Fescue Seeding

The seeding rate for the new 'fescue' area is a maximum of 20#/acre. The 'book' rate is 40-60#/acre. We use a lower rate in order to keep the area as thin as possible, at least in the short term. We seeded #5/6/7 Friday and should see germination in 7-10 days.

Fescue #6/7

Step two in the fescue establishment process is mowing the existing dead turf. The grass was eliminated using glyphosate, a non-selective herbicide. Today, Thursday August 23rd, we begin seeding.

Fescue #6 South

Yesterday we made the second application of a non-selective herbicide (roundup) to cleanup any vegetation that may have survived the initial application. Tomorrow we mow down the entire area and prepare for seeding either Thursday or Friday. It will take until 2014 for this area to fully mature.

Fescue/Tree Removal #6

The dead and dying Austrian pines between #6 green and #5 fairway are being removed today and tomorrow. This area will be seeded to fescue (like #3 and #14) next week. It will take 3-5 years for this area to fully mature.

Fescue Update

Both the new "native fescue" areas are doing great, mostly due to the drought conditions. In this type of water deficit the annual bluegrass cannot get established, giving the fescue an opportunity to thrive. This golden brown look will remain for several more weeks. You will see some weed growth as the summer progresses and we will either make an herbicide application or simply pull them by hand.

Fescue Seeding

The seedheads on the fescue native areas are just finishing releasing their pollen. The stems to these seedheads will soon turn brown and give the areas a different appearance. It will remain this way until late summer or early fall. The dry spring we are having is very conducive to the establishment of these areas because undesirable weeds cannot establish themselves.

Fescue Update

The three 'fescue' areas are progressing better than intended. Number 6/14 South is maturing nicely and the new area behind #3 green (seeded last fall) is looking good for its first year. Naturalizing fescue takes patience and it demands no water or fertilizer, so growth is slow at establishment. It is particularly challenging on the organic, moist soils of the Midwest.

These areas are coming along as expected, but will take 3-5 years at minimum, to fully mature.  Perhaps the best area so far is between 12 and 14 North Course. This was seeded in the spring of 2011. It gives us a comparison with the fall 2010 seeding we did on the South Course. Perhaps by chance, the North spring seeding seems to be doing better.

The seed heads on fescue will open and turn brown sometime in the first two weeks of June and remain that way until fall. At full height, it should be no more than 24".

The feedback from members has been overwhelmingly positive and these naturalized locations will only get better in the years and decades ahead.

#6 South



#12/14 North - looking at 14 green







#12/14 North - looking at #12 green



Seeding New Fescue Area #4

Today we seeded the new fescue areas left of #4 and behind #3 green. We are using a blend of 40% Sheep fescue and 60% Hard fescue.

It will take 3-5 years to mature but we are confident it will continue to improve the aesthetics of the South Course. The feedback so far has been very positive.

Fescue Fall Mowing

The existing fescue area on the South Course was mowed yesterday. Applications of herbicide are more effective if the product can reach the low growing weeds and for that to happen we need to cut down the grass to a reasonable height. Mowing also eliminated volunteer trees that sprout from seed.

This is a routine practice that in future years will occur later in the fall. On relatively young fescue stands it's important to get this mowing completed early so seeding can also take place while temperatures favor germination.

South Course Member Improvements

Rees Jones has made several "tweaks" to the South Course; minor improvements to help with member playability. In addition, he added more fescue areas. We will begin site preparation for the fescue behind #3 green and left of #4 fairway tomorrow. Both of these areas were vendor compounds and corporate villages during our prior championships and set up well to "go native".

Roundup to kill the existing vegetation will be applied tomorrow and seeding next week. Today and the remainder of this week will be spent removing the dead/poor quality Spruce and Pine trees in these locations.

As with the fescue area between #6 and #14, it will take 3-5 years to fully mature.

North Course Fescue

The North Fescue area between #12 and #14 was seeded this spring. It gives us a comparison to the fall seeding last year on the South Course.

As you see, the annual weeds are getting aggressive. We cannot safely apply herbicides in this weather so we'll plan those applications for October. It will be spectacular next year after a full season of maturity.

The seed varieties we used on the North are the same as the South but in different ratios, so the look will be similar.

Fescue Update South Course

The area between #6 and #14 is progressing well for its first season, exceeding expectations. As stated prior, it will take 3 - 5 years to fully mature, but so far, we're very happy and the feedback has been great.

The creek bank (that looks green) will need some attention and will also eventually look like the remainder of the area. We are applying a herbicide this week and again later in October to remove most of the weedy grasses along the creek.

Also in late fall we'll be making another herbicide application to remove or reduce the annual bluegrass throughout the native area.

Fescue

The fescue (native) area between number six and 14 South is progressing well. The seed heads are starting to mature and in another month will turn brown. The blue color you see is from the sheep fescue, the greener grass is hard fescue.

The annual bluegrass (poa annua) is quite thick and will require an application of herbicide this fall. If we can get the annual bluegrass under control, it will make the stand much thinner and more playable.

Give this area three to five years to fully mature.

Fescue Update

The fescue (native) area between #6 and #14 South is progressing nicely. If you look closely, you can see the fescue as the grass that has a blueish color.

The wet spring has not helped as fescues do not generally like waterlogged soils ... annual bluegrass does. Poa annua tends to make fescue stands more dense but I am confident we can keep it under control with growth regulators and herbicides.

This area will be a spectacular addition to the South Course, bringing back a little Donald Ross atmosphere to a championship gem.

Rock Pile

The pile of boulders left of #6 fairway South will remain there. We found these rocks while preparing the area for the fescue seeding. They were too large for us to move with our equipment so we decided to leave them in place.

Donald Ross was known for using stones and boulders that he found during construction as features on his golf courses. Either leaving them in place or covering them with soil to avoid moving them off site. It is possible that these boulders were stored left of #6 during the original Ross construction and remained there until we found them, so it seemed appropriate to let them stay.

Seeding Day!

Today we seeded, dragged and rolled the fescue area.

We'll see green sprouts in 10 - 14 days.

Seed Bed Preparation

Today we prepared the area for seeding. Scalping the turf down to about 3/4" allows the seed to reach the soil surface and leaves just enough matt layer behind to prevent erosion.

We also "punched" holes that will give the seed a safe place to germinate.

Up next: seeding on Thursday.

Irrigating

Irrigating prior to seeding helps any remaining grass plants uptake the herbicide. It also removes any excess herbicide from the surface so new seedlings are not adversely affected.

Pre Seeding Preparation

To be certain we have 100% kill on all existing vegetation, we made a second application of herbicide. This will delay our seeding by about 4 days but is still within the window of opportunity for good establishment.

The photo on the lower right is the area left of #6 fairway.

Next up: irrigating to dilute any excess herbicide; verify irrigation for watering seed.

Fescue Area Herbicide Application

Glyphosate is a non-selective, systemic herbicide effective in killing grasses, broadleaf weeds and woody plants ... and some non-target vegetation too if allowed to drift. Today we spayed all 3.4 acres between #6 and #14 with Roundup (Glyphosate). You should see the turf begin to turn brown within 72 hours, certainly by this weekend you'll notice where we sprayed.

Next up: Preparing the seed bed Thursday and Friday of this week.