The bent collar replacement and bunker drainage works have been successfully completed on the 13th east this week, with 200 to 300mm of sand excavated and replaced around the green edge and collar before resodding with A4 Bentgrass from our nursery. The guys did a very good job of shaping the collar, and once established the turf should blend very well with the green.
Couch that had established itself in the putting surface has also been patched out, which hasn’t blended quite as well due to the fact that we don’t have a nursery green to sod and plug from. The majority of the nursery is mown at a different height, and has different characteristics to the turf on the in play greens, which leads to some differences in the surface. Over the coming weeks with some mowing, rolling and sanding, the patches should integrate into the putting surface and not be as noticeable.
Upon completion, the new collar and couch surrounds was sprayed with a mix including fertilsers, pigment and fungicides to assist with establishment, which is the cause of the bright green colour that is currently evident. In a week or two, this colour will diminish a little and look a little more natural.
Bunker drainage was also completed successfully, and new sand has been added to all of the green side bunkers on the 13th. It is the same sand we had originally selected during construction of the East course; however we have chosen to put the sand through an additional washing phase to remove some of the larger material we were seeing in the sand. The new sand in the bunkers may be a little softer in the initial stages; we wet it down and compacted as well as we could, but it will take a rainfall event or two to settle it down completely.
Work has now moved across to the 8th, where we are removing the collar in a similar fashion, along with installing bunker drainage into the 3 greenside bunkers. Once again, an underground pit is to be installed in the hollow to the front right of the green, from where the drained water will be pumped away to the waste on the side of the 9th tees.
It looks likely that we will not be removing as much sand from the 8th collar as we did on the 13th, with less poor material and couch runners identified in the profile. There is however, an area of soil suffering from black layer on the front right corner of the green that is to be replaced, and a sub-surface drain line is being installed in this area on the edge of the Bentgrass collar to remove excess moisture away from the turf, which is one of the issues causing the anaerobic soil conditions.
We are looking to complete the works on the 8th by the end of next week, which will allow us to move down to the 15th east, where the bent collar is to be replaced along with some likely drainage work in the front bunker as well as on the surround to the left of the green.
Richard James
Course Superintendent