What a great renovation we have had so far.  This project has gone better than we ever could of expected and we are grateful.  Perfect, and we mean perfect weather has been the norm for this project.  Who would've thunk? 

Nothing works perfect.  Here is the 18th fairway with some difficult areas not yet filling in.  They will eventually.

 

 

Here is some of our finest soil found on the 3rd fairway during construction.  Yep that's rock only several inches down and probably the issue on 18.

 

 

The 3rd hole starting to take shape.

 

 

Covering the bunker drains before the rain on Saturday.  We received 1.1 inches of beneficial rain.

 

We decided to seed the 3rd hole entirely with the great weather we are experiencing.  Forty yards of compost were added to the soil to improve the seedbed.  The compost was rather "fragrant" but it should grow great turf!

 

 

 

Working the compost into the existing soil.

 

 

Followed by seeding.

 

Curlex fiber matting was laid down over the entire seedbed.  This will enhance establishment of the bent on bare soil. The mat will be removed once the seedlings are rooted in.

 

 

The 5th tee work has begun as well.  Here the concrete wing wall at the lower end of the spillway is being cut to grade.

 

 

Subgrade of the green tee with the concrete removed.

 

 

Cutting soil for the red and white tees and moving it to the championship tee.

 

 

Working on the back tee.  This is going to be awesome!

 

 

The first mow on number one.  Only twenty days after planting!!!

 

 

Quincy loves Crystal BlueLinks bentgrass.

 

 

Number 16

 

 

Moonlit fairway number 15 on September 20th.

 

 

Hole 7

 

 

Number 12 looking from the green.

 

 

New cart path at the 16th tee.

 

 

Pylex herbicide with the second of three applications. There is a temporary yellowing of the tall fescue and hopefully a permanent browning of the bermudagrass.

 

 

Not a bad way to start the day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the seventh day the Springfield Greens Crew completed seeding the course and took a rest!  We hit perfect weather for the most part and were able to complete seeding on Wednesday.  Perfect conditions initially allowed us to see bentgrass germinating in four days!  Hot and humid conditions  paid us a short visit this week before the cold front came through last night with beneficial rainfall and no washouts.

 

The very first seed pass on one fairway.

 

 Seeding perpendicular to insure the best germination.

 

 

 Once the tractor is finished small seeders are used to ensure the fairway edge is maintained. Notice the red line.

 

 

When the fairway is complete the roughs are next.  Here David is seeding on the outside of the red line.  By doing this we are able to have excellent definition between the two types of turf.

 

 

 

 The tractor then follows seeding the rough.  Luis goes over each pass twice.

 

The roughs are then dragged to improve seed to soil contact followed by an application of starter fertilizer.

 

 

Finally we can turn on the water!

 

 

The ninth fairway eight days later! The tall fescue rough takes longer to germinate.

 

 



While all this is going on we also aerified and seeded the greens and collars.  Weak greens 3,4,5,10,12 and 13 were double aerified and seeded in a procedure similar to the fairways.

 



Bentgrass is tiny and difficult to calibrate at the correct seed rate. There are approximately 6-7 million seeds per pound!  No wonder it is hard to see.

 

 

Five fairway Friday morning one week after seeding.

 

 

 Friskey's plaque is next to McPherson's by 15 lake.  Many thanks to Bill Darden for taking care of this.

 

It is raining today so our second Glyphosate (Roundup) application has been postponed until Thursday.  The chemical is rainfast after one hour so the previous days spray is fine.  Everything has gone according to plan so far.  We have an excellent seedbed prepared so the only thing left is to get the seed into the ground.  Today's rain should be beneficial for planting next week by providing ample soil moisture which makes the seeding much easier on equipment and enhances germination of the seed.  We can't wait!

 

We seeded the test area below 16 tee on August 20th.  Here we are calibrating the tractor to seed at a rate of 300 pounds of fescue per acre.

 

 

This is the same area one week later.  Notice the new seedlings emerging around the sprinkler head.

 

Vertical mowing bermudagrass.  It is important that the bermudagrass is thinned out prior to seeding.

 

Blowing the debris into piles to be picked up.

David and Juan enjoying another trash can of bermudagrass.

 

 

Scalping the rough down in preparation of seeding.

 

A really good looking rough area almost ready to be seeded.

 

 

All collars will be replaced with new creeping bent. The dark green area has been treated with Glyphosate.

 

 



 More irrigation is required due to changes to our fairway design as well as some additional areas in the rough.  Here is some of our wonderful soil on the first hole.  Not the best growing medium to be sure.

 

 

We hope you were able to play in Lentz's Revenge.  If you missed it we look forward to seeing you next year.

 

 

Even though the tournament has my name on it the true mastermind is pictured here in 15 fairway bunker buried.  The next shot went about three feet.  Sweet revenge!!



 

Our fairway renovation really ramped up this week.  Forty-one acres were treated with non-selective herbicides on Tuesday and Wednesday.  It is pretty obvious where we sprayed and will become more apparent with every day that passes. Roundup is a systemic herbicide that is taken up by the leaves and is translocated through the entire plant.  It generally takes from seven to ten days to completely kill the existing plants.  One more application is required to work on the bermudagrass and to catch any misses.  This will be done on August 27th and 28th. 

 

 

  The sprayer in action. Who thought killing grass would be fun! Knowing what the end product will be makes this the best spray application ever.

 

 

Prior to the herbicide treatment all debris was blown from the target area.

 

 

Greens were tarped to prevent any residue from getting on the putting surface.

 

Erik and Dick carefully spraying the collar interface at the second green. We will establish bent collars while we are closed.

 



 

Roundup beginning to show its effect.  All ryegrass collars will receive only one application.

 

Test plot below sixteen tee after the second herbicide application.  These areas will be mowed down and seeded this week.

 



 

Four tons of tall fescue delivered and ready for seeding.

 

 

 

Prior to seeding we will be leveling areas in the fairways.  This is an old drain line in the landing area on hole 14.

 

 

Pylex herbicide application day twelve. The fescue has a yellow flashing that is temporary.

 

 

Another look of Pylex in action. The dark area is untreated.

 

 

Linear aeration was done on all fairways.  This type of aeration helps break through the hardpan in our fairways.  Over time the fairways will have much better internal drainage and better rooting.  This is a tough job as shown by this video and it is hard on the operator and the tractor.