Callawassie Island Agronomy: Week 10

We continue to make great progress on Magnolia with the renovation. Grassing has now been completed on Magnolia 3-5 with 6 being worked on today. Next week, Magnolia 7 will be grassed before moving over to Magnolia 2. TDI shapers are out in front of the grassing crews finalizing the shaping on Magnolia 2 and now have begun on Magnolia 1 green complex. Our goal is to have Magnolia 1 -7 green complexes completed by the end of June. The first week of July, the putting surfaces on those holes will be sprigged with Mini-verde. Magnolia 8 and 9 greens along with the new putting greens on the Practice Facility will be grass later in July.

The Tif Tuf sprigs are coming in very well on Magnolia 3-5. They have all established and have turned green, a great sign for sprigs. Now the Agronomy Team will take over and begin to "grow the sprigs in". We expect the Tif Tuf to take 6-8 weeks to fully cover the soil. Next week the Team will begin to roll, fertilize and top dress the sprigs on a routine schedule. These processes will help the grass fill in and provide a smooth playing surface for golf. The sodded areas around tee, greens and bunkers has also taken very well. Once fully established, routine mowing will begin and the team will slowly lower the heights on tee tops, approaches and collars. The same rolling and topdressing processes will be completed on these areas to help smooth the sodded surfaces and prepare for play later this year. All in all the grassing of the first 4 holes has gone extremely smooth. These hot dry days are exactly what we need. We are very thankful for our reliable irrigation system. A grassing project of this magnitude would be impossible without a well designed functional system. The irrigation system that was installed in 2008, is working very well and is keeping up the the high water demand very well.