Modification of a USGA green.
 |
| Existing green |
So what do you do when you have a
area of a green that needs modification but you don’t want to rebuild
the entire green. If it’s an older soil base green, the modification is
easy. Typically you would lift the sod, make your modification by
altering your soil profile to achieve the desired change, and then
replace the sod. After a few months of aerification and topdressing,
the green will play the same.
But what do you do if you want to make that same change in a USGA constructed green? Well, that task is a little more tricky. I recently completed this type of project at Canyata Golf Club by modifying a mound in the third green.
 |
| Sod removed |
As you can see by the photos, the green had a mound that, while separating hole locations, was too difficult to putt over and maintain. Therefore, a plan was proposed to reduce the mound and enlarge a shelf on the left portion of the green. As I said, this is a USGA green with a 12” mix layer and 4” of gravel. We could not just lift the sod, flatten the mound, and put the sod back down. We had to remove the material down to subgrade and modify the subgrade before putting the materials back. Here’s how it all took place.
Day 1 began by marking out the area to be modified and removing the sod. This project was completed in October so we had the opportunity to place the sod
 |
| Excavation of mix layer |
aside and not worry about it dying over construction. This was completed in the morning and we began excavating the mix layer that afternoon. The mix was hauled off and stored for reuse. This not only saved money, but by reusing the existing mix we are able to keep consistency in the green. This completed day 1.
Day 2 started by removing the gravel layer. We had to dispose of this layer as the gravel does not come out clean. It becomes contaminated with mix from above and soil below. Once the gravel is
 |
| Excavation to subgrade and exposed drain tile |
removed we could locate the drain tile and make sure these are clean. That afternoon we worked on modifying the subgrade and creating the finished grade of the new putting surface. The new gravel layer was installed and the mix was placed in the green.
Day 3 was when it all came together. The first couple hours of the morning were spent by fine grading the mix. Once this was complete, at about 10am, the golf course
 |
| Placing materials back in the green |
crew came in and we began resodding the green. I worked with the crew by raking out the green prior to sod placement. This insured a smooth surface. Once the sod was placed, it was watered in and the area rolled with the green roller. This was all completed by 4pm that afternoon. In three days we had modified the green in question.
For the rest of the fall and next spring they will continue to topdress and roll the green.
 |
| Ready for sod |
They will also mow the green at a slightly higher height of cut while the sod nits. Once this happens they will aerify the green a couple times. Next spring they will begin lowering the height of cut until it matches the rest of the green.
So why did we decide to modify only a portion of the green and not rebuild the entire green? Since we only modified a quarter of the green, completing it in this fashion is a much easier approach and yields a better completed
 |
| Completed modification |
product. Not only is it cheaper and quicker, but you’re not faced with growing in a new green that is going to play differently then the other greens. Also, this allows for the remainder of the green still be used so we are not taking the green out of play. By next summer nobody will know that the work was completed. Except that they will have a much better green without the ugly mound.
No comments:
Post a Comment