Covid Practice Plans (Green Building -- please tell me I'm not nuts!)

[DLiver]

A couple tidbits that may or may not help. Around here (SC), all of the greens are built on either 80% or 90% sand. When our course rebuilt its greens, it scraped 3"-4" of organics (thatch) off the top and still had 12"-13" of clean "droughty mix" (90% sand) left for a base.

I built a stacked sod bunker next to my green at my old house. It was pretty cool, but did require some maintenance-- nothing too arduous. Now they make very very realistic looking artificial stacked sod faces for bunkers. They used them at a course I played in Scotland and honestly you couldn't tell the difference. No maintenance required. FWIW I used my bunker a lot. My green was close to my house, and I used to hit bunker shots in every direction. That's how I discovered I had impact resistant windows.

Great project--thanks for sharing it with us.

[DShepley]

I haven't thought much about the bunker yet other than how I will handle drainage. Initially my thought was to build it shallow and use the soil I remove to mound the front of it so it has an illusion of depth. I have seen others who have braced the front with 1/4" plywood with stakes driven behind until the ground settles and the grass establishes. Alternatively, I could use some of the sod that I removed from the green surface to build up a short sod wall. Lots of options, but I'm not there yet to be honest.

[DShepley]

Nice. I have a shop on my property with a ceiling that is a touch over 9' high. I can swing in there because I am only 5'7" but haven't yet found a spot to put a hitting bay. We have a horse stall in the back and my tractor and lawn equipment occupy the front. Perhaps in the fall I can rig up some sort of portable solution. Good luck with your project!

[DShepley]

Thanks for the tips. I anticipate using my bunker a lot as well since I will be able to hit up to a 40' bunker shot out of it and my home course, (which is closed still due to Covid), doesn't have a practice bunker.

As for the sand base, I am compromising a little based on the recommendation of a local Superintendent. I will add 3" of sand on top of my soil, then till to a depth of about 5" to mix the soil. That will give me about a 60% sand mix with the rest being the farm soil below. My worry with a complete sand base is the watering effort as the sand would dry much quicker than my sand soil mix. I know the USGA spec calls for a total sand base or a sand and peat mix, but some of the best greens in this area are 60 - 70 years old built as push up greens on the native soil. For me it is a balance of effort and cost in case the project doesn't work. So, the sand mix at 60% gives it a better chance than the regular soil, and if it doesn't work, I can return it to lawn, sell my mower and move on relatively unscathed. Given that I had all the equipment needed to shape and build the green already I will be in for less than $2000 to get everything seeded and ready. One great benefit is that I was lucky to find the mower well under-priced, ($250...still excited about that).

[jholz]

All this in roughly three weeks? That's crazy.

 

I will never doubt a post by the OP. He apparently doesn't screw around.

[DShepley]

Thanks. I am a bit nervous that it might not work, but I'll keep picking away. The sand should be here in a couple hours but I'm not sure if it has dried up enough to spread it with the tractor and there is still a pile of work to do, (have to bury a water line and set up my sprinklers before seeding, build the bunker, sod the collar....it's a nice distraction from the madness going on right now though).

[DShepley]

 

Time to get busy spreading sand. Any time I have ordered anything by the cubic yard, it always shows up and doesn't look like enough. The good news is that this gravel pit is about 5 miles from my house so if I need more the delivery is fairly inexpensive.

[Ty_Webb]

This is great. I'm tempted to do something in my backyard (haven't mentioned that to the wife yet, so probably a long ways down the road). I know I don't have the patience to keep up a real green, so it's either going to be an artificial one for me, or I win the powerball jackpot and then I can pay someone else to look after it!

[DShepley]

Busy day today..... 14 tonnes of sand first moved into piles with my loader before hand raking level. Unfortunately the sand had more pebbles in it than I would have liked and I have more picking to do but it was local and very cost effective ($150 CAD delivered). This was my least favourite task so far, the raking was difficult but I shall sleep well tonight! It kind of has me rethinking my plan to use the rototiller to mix this sand with my soil below, (I really don't look forward to raking again), though I do have a drag harrow for the tractor that might work well. Perhaps instead I will spread triple mix on top and rake that into my sand before watering, leveling and rolling heavy to prepare for seed? Thoughts?

[Chip Duffer]

Looking great!

[76mpg]

This is awesome, thanks for documenting for us to follow!

[dcrocketman]

 

My green today.... been a very crappy spring so far

[J13]

Funny, MacDonald Bent was created by my friend and top agronomist in the country, Steve MacDonald. At his testing ground he has a putting green that is like 100yds long, not kidding. It's used for testing different things but it's literally the largest green I've ever seen.

[DShepley]

Nice! What part of the world do you live in? We have had a confused spring it seems in South Western Ontario, (halfway between Windsor and Toronto). We woke up to 3 inches of snow a couple days ago and tonight is supposed to be -7C. Plugging away though.

[DShepley]

That's a huge green! I played The Gailes a few times in Oscoda Michigan and the 18th green is 55 yards deep. I left my second 20 yards short of the green to a back pin and it was totally mind altering! I had a 3/4 lob wedge and could have kicked the ball onto the front of the green.

My bentgrass seed has been delayed due to Covid though the friend who works for the company says that is should be in by Friday. I'm hoping to get a rush on green prep and get some water lines run out to the green so I can seed this weekend. Our weather for the next couple weeks looks good for seed germination.

