We will be doing something a little different this year with course setup for the Club Championship starting tomorrow Friday 10/18/19 through the weekend and wanted to address those differences here to help with potential confusion.
All flags will be yellow starting tomorrow, Friday 10/18/19 and holes will be positioned according to the pin sheets below.
We will be playing preferred lies in the fairways as there is still seed germinating in some areas and we can't completely turn off the irrigation. Additionally we will be painting hazards as usual and double cutting and rolling greens which is customary as well. The big difference is we will be using yellow flags on the pins throughout the course all three days. Since not everyone playing over the next three days will be competing in the Club Championship we wanted to give you a heads up and post the pin sheets here. Below are the pin sheets that will be handed out to both competitors and non competitors throughout the weekend.
Last Monday September 23 was the Autumnal Equinox signifying the beginning of fall in the northern hemisphere. For those who are interested check out this cool video from National Geographic depicting these celestial movements as only National Geographic can.
This is the date that we have always circled on our maintenance calendar as "The Day" that everything turns around from our customary summer setbacks with our cool season turf. Welcome weather relief is still the case as the vast majority of playing surfaces at Granite Bay are still cool season turf. However the first phase of our turf conversion from cool season to warm season hybrid bermuda which began in 2019 with green surrounds and #17 fairway have us a little torn. We need the cool nights and short days to recover and germinate ryegrass seed for the cool season surfaces but also welcome continued warm weather that will help further establishment our new warm season hybrid bermuda sod.
#12 surround contrasted with the ryegrass rough. Color and texture are different as coll season turf is beginning to accelerate in growth and the new hybrid bermuda is slowing down.
Cool season recovery is under way and in a very short period of time all imperfections will be filled in with perennial ryegrass. Lots of seed has been seeded into the playing surfaces, covered with sand and compost and fertilized and is germinating as we speak. But again on the other hand the new warm season turf in the surrounds and #17 fairway have slowed down.
7 week old hybrid bermuda sod around #10 green. Not completely even and now that the weather has changed it is questionable whether it will completely even out before winter as its growth has slowed down with the advent of fall.
We need to remember the conversion to warm season turf takes time. It has to be established in the summer months because that is when it is actively growing. We put down the first batch of sod only 8 weeks ago and shortly afterwards started to experience an cooler then normal fall in late September. We have plans to mitigate color as the new Santa Anna creeps into dormancy but the hybrid bermuda will slow down to a crawl as far as growth is concerned. The texture inconsistencies we currently experiencing primarily in the surrounds will be a temporary condition that we will have to work through this fall and upcoming winter. Next year, after its first full year of establishment these inconsistencies will be a thing of the past.
Upcoming Tee Over Seeding & PG Aeration
We still have tee over seeding to get done and will be working on this starting next Monday. We will get the driving range tee aerated and overseeded so it will be closed for four weeks until Jones Cup weekend. Additionally we still have to aerify the upper practice green and Tilleys. We are going to do something different to the PG's rather then traditional core aeration which will be virtually unobtrusive yet very effective. The process is called Dryject and is one of may new aeration strategies that we will be looking at for the future particularly with a potential re-surfacing of our putting surfaces in 2020. Dryject utilizes high pressure water to inject sand deeply into the putting surface. After a quick brushing and rolling the surface will perform as if nothing were done and the injection holes evident in the pictures above will recover within days. Look for some GBGC pictures and an update following Mondays procedure. Below are a few more internet pictures.
We are just at six weeks since the conclusion of sodding #17 fairway and the fairway itself is ready for golf activities but the surrounding rough was pretty worked over during the construction process and until recently was not ready for golf. We decided to remedy the most damaged and trafficked part of the holes rough with sod this week so we can open the hole and you can start playing 18 holes of golf.
#17 fairway on Friday 9/13/19.
Therefore this coming Tuesday 9/17/19 we are going to open #17 with prefered lies and cart path only, only seven weeks after the first phase of sod was installed. We are playing preferred lies throughout the course anyway because of ongoing aeration and overseeding and the need to keep these areas wet for seed germination. Cart path only on the hole is prudent because the new sod adjacent to the cart path will only be a few days old on opening day and the rough on the left hand side of the fairway still needs some growing time.
New sod installed along the cart path on Friday 9/13/19
We still have some work to do such as adding new yardage markers that have not yet arrived, adding sand to the bunkers and continuing sand topdressing of the surface. Remember all of the hybrid bermuda turf we installed just weeks ago is still very immature and does not resemble a seasoned hybrid bermuda playing surface yet and likely won't until next year. However it is ready for golf activities and we don't want to inconvenience our members any longer although there will be no exceptions on cart path only. We need to keep carts off of the hole for awhile and I don't have an estimate when that will change.
