Chipping Green Update

Well after a week of almost eight inches of rain we finally got out on the course to do some maintenance today.  It will take a few days of mowing to get the turfgrass back down to the heights that we are all used to, so please be patient with us.

 One thing we did today was remove the cover from the newly sprigged chipping/nursery green.  It has been nine days since Champion Turf Farms planted the green and with the very minimum sunlight we have had I was very surprised to see the sprigs greening up and trying to root down.

 The area down toward #10 tee which was added on is doing better than the original green area because of the lack of drainage in this new area and because of the high moisture holding capacity of this sand.  It might take the upper area a little bit longer to fill in but all in all it looks very good.

I am very pleased with the process of using the greens cover to protect the sprigs following sprigging.  We have had some very heavy rains over the past week and I can say almost certainly that if the sprigs had only been covered with topdressing sand we would have a pile of sprigs at the bottom of the hill.  I think the cover protected the sprigs from washing and also helped to heat up the soil or retain any heat generated during the day.  I also like the fact that the new sprig doesn't have to use any of its stored energy to emerge from a layer of sand, it can just start trying to root down.