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