alternate exit on the left-hand side of #12 after stripping and before soil preparation with the rototillers. It's a good example of the shape we plan to re-grass with Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda in these carved out traffic areas. We plan to mow it at fairway height providing a smooth exit transition off of the fairway and onto the cart paths. The hybrid bermuda will be much more durable than the cool season turf blend that was there prior, especially in the spring, summer and fall where the course receives the vast majority of its traffic.

We will post another update soon, showing the grading and re-grassing of these areas.

Thanks for your support!

2025 Summer Update

 The Spring of 2025 seems to have just flown by and in a couple of weeks we will welcome the official start of the 2025 Summer season with the Summer Solstice on Friday 6/20/25. Before this date we have a couple of big events to prepare for and then afterwards we have some planned turf conversion areas to develop just ahead of our summer fairway aeration week where the golf course will be closed. Below are some pictures highlighting some of what we have been up to in GCM as well as our plans through the first part of the Summer of 25.

Upcoming Summer Golf Course Maintenance Schedule Overview

June 9 through June 22 - Prepare and Host  MacKenzie Cup & California State Amateur

June 23 through July 6 - Prepare select areas on golf course for turf conversion

July 7 through July 11 - Aerify & Sand Topdress Hybrid Bermuda Fairways. Golf Course Closed

GCM Activities Spring of 2025

Springtime is always a busy time on a golf course as everything starts growing at once. One of the things that we've been working on in addition to mow, mow, mow is adding more sand to our bunkers. Adding a little sand to bunkers here and there is a normal maintenance function, however our bunkers needed some substantial sand refreshing since the 2021 renovation and we are just about finished.

Our driving range mats are scheduled for replacement on Tuesday 6/10/25. Invited Clubs has switched golf mat vendors to Fiberbuilt Golf. Predictably our concrete pad was to narrow by a few inches to accommodate the new Fiberbuilt Mats, so we had to add some concrete to existing pad. 

Our strategy of late has been to lay off projects Spring through the first part of Fall and concentrate our efforts on course maintenance but we couldn't help ourselves and installed a block of sprinklers along the rough edge on the left-hand side of #12 in May.

I've been mentioning this irrigation work ad nauseum because it is the infrastructure improvement that has been proven time and time again to produce the greatest results on this property. Any opportunity we have to check one of these areas off our Master Plan we will typically move on it even though the timing was not part of our overall spring through summer plan.

This is the rough between #15 & #13. If you can recall what this rough used to be like and what it is like today, it is because we now have supplemental irrigation heads surrounding it which has improved irrigation coverage and control allowing us to maintain cool season rough right next to warm season fairway turf facilitating the very different irrigation needs of both areas.  

We have deep spiked / aerified the greens along with associated sand topdressing a couple of times since the beginning of spring and the process is helping with rooting and firming of the greens and has kept with the small hole but frequent cultural practice strategy on our greens. Here Enrique is using a Vertidrain Aerator to spike 1/4" holes 8" deep into the surface.

GCM Planned Activities Summer of 2025

Part of our Master Plan is to convert some chronically bad areas on the golf course from cool season turf to warm season Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda to facilitate cart traffic in certain entrances and exits on the course. These are areas that are adjacent to warm season turf that have never been right.

Hybrid Bermuda can only be established vegetatively or by live plant sprigs or sod. There is no seed for hybrid bermuda. We have a couple of weeks before we aerate the fairways after the Mac Cup and the CA State Amateur. Using the fresh cores from the fairway aeration process will be great way to establish hybrid bermuda, we just have to prepare the areas beforehand. 

Above is the drive off area of #13, a chronically bad traffic pinch-point. Our plan is to strip this area, condition the existing native soil with sand and compost, compact and grade then cover with fresh aeration cores. This has to be done in the summer when hybrid bermuda is actively growing. More details to come on this great opportunity to improve some chronically bad areas. 

Another area we plan to address with aeration cores is the narrow strip of rough along the cart path on #9.

Above is an area we plan to address with aeration cores as well.  It is the drive on to the fairway #12. Another area we will address which is not pictured is the drive on to #15 right after you cross the bridge.

Another part of our summer re-grassing strategy is to prepare a few select small areas for seeding in the early fall which require some weed eradication first.  The above photo is of Dallisgrass, a notoriously difficult perennial weed to control selectively, or by using a product that will kill the dallisgrass and not the desirable turf. It can overwhelm an area to the point where a scorched earth tactic is the most appropriate way to eradicate it. 

