Sunday, May 23, 2021

The Project 2021 - Update #19

 Golf Course Renovation Tour

This past Friday evening 5/21/21 Mike Nicoletti and I hosted our first GBGC Member tour of Granite Bay's 2021 golf course renovation since the project began over 90 days ago. We had over 30 participants and drove the course in no particular order covering progress, examples of design philosophy as well as answering any and all questions fielded by the Member Participants.

The tour lasted for just over an hour and we covered much of the course mostly highlighting green complexes that have been sodded and seeded. Additionally we covered bunker design and Better Billy Bunker liner, and the subtle changes that have been made to the golf course to both enhance the challenge for the low handicapper while creating a more open enjoyable experience for the mid to upper handicapper. Kevin Marshall will be scheduling another tour soon and we look forward to sharing even more progress at that time. Until then here are some pictures of the tour and the areas we looked at. 


Salvador Rodriguez joined by his brother Eduardo addressed the Members briefly during the tour and enthusiastically explained some of the tweaks he has envisioned for the course. 



Above are some talking points we went over with the group at the beginning of the tour.





We started the tour at the new Tilleys Putting Green and Patio highlighting one aspect of our scope of work which is enhancement of the outdoor activity facilities.




Tilleys Practice Green. The putting surface itself was recently seeded & growing in nicely.




Next we looked at the sightline opening up on #4 green. I've used this example before but if you recall prior to re-shaping the left hand fairway bunker you could not see the front edge of either the green nor the bunker.  Now you can.




Next we looked at the beginning portion of the erosion control rocks in front of the #3 green complex. Jay Abbott identified this erosion threat early in the design process and decided on using  granite rocks harvested right here on the property.



We also looked at the newly sodded green complex on #15.


Next we turned around and looked at the green complex on #13 that had actually been sodded that very day. Notice the openness of  both of the  green complexes, #15 & #13, which again is a main design concept.



A recent aerial view highlighting a birds eye view of the greens complexes on #10, #12, #15 and the very right side of #13. You can see it all starting to come together.


Saturday, May 8, 2021

The Project 2021 - Update #18

 

Bentgrass

Our renovated greens are being seeded with a 50/50 mix of two creeping bentgrass varieties that are intriguingly named 007 and 777.  Why bentgrass, how are they developed, and why these names?

Bentgrass is an ideal grass for greens if your local environment can support it.  It can withstand foot traffic even if closely mown (down to 1/10 of an inch). Bent, by nature, is a cool season grass which is why they have been uncommon in the South.  Granite Bay’s cool nighttime temperatures allow bentgrass, especially the newer varieties, to flourish.

007 and 777 are part of a new generation of “Super Bents” that are more disease and heat resistant than their predecessors.



#1 Green bentgrass seed germinating and visible 7 days after initial seeding. 12 to 14 days after seeding we will start to lightly roll and mow the new greens.

How New Varieties Are Developed

How bentgrass varieties are developed is fascinating.  If you guessed mad scientists in a lab, you’d be partially correct.  They were developed by scientists in an outside lab but they aren’t mad, they are patient.

New  varieties are grown from samples collected actual golf courses.  This has been going on at Rutgers University for over 70 years.  Some quotes from www.bentgrassdoctor.com (the website of Dr. R.H. Hurley, the world’s premier expert on bentgrass).

Over the past forty years turfgrass breeders at Rutgers have visited hundreds of old well established golf courses throughout the United States. During a site visit small patches of putting green turf are collected. The only plants identified for collecting are ones that appear to be attractive, fine textured, dense, upright growing and free of disease.

Some of the older putting greens observed are over eighty-five (85) years old, dating back to the 1920’s, and we feel that some plants collected have been growing and surviving, under the wear and tear, on actual greens, for generations.

The goal has always been to find the idealistic 'one in a million' rare bentgrass plant -- those unique plants that display improved qualities with special adaptive traits that have allowed these plants to survive on a golf green, under extensive foot traffic and low mowing, for many, many years.

These promising wild varieties of bentgrass are brought back to the laboratory (turf farm) and observed for a few years.  Perhaps only two-percent of the promising varieties will be kept for further study with up to 98 percent of the samples discarded. These two-percent are propagated, studied, and grown to produce breeder seed.  And yes, this takes time:

Having patience is most important, as it typically takes an investment in time of approximately 12 to 15 years to collect germplasm, evaluate, breed, and commercially release one new variety.




Every architect and golf course builder has their own style of seeding greens. Basically the process is add pre plant fertility to the newly shaped and compacted  sand mix surface, seed at the specified rate, and incorporate  the fertility and seed into top 1/8" of mix. Then you start to irrigate very lightly on the hour during the day to prevent the young seedlings from drying out.

Major Advantages

So now that you have 007 and 777 varieties, what are their major advantages over previous generations of bent?

·        Improved disease tolerance

·        Improved drought and heat tolerance (777 is being planted in Texas)

·        Denser growth that limits poa annua establishment

So, what about those unique names?

Dr. Hurley’s first improved creeping bentgrass variety was named L-93 after the year it was first commercialized in 1993. 

 For his next bentgrass variety, the experimental designation was DSB (Dollar Spot Resistant Bentgrass) and the year it was to be commercially released was 2007.  Following Hurley’s earlier precedence of naming a bentgrass variety by the year it was to be released, the commercial name for DSB bentgrass was identified as 007. 

 Now, with Hurley's latest creeping bentgrass the commercial name will be 777 after October 2017 when this new “super bent” variety will be commercially released for sale to golf courses.

 

 Thanks to Ed Reeder for researching and writing this update while I was in a irrigation ditch. 

Sunday, May 2, 2021

The Project 2021 - Update #17

This week we crested the 70 day mark since we first started the 2021 renovation of Granite Bay Golf Club. It's normal for these types of projects  to start off with some  uncertainty  but now excitement is building as we  see the changes to the course that Jay & Salvador envisioned and  Diamond Golf and your GBGC GCM crew is executing. 

We are starting to seed greens this week, sodding around #10 & getting #12 ready for sod, starting the shaping around #15 and finishing the concrete work at Tilley's. It was a busy week like all of them in the past 75 days. Enjoy some pictures of the weeks progress.



The final concrete work in front of Tilley's was completed this week. This was a big undertaking including substantial drainage work to eliminate flooding into the building and additional out door seating, cart parking and access. The finishing touches of landscaping and  some patio railing  are up next then the grand re-opening of Tilley's sometime in May.


Sodding around the new bunkers and green of #10


Above is the new bunkering on #12 that was completed this week. Sodding of the area slated for next week.


If you look close you can see the beginnings of new bunker shaping on #15. This hole will take on some substantial changes with reduced bunkering and wider fairway leading into the green.


The teeing area on #13 needs expansion and we need some rocks for construction so a two bird one stone solution is in process on #13.


An overhead view of the new bunkering on #12.


Overhead view of the seeding process on #4 green. Process included incorporation of multiple fertility products, seeding in 5 different directions and the light topdressing and incorporation of mulch to help with surface moisture retention on this sand based green


Overhead of #1 after seeding after a days worth of light irrigation to keep seed bed moist. Salvador Rodriguez said we should see germination by Tuesday or Wednesday and will need to lightly roll by next weekend followed by first mowing shortly afterwards. We will have 10 greens seeded or sodded by Monday and the remaining seeded before the end of May giving us plenty of time to get them playable by September.