[dcrocketman]

I live in Buffalo NY

had flurries today..... we are so far behind in growth it’s crazy

 

[DShepley]

UPDATE!!! After leveling and raking today, (I was spent), I thought about not running the rototiller over the green to mix my native soil with the sand and instead had an idea of spreading some triple mix before seeding. After filling my belly and having a quick well deserved, (by my own admission), beer, I had a quick chat with one of my superintendent friends. The point of me mixing my soil in a roughly 60/40 mix of sand and soil was to hold some organic material in the soil for water retention. This is especially important since I don't have an irrigation pond! HA! So....out I went, gave myself a stern talking to for nearly cutting a corner and I fired up the tiller for a pass through. It also gave me an opportunity to pick out some more stones. Tomorrow I will make another run or two in order to break the soil up finer. I will then, rake it, (perhaps pull my harrows over it with the tractor), and get it ready for rolling. It was a big day, but I enjoyed it! An added bonus was that the dump truck did very little damage to my lawn which made me happy!

[DShepley]

I spent an awful lot of time in East Aurora NY with my previous employer. I worked for an animal feed company that owned a mill in Strykersville NY. Crossed at Buffalo to get there, (it's a 2.5 hr drive from my place). Our weather has been similar to yours.

[DShepley]

Another round of tilling completed today, followed by a hand raking and a twice over with my small roller. We are expecting rain tomorrow and Friday and if so, I will roll it again when it is wet. There are a few humps and bumps that I can hopefully level out with the roller before another couple passes with the back side of my 3' rake to knock off the high spots. Perhaps being picky, but the more bumps I can remove now, the less I will have to level via topdressing to avoid my mower scalping. This afternoon I am going to wrangle all of the spare hoses I have to determine which ones I can bury under my sod to run my sprinklers.

[justasgood]

Fantastic work so far.. every time I visit this post I have to take a handful of Advil.......

[DLiver]

Are you going to do the grading by hand? Do you have anything with which to measure slope?

[DShepley]

I have a 3' landscape rake that I will knock the high spots down with. I also have a harrow I could drag with my Kubota but I'm worried that will make a mess.

[dcrocketman]

Looks great so far!

 

keep rolling it or you can use the greens mower with the reel turned off

[DShepley]

I'll try the greens mower, it might actually be heavier than my roller. That will at least give me an idea of areas that need leveled. Tonight I took a first run at my sprinkler set up. I picked up two Rain Bird gear drive sprinklers, (step ins), that report a 32' radius. They shoot more than far enough individually, though I suffer too much pressure loss at the end of 160' or so of hose. One of the spare hoses I used is only 1/2" so I may see if the problem is any better switching to a 5/8" hose. If not, I'll install a tee at the green with two shut offs so I can turn the sprinklers on independently. The sweep on the rain birds adjusts quite handily and they are really quiet.

[Nels55]

@DShepley, I have been following your project with interest thanks for posting! I am curious if the hose is a temporary solution for a sprinkler system? I am interested as I have installed a number of DIY sprinkler systems with varying quality and results...

[DShepley]

Thanks for following this crazy adventure. The hose is temporary until I know if the project will be successful. My plan, for now is to bury the hose just under my sod, (I do this to my vegetable garden as well), and connect it via quick connect to my hose bib when needed, (this way I don't have to reel it in and out every day and my step in sprinklers can stay there). I live on a rural property with a well and pressure system and we have always suffered with low water pressure on our hose especially the greater the distance we run it. Part of the reason I want to run a set up from the hose bib is to give me the option to rig up a pump system from rain barrels as well. Once I get everything running and start watering my seed, I will post a video. (I guess what I should say, is that it is temporary unless it works well at which point I'll just ride it out!)

[Nels55]

@DShepley, well... I would say that 1" pvc is only $8.67 for 20 feet at Home Depot and maybe you can get it cheaper so it might be better just to run the pipe out there now? Even if the green does not work out you will have a nice water spigot out there. Also based on my past layouts you will need at least 4 sprinklers to water that large of an area. Sprinklers have to overlap in order to work correctly. 'They don't water themselves' as the sprinkler layout expert told me and I have verified with one of my own failed layouts. You don't want brown spots and something as sensitive as a putting green needs to be watered exactly right I would think. I do live in an arid area so maybe it is not as much of a problem where you are due to the rain that you get? Just my two pennies worth I guess...
Edit: I should have said 6 sprinklers.

[DShepley]

6 sprinklers for 1200 sq ft seems like a lot. I'll get a workable layout above ground before I go burying anything. In the event that the golf green doesn't work, I don't need to have water in that corner of the yard. Until I'm reasonably confident that this will work in the long term, the solution will be homemade.

[Nels55]

@DShepley, based on 32 foot throw the sprinklers need to be no more then that distance from each other to overlap. Sprinkler setups are easy for rectangles and more difficult for curved areas. The superintendents that you know would be a much better resource then me for the correct setup and I would talk with them before you lay out any system! I suspect that proper, even watering is one of the most important factors in succeeding with this project... Wishing you the best!
Edit: Here is a reference that you may find useful: http://www.grounds-mag.com/golf_courses/grounds_maintenance_designing_irrigation_greens/

[DShepley]

Thanks, I think I may be able to get away with two, at least start there. The green at it's deepest back to front is about 30' and at it's widest is 50'. I plan on putting both sprinklers behind the green running slightly more than a 180* sweep and they will only be about 20' apart so one will overlap the other.