The Country Club at Loch Lloyd Golf Course Maintenance Update Jeff Steen CGCS Director of Golf Course Maintenance
This is a quick update regarding the planned sodding of isolated areas in our fairways. I recently drove to Jefferson City to visit Select Turf where I was surprised to see the continued flooding; even the local airport runways were under water. As you will notice in the pictures attached, the turf farm is experiencing the same challenges we here at Loch Lloyd have faced. All low, poorly drained areas have not, and will not, recover. Areas of the farm that are in good shape are tough to access with equipment due to the continued saturated subsurface. With that said, we have planned on re-sodding nearly ½ acre of fairway turf, to be completed by the end of the month. We hope to prep areas next week, July 15th and 16th, and then have turf delivered and installed the week of July 22nd. Again, this is all dependent upon the farm being able to harvest the turf. It is imperative that everyone realizes that many of the thin “spider-webâ€? looking areas on the fairways are not being re-sodded. The Zoysia that is slowly creeping back in will be a much stronger and healthier plant than any newly sodded areas moving forward. I have been asked why we cannot simply get sod from another turf farm. We have decided to use the same source as our current turf on the fairways. Select Turf was the farm that provided all of our original fairway Zoysia and therefore we have remained patient to utilize existing turf from the same source. It would not be prudent to bring in another variety of turf from neighboring states and additional costs cannot be justified. We have contacted more than 20 other turf farms and everyone has faced similar challenges. We have chosen Select Turf and they will be providing product soon. Lastly, I wanted to let you know that we are currently putting a proposal together for the future capital expenditure of new drain lines throughout the fairways. Nearly one mile of drain lines have been mapped out. Despite the immediate need to repair areas on the fairways that are not going to recover, it is also my responsibility to be fiscally responsible and not spend unnecessary funds on turf that is going to be removed during any future capital investment. Thank you for your patience, understanding and support. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.