And Then They Were GREEN!

The greens were painted for the first time on Monday December 5th.  The paint is a specially formulated latex paint for use on ultradwarf putting greens.  The entire process took approximently 7 hrs to paint all 18 greens, putting green and nursery greens.  The 2primary reasons we paint the greens is to provide definition of the the dormant (brown) putting surface against the dormant fairways and to attract and maintain heat throughout the winter which will help the grass emerge from dormancy in the early spring.

Crew members using special equipment to apply paint to greens.

Welcome to the Hope Valley Turf Blog!!!

The maintenance team would like to welcome everyone to our blog.  This site will be dedicated to providing information on turf management, special golf course projects and other events related to the staff and/or maintenance of the golf course at Hope Valley Country Club.  We welcome all comments and hope you find this site informative.  The first several posts provide photo's of our putting green conversion to Champion bermudagrass this past summer.

The Grow In

Planting Day.

Week 1.

Week 3.

Week 5.

Planting Day

Champion Turf Farms arrived early on July 8th.

The sprigs were spread by hand.

Rolled to provide good surface contact.

Topdressed with sand.

Three inches of rain at lunch and we got to do it again.

Removing the Mat -- Step 3

Removing the existing thatch and plant material.

Removing thatch and plant material.

Still preparing the greens for planting!

Aerifying greens surfaces.

Aggressively verticutting to prepare soil for sprigs.

Ready to plant!

Conversion To Champion Ultra Dwarf Step 2

Cutting out bermudagrass areas from green edges.

Removing bermudagrass collars.

Ready for sod.

Digging out bermudagrass from green surface.

Conversion to Champion Bermudagrass -- Step 1 -- Killing the Bentgrass

Reclaiming bermudagrass encroachment from edges of greens.

Glyphosate + Activator Herbicide application.

Rolling herbicide combination for proper surface contact.

The 'Kill Team'!

A job well done!!