Dallisgrass is a perennial weed that goes dormant in the winter then comes back with a vengeance in the summer by way of a very robust root system. To eradicate the weed for good you have to kill the root system so multiple treatments are recommended so the areas we plan to address will remain bare until we seed them in late summer - early fall.

This area behind #15 tees is out of play and completely infiltrated with dallisgrass. We plan to treat this area  multiple times and afterwards seed with Tall Fescue in the late summer. Other areas we plan to address in this manner are the back slope behind #1 green and the left hand rough of #12 near the pond. All of these areas have a substantial amount of dallisgrass infestation that needs to be eradicated.

Getting Through the Summer of 2025

How Members Can Help

This is the left hand rough edge of #16 and it highlights one of the main challenges Granite Bay faces in the summer post 2021 renovation. We converted half of our golf course to Santa Anna Hybrid Bermuda and the rough remained primarily a blend of cool season turf grass varieties because of the shade issues associated with our tree lined holes.  These cool season turf areas are very susceptible to the heat of the Granite Bay summers.

How can you help? The best way to help the course in the summer when operating a golf cart is entering and exiting though the gates and drive exclusively on the short cut fairway turf avoiding  the rough with cart traffic.

To protect the rough, we do plan to close a few holes at a time to cart traffic during the summer months. 

Additionally, you will notice some soaker sprinklers in areas that a bit stressed. We haven't experienced any mishaps with carts tangling up or running over these hose stands yet so thank you. 

Something to note is that the areas you notice these hose stands are areas that are outlined in our Granite Bay Golf Course Master Improvement Plan so one day there wont be such a need for hose-stands or as many cart restrictions in the summer.

Back to this image of the rough between #13 & #15. This is the goal for the entire course. Healthy cool season rough with its irrigation needs being met coexisting right next warm season fairway turf with it distinctively different irrigation needs being met. We are not that far away.

Thanks for your support!

Spring is in the Air

 GCM has had a very successful late 2024 and 2025 winter project season this year with the absence of any tree tumbling storms. We were able to check off many items from our GBGC Master Improvement Plan from cleaning up the back of #7 Green to irrigating and planting shrubs in some very bleak parking lot landscape beds. 

Once we got through some weather around Christmas, we were able to make substantial progress on supplemental irrigation install on Holes #2, #15 & #12. All of these areas in the rough have been perennially bad in the summer and the cool season turf will now have a fighting chance. These supplemental irrigation blocks have only worked every time we have installed them here at GBGC so we are confident these areas will be much better this summer.

Now that Spring is in the air, we have to shift gears to cultural practices on the golf course. We have been aerifying rough the week of March 3rd through March 7th and will have some more to do next week. So ahead of some forecasted weather on Wednesday 3/12/25 we plan to spike and topdress the greens as well.

Spiking Greens

On Monday 3/10/25 we plan to spike and topdress the greens keeping in line with our small, but more frequent aeration events throughout the year. These aeration events are designed to keep putting surface disruption to a minimum year round avoiding  traditional large hole aeration in the spring and fall. This accomplishes the desired goals not disrupting putting quality for extended periods of time and mitigating poa annua encroachment by not giving it a chance to get going in larger aeration holes. Below are pictures of the process that we will conduct on Monday.

Step #1 is to aerate with the Procore 648. We are using a coring tine this time around to actually remove some organic material from the green. Weather is forecasted partly cloudy and in the upper 60's, perfect weather for this process. 

Aeration holes are small. 1/4" in diameter maximum if that. The small hole combined with 2"X2" spacing will recover rapidly and will not deflect ball roll leaving putting quality intact especially after we thoroughly roll the surface's the morning after aeration. 

Step 2 remove the coring material. We basically use blowers and scoop shovels to remove all of the debris from the surfaces

Step 3 we usually mow the surfaces to remove any straggler cores that get stuck in the holes during initial cleanup. After mowing we blow the surfaces off again creating the finished product prior to sand topdressing depicted in the picture above with the ball mark repair tool. 

Step 4  we are seeding the collars. More to come in the future on what are our ultimate plans with these collars.

Step 5 lightly topdress the surface with sand.

Step 6 we brush the sand into the open holes and turf canopy.

Step 7 is to irrigate. We typically irrigate deeply after opening greens up with aeration. This deep watering brings the greens soil profile to its field capacity as well as drawing air into the rootzone which is one of the main purposes of core aeration.

View of Tilley's PG on Tuesday AM following a good rolling and blowing.