GREENS GREENS
PHOTOS: PETER LONERGAN
Tif takes root In Volume 18.6, AGCSA Board member Peter Lonergan wrote about the start of the project to covert Coolangatta & Tweed Heads Golf Club’s West course greens to TifEagle. Here he looks back at the grow-in and the eventual opening of the new back nine surfaces.
Above: Between October 2016 and February 2016 the back nine greens of the West course were converted from bentgrass to TifEagle hybrid couchgrass. Pictured is the installation of the gravel layer on 12 West which was the last green to be sprigged on 25 November 36
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n the previous article on the TifEagle conversion of the West course greens at Coolangatta & Tweed Heads Golf Club (ATM Volume 18.6 – The long road to Tif, p30-32), I noted that the first four weeks of the project had been a whirlwind. Well, the subsequent four week period didn’t disappoint either as the weather held (generally) and works continued at near break-neck speed. The excavation of the old back nine greens continued to provide surprises and with some of the material we found underneath them it was little wonder why it was so difficult to grow bentgrass on them, or any greens grass for that matter. Only one green had not had zeolite added and it was always located in random areas with no incorporation attempted. Similarly, all but one green had a gravel layer and two greens had no drainage underneath the gravel layer, so to ensure consistency drainage was duly installed and topped with a new gravel layer. This was quite an expensive addition to the works programme but for the future it was the correct decision. The growing medium of the greens continued to be less than 150mm deep and this had been placed on top of some of the impenetrable material in some cases. On some of the greens, roots from invading couchgrass were found in the gravel layer, but on 10, which was the worst green for couchgrass encroachment, the ‘soil’ was so hard that no roots had been able to penetrate it! Coolangatta Tweed is a heavily treed course so the ingress of tree roots was quite severe and a lot were removed as part of the works. Interestingly, there weren’t too many evident in the
AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 19.2
actual drainage pipes that we found which perhaps further reinforced our thoughts that the water had trouble penetrating some of the profiles. We had planned to stockpile at least 70 per cent of the sand that came out of the greens in an area close by to use as fairway topdressing material to reduce cartage. This meant that we could just use our own two tonne tippers and a tractor and trailer to cart the waste material away. However, with the very poor quality of the excavated material, this then became another expensive but necessary addition to the project with the need to hire tip trucks to cart virtually all the material to our on course tipping site.
GROW-IN The last green was planted on 25 November 2016 eight weeks after first turning dirt and the grow-in phase started in earnest. We had originally planned to plant two greens at a time, but having to water the green area anyway to keep the sand in place, it was decided that we may as well be watering stolons than sand, so the greens were planted as soon as possible after final shaping was completed. While this kept the project rolling along, it became a difficult task to shuffle irrigation, mowers and spraying operations around to suit the varying needs of the eight greens. Then there was also the not so insignificant matter of the other 42 greens and playing areas on the courses that still needed our full attention. Covering the greens with 820m² of Evergreen turf covers was an art in itself with the wind rarely abating, but they were so instrumental in getting the greens established that it was well worth the expense and effort. The greens were all uncovered