Clubhouse green revisited

I was asked yesterday why the clubhouse green is now so flat as compared to what it used to be.  The simple answer is that is needed to be rebuilt due to the original improper construction.  Short cuts were taken during construction which would never allow the green to be reflective of CCN's high standards.  The Board of Directors approved a plan to modify the surface contours to correct the original short cuts, total budget was $5000.  Large undulations can be built into a USGA green but to do so correctly means a complete removal of the old green, then a completely new green built.  The cost to do a completely new green of that size is approximately $40-45,000. To help illustrate how poorly the green was originally constructed I have reposted part of my blog which explains how a green should be built as compared to what the clubhouse green used to be.

 

 

 

Clubhouse Green Renovation Update

The work on repairing the clubhouse green is nearing completion. Here is the progress in the project thus far.

Step one was to strip off all of the existing grass. A sod cutter was used to cut the grass into strips. The strips were then cut into smaller section that were rolled up and loaded into carts for disposal.

Once all of the grass was stripped off a grid was laid out on the surface (the red dots) to tell the staff where to dig the holes down to the gravel drainage layer. This "pot holing" process is the only way to be able to check the soil profile to see where the sand depth is out of the 12-14 inch parameter for soil depth of a USGA green. The stakes are then marked at 12, 14 & 16 inches from the point and buried in the holes with the points of the stakes resting on the gravel layer. Once the grid of stakes are buried in the soil profile, it is easy to determine what action needs to be done to the surface. If you can't see the lines you have to remove sand, if you can see all three of the lines you need to add sand.

In this picture you can see that the sand is almost up to the top 16 inch line. This means in this area that approximately 2 inches is to be removed to get it to within the 12-14 inch parameter.

In this picture of the soil profile of the large humped area of the green you can see where there is almost 20 inches of sand, 6-8 inches will be removed to be within the allowable parameters. This is one of the reasons why the area was always drying out...way too much sand. 

In this picture you can see that there is barely 12 inches of sand. This was taken on lower drop off area by the pool.

Here's the solution, start moving sand with shovels and rakes. Not a lot of fun, but highly effective.



The end result is that all the stakes show a consistent soil depth of 12-14 inches...perfect for greens.

Once all of the soil depths have been corrected and are now within the 12-14 inch parameter, the surface was tilled and fumigated to sterilize the sand before planting.

The fumigation of the clubhouse green occurred yesterday, Monday - July 16th. The fumigation plastic tarp needs to remain in place for 24 hours before being removed. Once the plastic tarp is removed the soil is allowed to air out for 24 hours before planting can occur. It just so happens that I have MiniVerde sprigs being shipped here tomorrow, Wednesday - July 18th to replant the clubhouse green with. Once planted, it will take 10-12 weeks before the green is playable.

Stay tuned for more updates on the clubhouse green as it grows in