Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Tee Construction

Frenchman's Reserve will be renovating problematic tees on holes #2, #4, #11, #14, #18, and the practice facility.  DST Sports Turf Construction will laser level and re-grass from the TifSport to Celebration Bermudagrass.  Celebration Bermudagrass has proven to withstand daily play/traffic while maintaining color and vigor throughout the winter.  See each phase of the construction below.

Tee Complex Contruction:

  1. Spray 2 Applications of Round-up to prevent TifSport contamination in the new Celebration Bermudagrass. These applications will be made over the next few weeks prior to the construction work.  The treated tees will be visibly "Blue" from the application and begin turning brown over the next 4-5 days.  
  2. DST Sports Turf Construction will cut & remove the existing TifSport from the above mentioned tees. 
  3. Roto-till the tee surfaces to prepare for Laser Leveling.
  4. Laser Level the tee surfaces to +/- 1/4".
  5. Sod the tee with Celebration Sod. 


#18 Tee Before Construction

Step 1:  Spraying to remove the existing TifSport on #2 Tee

Step 1 Complete:  #11 Tee

The final product will be a level and consistent teeing surface.  As each phase is completed we will update on the progress and what to expect on the course.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

14 day Aerification Recovery Update

14 Days after the course was aerified, the healing process is well underway. The majority of the playing surfaces have healed completely.  We are very satisfied with the aerification process, how the course is healing, and producing a healthier/sustainable turf for everyone at Frenchman’s Reserve.

#2 Green 14 days post aerification
Area still recovering but minimal impact to ball roll.  We estimate that these areas make up 10% of the surfaces.
Close up image of #2 green
#12 Fairway 14 days post aerification

Friday, June 13, 2014

2014 Golf Course Aerification

The Goal of our Aerification Program is to impact 10% of the Tif-Eagle Putting surface.  Additionally, Core aeration of Tees, Approaches, and Fairways were completed.  Our staff aerified an average of 13 Acres a day in conjunction with multiple mowing schedules and clean-up processes.  


To begin, we verticut the Greens 4 times followed by 2 mowings to clean-up.

The Toro ProCore 648 aerifies and collects the material.

Material that was collected from #16 Green. This material needs to be removed by hand and is very labor intensive.

We purchased this Toro ProCore 1298 to complete the fairway aerification program.  Additionally, we used 2 Toro ProCores to aerify around the drains, yardage plaques, and irrigation heads to assist in the fairways. 

Rain slowed down the clean-up processes on Thursday and Friday.  This extended our clean-up efforts through Saturday 5/31. Currently, 14 days Post Aerification, the course is recovering very well and is in very playable condition.