Week 9 recap
As the course takes shape and grows in I thought it would be exciting to look at hole 9 to see the expanded fairway lines and the growth of the new bent grass.  The photos below show the fairway prior to burn out, then during the burn out and then the bentgrass growth.  The expanded right fairway line is dramatic and much more aesthetically pleasing from the tee.





Other exciting progress has been watching the greens grow in and see the aggressive lateral growth of bent grass as witnessed in these photos below of the 5thgreen. Only 6 days apart!

5 green 6 days apart.  Illustrates the aggressive lateral growth 

While there is a lot of positive progress being made, it goes without saying that we are looking forward to some warmer temperatures and dryer conditions as we move through September. 
This past week  was another one of relentless rain and cooler than normal temperatures. Good news is that we are getting to a point where there’s enough germination and growth on greens to help stabilize the soils, but there’s still a few isolated problem areas on the course where we haven't yet had enough time between torrential rains to establish seed before it washes away despite the use of covers.  The green contours on 13 and the front 10% of hole 1 are having difficulty keeping up with these continued heavy rains.
In such areas where the heavy rains have displaced the seed, our action plan has included going back in with hand tools and reseeding these areas.  Slow and steady wins the race, and nature has dealt us some conditions that require patience. However, regardless of how these areas look today, I’m confident we will get to the finish line in good shape.
Once it dries out enough to get mowers on greens, we’ll be mowing them for the first time.  After being mowed, bentgrass has the remarkable ability to spread laterally very aggressively filling in thin areas.  

 1 Green erosion repairs showing some germination, aggressive lateral growth and improvement.


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