The construction on Gray Hawk will wrap up over the next couple of days. All that remains are "punch list" items and the leveling of a few irrigation heads. All and all, the project went very smoothly.
The dry soils made shaping, grading, and backfilling a bit more difficult, and I will be interested to see if we have more settling this year than in years past.
Green, tee, and fairway germination rates have been the highest and most consistent we have seen with any of the renovations. We will mow fairways for the second time tomorrow at a height of 1". The more we can mow these fairways, the faster they will reach their desired density. We are pushing them a little more this year by using biweekly foliar Urea applications. The low overnight temperatures expected at the end of this week could slow their progress, but we will have to wait and see.
I couldn't be more pleased with the way greens are growing in. We made a couple of minor changes to the way we prepared the greens to receive seed and they have made all the difference. Greens have been mowed six times and are down to a height of .190". We will start mowing them daily until growth slows and hope to get them down to a height of .150" by the end of the season. Their density gets better by the day. Topdressing and foliar fertilizer applications will be the key to getting the greens as mature as we can before winter. Rolling will also become important as we try and smooth out all the humps and bumps created during the regrassing process.
As the grow in continues, my focus will shift toward tree replacement. With all renovations, there has to be some tree removal and it is important to replace these. Now that the holes are taking shape and we can envision how they will be played, we can start to add trees. This is one of my favorite aspects of the process. The correct placement of a tree can have a long lasting impact on how the hole looks and plays.
#5 Gray Hawk from 200 yards
#6 Gray Hawk from 300 yards
#7 Gray Hawk from 200 yards
#2 Gray Hawk green 30 days after seeding
#2 Gray Hawk green 30 days after seeding
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