Putting surface aeration went well on Tuesday 9/3/19 and the greens should recover fairly quickly with near perfect weather and a not as aggressive process this time around. We had some mechanical difficulties on Thursday 9/15/19 that stalled us on fairway aeration but we are making up some lost ground this morning Friday 9/6/19 before any large wave of golfers.
Next week schedule is below. Our goal is to finish fairway aeration, first wave of seeding and topdressing of remaining fairways, as well as getting surrounds aerated and fertilized. We should be able to accomplish this with a front 9 and back 9 alternating closure until 2:30 PM on just Tuesday and Wednesday. We are looking forward to fall and the cooler weather, shorter days and the cool season turf rejuvenation it brings.
Monday 9/9/19 - Topdressing FW's Course Closed
Tuesday 9/10/19 - Surrounds Aeration Front 9 Closed till 2:30 PM
Wednesday 9/11/19 - Surrounds Aeration Back 9 Closed till 2:30 PM
Enrique aerifying #12 fairway this morning
#12 after a application of topdressing sand
Warning!
Granite Bay has always needed to recover from summer losses of our cool season turf and 2019 is no exception. We typically go through 10 tons of perennial ryegrass seed at a cost of over $20,000. In order for that investment, and more importantly course conditions to recover, this seed needs to remain wet during the first two weeks on the ground so it can germinate and establish. Because of that necessity the golf course will be purposely wet over the next couple weeks so much so that we might have to call for cart path only for a few days.
Two tons of perennial ryegrass seed in the maintenance yard awaiting the seeders. This seed, and more will be distributed onto the course over the next couple of weeks.
There will be no rest for the weary as we have our fall aeration pre scheduled date's rapidly arriving next week. Despite lots of rumblings of what we are doing to the course in 2020 we still have a fall and winter season of 2019 to get through and aeration is essential to having healthy playing surfaces during this time. Not to mention aeration's role in recovery from yet another summer. Below is a schedule on what we have planned and the associated golf course closures.
No drop zones in the surrounds any longer, just four weeks after the first sod was laid and in the cases of #'s 2, 4 & 8 only 10 days and #'s 13,14 & 16 only 7 days. The sod itself has already rooted down but is uneven and not an ideal playing surface yet. We have already started mowing most of the surrounds and adding topdressing so it won't be long before it is smooth and playable. In the meantime bump you ball (preferred lies) and avoid the newly sodded steep bunker faces if you could please.
#17 fairway has been mowed several times, rolled a couple & topdressed once since sod installation only four weeks ago today. Additionally we have made a first pass seeding of the rough that was dried down to facilitate construction traffic. No time frame on opening #17 yet as we still have to lower the cut in the fairway, continue to topdress and roll to get it smooth, install yardage markers and new bunker sand just to name a few things on our punch list. A clue to when we will be close to opening is when you see the rough start to fill in and green up.
Newly sodded steep bunker fingers should be avoided for just a little bit longer please.
Enrique topdressing #17 fairway on Monday 8/26/19 just under four weeks after installation.
Executing the type turf conversion / renovation work we have recently done around most of our greens surrounds while remaining open to play has some inherent confusion for all involved. It's not ideal to do this kind of work while open but not ideal as well to inconvenience Members who want to play their course. We have coexisted well over the last 24 days and I want to thank you and assure you now that all of the sod is down on the ground that:
You can't hurt this turf, that's one reason we are switching to it.
It won't be long before its playable.
We still have some work to do to get it playable.
Starting today, Friday 8/23/19 we have opened the surround holes that were sodded early in the process albeit just two weeks ago as well as re-established Drop Areas for the holes where sod was installed within a week.
Open Holes With Preferred Lies In the New Sod - #'s 1,9,10,11,12,15 &18.
Closed Holes With Drop Area - #'s 2,8,13,14,16
Newly sod on bunker finger #15. This sod was installed only 11 days ago and is solidly rooted into the soil. That being said we want to protect the sod on these steep slopes from damage so we are asking members to keep off these areas until fully established.
Even holes that are open have GUR or Keep Off designations on the steep bunker fingers that are most susceptible to sod dislodging. We anticipate all holes with the exception of #17 being open with preferred lies in the new surround sod next weekend for Mini Mac. More updates to come on process and progress to get all of our new turf completely playable.
Thanks for you patience.
#17 Fairway on Friday 8/23/19 only 15 days after completing sod installation. We are already only watering it every other night and have mowed it three times. We still have big punch list of things to do to get this hole open again to golf play. More to come on that.
Another image of #15 sod only installed 11 days ago. We are now playing preferred lies so bump your ball and give yourself plenty of relief from sod lines.
