An exceptionally busy week with preparations for the Pro am on top of the ongoing front 9 West construction works.  Tuesday was the day that the top layer of material was to be installed in to 1W green until a 5am discovery found a 6 inch irrigation mainline had burst and had lost 80% of water in storage.  There is no rhyme or reason or foreseeable cause for these breaks but it nearly couldn't have occured at a worst time.  Fortunately the excavator was on site and was able to dig the hole quickly for us and get the repair done.  A pretty stressful day though with no water available and 7 remaining bentgrass greens drying out with temperatures well in the 30's. And a day lost on the greens project.

Front 18W tee where the irrigation main burst.

 I mentioned the "top layer" of the green above and this is the top 100mm (4 inches) which is what is known as "amended sand".  In the old days (and sometimes today) just straight sand was used to build the greens and then some fertiliser would be rotary hoed or raked in to the surface.  This generally didn't form a very consistent profile so it is much better to mix the amendments at the sand yard and then have it delivered as a blend.  I have a consulting agronomist who advises on what to include and based on the success and health of the greens last year he is right on the money.  The photo below gives a very good comparison between the "barren" base sand and the "amended" top layer on 1W.

The difference between the 2 sands is plain to see.

1 West green was planted today as was the new collar.  I mentioned last week that Santa ana would be used as the collar grass and would be harvested off our own fairways.  The photos below show the green being hand watered to keep the plant moist while the collar was planted which is evident in the middle photo below.  The bottom photo shows where the Santa ana is being harvested from on 9W fairway.  The collar is a bit more than a metre wide which will allow a greensmower to mow it and also for the same size mower to scarify and de-thatch the area.

 

1W planted

1W collar planted

9W harvesting area.