Greens Intermediate and Collar Project

The collars and intermediate cuts around the greens throughout the property have become inundated with different species of turf that greatly influences the playability and aesthetics of our green complexes.  The inconsistency of both playing surfaces hinders ball roll and affects the decision-making of shots around the greens.

Have you found yourself in this situation while putting from the collars?  The ryegrass that has encroached into our collars due to past seeding practices reduces the smoothness of  ball roll and more than likely leading to your putt getting off line.

Decision making on shot selection is effected by the contamination of bentgrass and poa in the ryegrass/bluegrass grass intermediates leaving an uneven playing surface that hinders the golf swing and club selection.

 Solution:

Over the past three days, the staff have been working on the first phase of a Greens Intermediate and Collar restoration project.  The process began with stripping the existing collars and intermediates at our uniformed 36 inch width for each respected playing surface. The few pictures outline the process:

 

Once the sod was stripped and removed, we began grading the area to work out imperfections that have been created of the years.

 

Following the grade work, the process of laying the new collar started

 

Example of the finished collar on #4

On Wednesday morning, our new low-mow bluegrass sod was delivered and installation started bright and early.

 

Here is the finished product on #4

 

 

Before and After pictures:

 

#9 Before

 

#9 After

 

Example of an inundated collar on #9

The new improved and clean look on #9

 

#1 Before

#1 After

 

 



We completed seven greens this week and will finish the remaining two XGD greens on this coming Monday.  The bentgrass used for the collars was harvested from #16 fairway that will be reduced to a approach for the '15 season and beyond.  The remaining nine greens will be completed early next spring using sod from same area.  The section that was just removed will be seeded with our rough blend by the middle of next week and this process will be repeated on the sod that is removed next spring to complete the project.

Once established, the playability and cosmetics our green surrounds will have drastically improved.  Thank you on behalf of the entire greens department for your continued support and cooperation as we continue to make Longue Vue the best that it can be!