Hurricane Idalia

 It wouldn't be the start of September without a Hurricane threat.  Thankfully what appeared like a storm that could get interesting, ended up becoming just nice rainfall and a big mess.  Idalia stayed to our west and though it brought enough wind to make a debris mess on the course, we avoided the major tree and flooding damage that could have occurred.  In total, the island received 3 inches of rain, which turned out to be a great test for our new drainage system on Dogwood.  We made a point to walk the course during the rain to check basins and outfalls to see how well water was moving and you could hear the water flowing on the course.  A key point to remember as we get closer to opening, the drainage gets better with age.  The disturbed soil and reshaping has water "guessing" on where to travel.  We also are relying more on surface runoff early in the stage of the new course as the soil creates new pore space from root growth for water to travel through.  We are seeing full evidence of this process right now when you compare Magnolia and Dogwood.  Both courses are draining exceptionally well, but there is a difference on how quickly water moves from the surface to the drain lines and off when you go from Magnolia to Dogwood.  We fully expect Dogwood to catch up to Magnolia over the next 8-12 months and remain excited about how the course handles rain events.  

Radar as the center of Idalia approached Callawassie

Water flowing from XGD pipe  

Almost putt-able

The greens on Dogwood are 6 weeks old and have come in better than expected.  We are a full two weeks ahead of where we were at this point last year on Magnolia.  Minor tweaks to our grow in plan coupled with ideal weather have made for a very smooth grow in process on the greens.  This week we have switched from fixed head greens mowers to the mowers we will use daily once open.  These flex mowers are able to be set at a lower height of cut to achieve better ball roll and smoothness.  Also, the mowers have cutting units that "float" allowing the cutting head to move with the contours of the green and minimize scalping.  We have now lowered the HOC to .150 as we work down to a height of .125.  We will lowers .10 thousandths every week going forward until we reach our resting height of .125.  Weekly fertility and topdressing will continue to improve smoothness and uniformity.  This week will be our last week topdressing with greens mix.  The team will switch to conventional topdressing sand next week and going forward.  From a distance the greens appear nearly putt-able, a great sign with over 2 months to go before we open.  

Dogwood 4 Green

Clippings from mowing greens on Dogwood

Last topdressing with greens mix

Dogwood 3 green

We have reached August

 August is always a big month during a grow-in.  It's the month where you accomplish the majority or your lateral growth with the long hot and humid days coupled with frequent rainfall.  The last week of July checked all of those boxes.  Hot, Humid and lots of rain.  Nearly 5 inches in the past 10 days has tested our new drainage on Magnolia and Dogwood while making the planting of the last hole of dogwood challenging.  With regard to drainage, the system has passed with flying colors.  We still pinch ourselves on how well the course can handle rainfall events, yet still remain playable, while the Palmetto course reminds us of how far we have come. Bunker washouts and days of cart path only still exist on the palmetto course while Magnolia doesn't miss a beat.  The grow in of Dogwood has really kicked in now with all fairways and roughs planted. We are now playing the feed it, water it, mow it game as we count down to November.  Dogwood 6 was the last hole to be sprigged las week.  Kudos to the team from TDI for getting the work down and the holes planted before August.  This is several weeks ahead of where we stood this time last year on Magnolia.  Now we can shift our focus to the areas outside of cart paths and other out of play areas to finish up grassing.  The team from TDI will now begin prepping the bunkers for gravel, polymer and bunker sand plus begin completing punch list items within the playing surfaces.  

The putting surfaces are now 2.5 weeks old and are coming in very well.  Rolling to maintain trueness and mowing have begun along with weekly topdressing.  The greens have been cut twice and we will continue to increase that frequency over the coming weeks.  Similar to the fairways, we are now in the feed it, water it, mow it stage and the frequencies of these processes will be at their peak through the month of August.  

Sprigging the fairway and rough on Dogwood 6 

Water flying on new sprigs

Team working down heights on new tees

Dogwood 8 green 2.5 weeks old

First mow of new green

Topdressing new putting surfaces

Big Day!

The big day has arrived!  Sprigging of the putting greens is always special during a renovation and we met our goal to have the greens sprigged by July 15!  Mini-verde sprigs showed up to Callawassie Island this morning via a refrigerated truck freshly harvested from a farm outside of Camden, SC.  The team from Modern Turf joined the sprigs to plant and "cut in" the greens.  With help from the Callawassie Agronomy Team, all nine greens were successfully planted, cut in and rolled before 2:00pm today!  The Callawassie Team had the fertilizer pre-plant applied yesterday in anticipation of sprigging, so the team was able to start shaking right at 8:30am.  A pre-determined amount of sprigs were measured out and applied to each green based on square footage.  All the sprigs were shaken out by hand evenly across the putting surface before being "cut in" with a small tractor and disc attachment.  Following the cut in process, the greens were rolled to smooth the surface back out and heavily watered.  For the first 48 hours the greens will be watered continuously throughout the day to keep the sprigs hydrated until the root in begins.  We will roll the greens several times over the weekend before applying our first application of topdressing sand on Monday.  The process today went very smooth and the greens are officially planted.  The grow in timer has officially begun.

