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.
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| Dogwood 9 Green Complex |
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| Dogwood 8 Green Complex |
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| Dogwood 1 Green Complex |
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| Dogwood 3 Green Complex |
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| Dogwood 4 Green Complex |
Dogwood 2 tee complex will be the first area of Dogwood to be planted. Zeon Zoysia was delivered today to be installed on the tee complex of Dogwood 2. Because our golf course is tree lined and our tee complexes are in the shade most of the day, zoysia grass has been chosen for the turf in these areas. This turf provides a great surface for golf while also growing better in shadier conditions compared to bermudagrass. We have had great success so far on Magnolia with the use of Zeon and expect the same great results on Dogwood this year. All of the tee complexes will be sodded with Zeon with the Tif Turf bermudagrass being used to grass the roughs, fairways and around the greens.
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| Crews installing Zeon on Dogwood 2 tee |
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| Watering the newly insulated Zeon on Dogwood 2 |
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| Both the tee tops and slopes are sodded with Zeon |
Dogwood 1 green is really starting to come together now. the sub-grade has been completed and approved by Billy Fuller and the crews from TDI have begun the installation of the drainage, gravel layer and greens mix. USGA spec greens consist of 4 main components that are all equally important. First, the sub-grade must reflect the final putting surface. So shaping must be precise on the bottom, so as you "fill up" the green cavity the final grade surfaces is what you would like to have. Once the sub-grade is shaped and approved. The drain lines are trenched into the sub-grade. A combination of 6 inch and 4 inch perforated drain pipes are used to properly drain the entire putting surface. A gravel layer is then evenly spread over the drain lines and sub-grade to a depth of 4 inches thick. This layer provides avenues for water to move through a porous surface quickly into the drain lines and off the green. The gravel layer is then approved, before the 12 inches of greens mix are spread over the entire putting green. This greens mix is a blend of sand and peat moss, creating an ideal soil medium for putting green turf to grow on. The mix is compacted and "floated out" to final grade and left ready for planting. Below are step by step photos of this process.
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| Sub-grade with drain lines installed |
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| Aerial photo of green sub grade with drain lines and gravel layer installation |
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| Installing gravel layer to 4 inch depth |
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| Installing greens mix over the gravel layer |
TDI has really hit their stride now. Removal of the existing turf has moved along nicely and is into Dogwood 4 and 6. This process creates a enormous amount of material, but physical removal along with chemical removal ensures the best possible result to prevent the old turf from growing back. Once the removal of the old turf is complete and the final shaping of areas has been completed a third bermudagrass eradication application will be applied to kill off any remaining turf that has survived. All the stripped material is hauled to bury pits around the course. These bury pits serve as dumping areas to dispose of the old grass but also create dirt for feature shaping. The bury pits locations are placed in out of play areas and new subtle features are shaped in once the old material is buried under the excavated dirt. Below are pictures of this process.
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| Bermudagrass growing back following initial eradication application. |
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| Turf removal with tractor mounted sod cutter |
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| Bury Pit on Dogwood 2 with old grass in the bottom |
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| Bury pit filled back with dirt |
TDI is off to a great start as we begin the Dogwood renovation. Week 1 consisted of a large joint effort with the crews from TDI and our own Agronomy crew to get all the tree protection and erosion control measures in place before the heavy lifting began. Work began on Dogwood 1 and 4 during week 1and thanks to great planning and preparation, we had great success within the first 7 days of the project.
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| Silt fence installation on Dogwood 3 |
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| Dogwood 6 fairway following initial removal application |
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| XGD 2 inch pipe installation |
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| Trenching process to install XGD pipe |
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| XGD drainage installed on Dogwood 4 fairway |
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| Rough shaping of new putting green on Dogwood 1 |
Good morning Callawassie Island. We are excited as our countdown to the Dogwood renovation has entered the final days. Monday, Dogwood will be officially closed to begin the renovation work. TDI has already begun staging equipment in our temporary staging yard along Dogwood 2 off Callawassie drive. Drainage and other materials have been delivered to the shop. The Agronomy Team is making final preparations for next week and our first application of bermudagrass eradication has been made. The golf course will remain open for play through the weekend, but you will notice the grass beginning to turn brown following this application. Both TDI and the Callawassie Agronomy Team have our gameplans ready to go for Monday as we get started. First, the Agronomy Team will be busy installing tree protection around all tree locations on Dogwood. We will also be installing silt fencing around bodies of water and along the marsh line of Dogwood 6-9. Utility locates will be completed, along with all golf course accessories removal. For the first week, TDI will concentrate their efforts on Dogwood 1 and 3 working on Tee construction on Dogwood 1 and drainage on Dogwood 3. The crews will move forward from these holes working together to accomplish the plans for each hole. Please remember to remain off Dogwood once we begin the renovation work. We hope you all enjoyed the Town Hall we recently completed. For those unable to attend the drawings for Dogwood can be found on the Callawassie website. Remember to check in on the blog as updates and photos from work on Dogwood will be posted there. www.Cicturfagronomy.blogspot.com
We are all very excited to get started. Please reach out if you have any questions about the upcoming work.
