2.12.25 Maintenance Update

As we embark on an exciting and new chapter for Shadow Hawk, I feel it’s important to explain the why behind some of the maintenance practices for the upcoming closure and I’ll be providing updates as we progress with this exciting transformation on our course.

Greens

Our current putting greens variety is ultradrarf mini-verde bermuda grass.  This grass was planted back in 2014 and during this renovation, they removed the top 4” or so of soil / grass, added additional sand back into the greens profile, and planted the new grass on top of that.  

We have USGA Greens, if you look at the picture below, you can see that there are several components and layers to them.  It starts with the grass on top, 12” or so of sand beneath the grass, a pea gravel layer, and a drain pipe system at the very bottom.

Diagram of USGA specifications Putting Green

Based on my observations and conversations with our lead agronomists from Escalante and other turf professionals, it seems we have a compatibility issue between the original sand layer and the material that was blended and added 10 years ago.  This has led to a layering effect that has made it difficult for our roots to penetrate through, weakening the greens. 

We’ve made a lot of efforts over the years trying to penetrate this layer with aggressive aerifications, removing the bad material, and filling those voids with sand. These practices have helped to an extent but in order to achieve our goals for our putting surfaces, this material must be removed.

Roots are everything for a high performing bermuda grass putting greens because the stronger they are, the better the grass handles the stresses of being managed at a high level. Look at this side by side comparison of root depths. The one of the left is an example plug from # 2 Shadow Hawk. The one on the right is a typical bermuda grass green plug.

The picture of #2 Shadow Hawk shows it’s struggling to make its way through the top 2” of soil beneath the surface.  When roots are stunted like this, the plant has a difficult time absorbing water and nutrients.  

Not having root structure also leads you more susceptible to disease pressure, damage from insects, drought & freeze stress, and a whole assortment of other playability issues.  

The goal of this current greens renovation is to remove 6 or 7” of the material that’s currently on top of our putting greens to get down into our “sand layer” again and build back better on top of that sand profile. 

Once we reestablish grade after adding new sand back into the void we removed, we plant our new grass and grow in the putting greens from that point. We will be switching from Mini-Verde to Tif-Eagle variety bermuda grass on greens.

Collars / Greens Surrounds 

Collars and portions of the greens surrounds will be sodded with Tif-Tuff variety bermuda grass.  We will sod out to where our slopes / contours on greens surrounds “fall off” or peak so that the look is natural and blends nicely with the other grass around it.  

Some holes require a lot of sod, some not so much, it all depends on how the individual greens surround of each hole looks and moves with the contours. We will consult the Rees Jones design group about the original intent around the putting greens and decide where we want to mow the new sod as a "collar" cut and where we want to let it go to rough height.

Approaches 

Our current approaches struggle with drainage issues, compaction, and have some contouring work that needs to be done to allow for better water movement. 

We will address each hole individually and schedule improvements based on the needs of each approach.  

A good example of what we will be doing is here on # 14 Shadow Hawk.  The front of this green where the green surface meets the collar & approach has created a “collar dam”

It’s normal for these areas to form these over time as it’s a byproduct of normal sand topdressings we do during the growing season. We try to be as accurate with our sand applications as possible however excess sand does get into the collar / approaches which causes these high and low points at the beginning of our putting surfaces.

These areas create drainage issues as excess moisture is collected here and we tend to struggle to maintain quality turf in these spots.  We will reshape these spots to allow for a more blended look and to help aid in water movement. 

Once we work the soil and make necessary adjustments, we will use a technique called “sod to sprig” to establish our new grass.

This method has been proven to help establish the new grass faster and help assist in the grow in process compared to a traditional “sprigging” process. 

Fairways

The goal of the fairway regrassing is to give us a more uniform stand of grass and to eliminate the “common” variety of bermuda grass that has encroached over the years into our fairway stand of grass. 

A good example of our contamination is on # 14 Shadow Hawk as well. 

Some fairways have a purer stand of 419 bermuda which was planted 25 years ago while others have a more diverse stand of grass.  Over time, it can lead to consistency issues as they respond to the elements and maintenance practice differently.  For example, the common bermuda grass has very poor drought tolerance compared to the 419 so when we are at our hottest points of the summer, much of the common will struggle compared to the 419.

We will use the same “Sod to Sprig” process on fairways to establish our grass.

Summary

The overall goal of this renovation and regrassing is to elevate the playability and aesthetics of our course.  I hope this post helped answer some questions y’all might have and I’ll be doing my best as we progress throughout the project providing updates, pictures, videos, and important information as it pertains to our closure.  Please leave any comments or feedback y’all might have below or feel free to reach out to me via email.

Thanks again for being a member and hope to see you on the course soon!

Willie