Mini-verde sprigs inside refrigerated truck

Truck was staged on Dogwood 2 tee.  Sprigs were hauled out to each green as needed to keep them fresh

Bags of sprigs staged on Dogwood 1 green for planting

Planting sprigs on putting surface edge

Sprigs dumped and ready from spreading

Modern Turf and Callawassie Team members shaking out sprigs on Dogwood 3

Cutting in sprigs on Dogwood 1

Rolling sprigs on Dogwood 2

Dogwood 8 completed product

 

Milestone Reached

A milestone is within reach on Dogwood.  We said goodbye to Ron's bulldozer this week.  That is alway a big day, as the shaping work is essentially completed.  The Team from TDI is hard at work putting the final touches on on the putting green surfaces in preparation for spins.  Also, Dogwood 5 green complex is nearly completed.  The sub grade has been completed and drainage installed.  The gravel layer has been checked by Billy Fuller and the greens mix installation is ongoing.  We plan to sprig greens on July 13th and as long as the weather holds out we will be able to grass all 9 holes!

Loading Ron's dozer

Installation of drainage and gravel layer on Dogwood 5 green

Team installing gravel layer on Dogwood 5 

Green complex prep around Dogwood 9 in preparation for sod

Floating out the putting surface on Dogwood 1

Final putting surface on Dogwood 5

Dogwood 5 green from tee.

 

Progress

Following a week of rain, the heat and dry conditions have returned and progress has really begun to ramp up again.  XGD drainage installation is nearing completion with the pipe installation finishing up on Dogwood 7 and 8 ahead of final shaping.  Grassing of Dogwood 7 green surround and around the bunker complexes was completed today and sprigging of the fairway and rough on Dogwood 7 will begin tomorrow before moving to Dogwood 8.  The shaping of the new green on Dogwood 5 is complete and ready for drainage and mix installation.  Fine tuning of the shaping will be completed tomorrow while irrigation and drainage will begin tomorrow and move though next week.  Cart path work is ongoing as the removal and replacement of the path around the pickle ball courts is ongoing 

Dogwood 8 approach drainage

Dogwood 8 drainage around the sombrero

Dogwood 7 fairway drainage

Installation of XGD drainage on Dogwood 7 approach

Dogwood 7 greenside bunker sodded and drained

Watering new sod on Dogwood 7 green surrounds

 

Dogwood 5 green subgrade

Dogwood 5 subgrade

Rain, Rain, Rain...

 The last two weeks have been filled with a steady dose of rain and clouds.  This has really hindered progress on Dogwood as TDI nears completion of the shaping portion of the Dogwood renovation.  Despite the rain the crew was able to complete the grassing of Dogwood 3 tee complex and Dogwood 6 green complex this week.  Hopefully with some drier weather in the forecast, we can get the progress back into full throttle.  Through June 23, grassing has been completed on Dogwood 1-3. Grassing of Dogwood 4 green complex, fairway and rough has been completed with only the tee complex remaining.  Dogwood 5 has been rough shaped in and is awaiting a visit from the golf course architect for approval.  Dogwood 6 green complex has been grassed and the finishing team is working on Dogwood 7 green complex now.  They will move to Dogwood 8 and 9 before falling back to Dogwood 5 to complete final prep of all 9 green complexes before putting green sprigging.  We still are optimistic we will be able to sprig putting greens the week of July 10th.  Other finishing crews will continue to prep Dogwood 6-9 for fairway sprigging the sodding with the goal to have all 9 holes completely grassed by the middle of August.  

 

Dogwood 4 green complex

Dogwood 4 fairway sprigging

Dogwood 6 green

Dogwood 5 green rough shaping

Dogwood 5 Green Complex

Shaping has begun on the new green complex of Dogwood 5.  This new green will be the final touch to having 9 very good green complexes on Dogwood.  The new green will be larger than before allowing for more hole locations and better recovery time from ball marks.  The new green will also be shifted left and forward.  This par 3 will be the shortest of the par 3's on the Magnolia/Dogwood rotation giving the 18 hole routing one long par 3, two medium par 3's and one short par 3.  The hole will have an expansive bailout and short mow area around the green that will give the player every shot option to make if the green is missed.  The false front will also provide a risk/reward to those who challenge the from hole location.  All in all this new complex will be a huge improvement from the old putting green complex

 

Dogwood 1 - 3 grassing

We have entered to exciting stages of the project on the first few holes of Dogwood.  The grassing train has begun to really move now with the first 3 holes being planted.  TDI prep team has moved to Dogwood 4 with the final prep for grassing while the Callawassie Agronomy Team has taken over care of the first 3 holes.  The sprigs on Dogwood 1 and 2 have taken and are really showing signs of life.  Dogwood 2 was rolled this week and is ready for fertilizer and its first mowing with Dogwood 1 right behind it.  Dogwood 3 was completed end of the week and the watering has begun.  

Agronomy Team hand watering new sod

Sod work on Dogwood 3 bunker

Sod work on Dogwood 3 fairway bunker and lake bank

Rolling of sprigs after planting on Dogwood 3 

Sod work of Dogwood 3 lake bank

Sod work around Dogwood 3 Green Complex

Rolling sprigs on Dogwood 2

 

Green Complexes

The Dogwood green complexes are really strong and will shine once this project is complete.  The reworking of the bunkers plus returning all the runoffs back to original intent is going to make for huge improvement in playability and shot value.  Below are photos of several of the complexes that have been either grassed or rough shaped in.   

Dogwood 9 Green Complex

Dogwood 8 Green Complex

Dogwood 1 Green Complex

Dogwood 3 Green Complex

Dogwood 4 Green Complex