Thank you for your support
Billy Bagwell
Director of Agronomy
Good morning Callawassie Island. The big day is here. Final preparations are being completed this morning for the Grand Opening of the Magnolia golf course. The Agronomy Team has been hard at work completing the finishing touches this week ahead of this afternoon's FOCI rounds and tomorrow's FOCI Tournament. Our first hole locations have been cut in, and our newly made in-house tee markers are set. We all can't wait to hear what you think of our team's incredible work to bring this day to reality.
Recap of the Project:
Drainage:
Over 17 miles of drainpipe from 2-inch to 36-inch pipe was installed on Magnolia and the Practice Facility. We have seen a dramatic improvement in how quickly the course dries after rain events. This drainage will minimize cart path only days and dramatically improve the course playability. Firmer conditions will be enjoyed allowing for better ball roll and bounce around the course.
Most of this drainage was installed on our tees, fairways, and approaches. Many high-traffic areas of the rough also had drainage installed. As we continue to learn how water moves differently around the course, we are now seeing rough areas that used to be our dryer areas become our wetter areas. The Agronomy Team has already addressed some of these areas by installing additional drainpipes. More work by our Team will continue over the coming months as we identify other areas that may require drainage support. You can never have enough drainage.
Cart paths:
Nearly 3 miles of concrete paths were installed with curbing at green and tee locations. As you travel around the course, please park at tee and green areas adjacent to curbed sections of the path. Keeping the tires off the grass at these locations will help prevent the grass from thinning along the path edges. We removed the section of the path that crosses the fairway on Magnolia 8. Extra drainage has been installed in this 50-yard stretch of the fairway to ensure dry conditions even during cart path only days. On a cart path only day, exit the path flare on the right and scatter your driving across the fairway to any point along the path section on the left side. As a trial, a grass protection mat has been installed on the left side. The grass will eventually grow through and hide the mat. Other courses have had great success with this matting, and we plan to expand its usage if we see positive results.
Bunkers:
The Agronomy Team has completed our final bunker depth checking and compaction of the new sand. We are thrilled with how well the new bunkers have performed through rain events. The playability of the bunkers will be equally improved. Please remember to rake the bunkers after play and to knock off your spikes when exiting the bunkers. Always exit on the lower sides of the faces and use the entry and exit ramps built into the bunkers on many of the greenside bunkers around the course.
Grassing:
Over 2 million sq. feet of new grass was planted on Magnolia. The Agronomy Team has done a tremendous job through this turf's growth despite some callous weather conditions from August through October. Overall, the grow-in was a huge success, and outside some minor thin areas on the last couple of holes planted, we have excellent turf coverage going into our first winter. As we discussed on our course tours, think of the golf course and the grass as a 6-month-old infant. It still has maturing to do and must be nurtured along to that maturation. With the winter months upon us, protecting the turf until growing conditions return will be our focus this winter. Please help us by avoiding obvious high-traffic areas when driving on the course. We expect most cart traffic to enter holes once the curbing ends in front of the red tee. Driving beyond this point and entering the golf hole from different points will help to minimize cart traffic damage.
Magnolia putting greens will perform differently from Palmetto and Dogwood. The new greens will be firmer, and the ball roll will be slower for the first winter. We are maintaining the Magnolia greens at a slightly higher height of cut to prevent stress on the new turf. The Agronomy Team will also continue to use turning boards on the collars to protect the turf from mechanical wear.
Overall, we are thrilled with the results of the Magnolia renovation. We expect to have some minor issues pop up via soil settling, additional drainage requirements, concrete cracking, etc. We have a 1-year warranty on all work completed by the contractor, and they will address any issues that may arise.
I look forward to seeing everyone on the course, and as always, don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Thank you, and enjoy Magnolia!
Billy Bagwell
Director of Agronomy
TDI has completed their punch list projects and has begun to demobilize their equipment. This is always an exciting time as we wrap up the...
