#18 Green Finished

Once again, we made tremendous progress this week. #18 green has been completed with the sod being laid back down on the green on Friday afternoon. If you are curious as to how we are actually finding the original elevation of the greens, look at the picture below. After the sod is removed, holes are dug throughout the green to expose the clay. The clay is the original base and everything above is topdressing and organic matter buildup. If you look at the back right portion of the hole, you can see the lighter colored clay as shown by the arrow.  After this is exposed in all of the holes, the excavation process begins.

After excavating the topdressing material, the grades are marked as shown in the picture below.

 After coring out the green, the drainage is installed. Depending on the size, shape and contour of the green, different drainage patterns may be installed. Below is an example of the typical herringbone design.

 After drainage is installed the mix is added to the green.

The mix is then compacted to reduce the possibility of settling. In this instance they are using a tractor to pack the surface after wetting the sand.

Sodding the green on a beautiful October day in the mountains!