Push-up golf greens-Part 2-Construction

 Golf green construction  No Responses »
Oct 272009
 

Abstract: After you’ve developed a drawing of your push-up green, you’ll need to plan the construction process to insure a successful project.

The push-up green construction project will include the following:

  • Conversion of existing design grades to plan by total-station survey or other design processes.
  • Field staking of work limits.
  • Irrigation modifications/additions.
  • Grade staking of green core.
  • Green mix supply.
  • Shaping
  • Fine grading
  • Grassing

Field staking begins by converting plan details to the work site. Define work limits by installing a survey stake  every twenty feet, then connect the stakes with paint dashes. Expand area if field conditions show a water pocket or  unacceptable land form.

Examine current irrigation routing and develop strategies to remove existing pipe and replace with new pipe. This usually involves cutting the pipe a few feet after a functioning valve. Don’t forget to mark the stub location with a stake painted orange.

Next mark out the green core, or the basin that will contain the green mix. I use 14″ depth. Install stakes every 10-20 feet as needed. Using golf green construction plans, transfer elevations from plan locations to green locations.

Using  a laser and rod, mark out subgrade and finish grade elevations. This procedure requires advanced survey skills so call in professional help if needed.

Excavate core grades. Be careful to match the outside edge of the green core with the incoming edge of the surrounding surface. If the green grade , the surrounding area must correspond with a raised form that will provide a transition.

Install  a few hundred feet of 4″ HDPE-double wall pipe installed in a herring-bone configuration in the bottom of the green.

Purchase new green mix or make it with on-site or locally available materials. Perform soil testing before committing to a suppler or blending process. Screen an extra 10% for installation overlap.

Install seedbed mix in the green core with an excavator or dozer. Compact with machine tracks to insure compaction and limit settling. Fine grade with a sand trap machine pulling a drag board, a heavy plank with a chain connected to each end. A central connection point insures that the board is dragged perpendicularly to the wheel marks.

 Posted by Ray Richard at 10:14 am  Tagged with: ,

Golf green construction scope

 Golf green construction  No Responses »
Aug 252009
 

Summary: A description of a typical golf green reconstruction in Massachusetts.

I’ve had a few inquiries about the scope and cost of green reconstructions in New England.

The scope involves:

  • Collection of survey data with a total station survey instrument. This information will be used to recreate green grades.
  • Removal and storage of existing sod. Delete storage if new sod used.
  • Removal and disposal of existing green mix.
  • Installation of new drainage pipe, if needed.
  • Purchase and installation of new green mix
  • Installation of new or previously used sod.

The cost items include:

  • Survey and staking
  • Sod removal
  • Machine and labor costs to excavate and replace green mix
  • Irrigation impacts
  • Purchase of green mix
  • Sod purchase, replacement and installation.

A recent project, done by others, cost $1,500,000 including greenside bunker work. This 18-hole private course had push up greens before the project. They installed 18 new USGA specification greens.

Additional information:

Golf green construction

 Posted by Ray Richard at 11:00 am  Tagged with: , ,

Mid-season golf green rebuild

 Golf green construction  No Responses »
Jul 312009
 

Abstract: A private golf course successfully renovated a golf green a few weeks before a big tournament.

A  private golf club scheduled a prestigious golf tournament in late-August. In late-July, one golf green failed, and everyone knew why. The green was rebuilt a few years before, and a soil supplier had delivered a load of  green mixture loaded with silty sand. The bad green mix created an unacceptable putting surface.The golf course superintendent tried to save the green, but a wet spring doomed the putting surface.

The club had to rebuild the green. In the middle of the summer. With a tournament scheduled in four weeks. A golf course contractor got the call, and I went along to assist. The criteria included the following:

*Remove the existing sod

*Remove the existing green mix

*Duplicate the green contours

*Install new green mix (that had been tested many times to insure USGA compliance)

*Install new sod

*Make it look like it never happened

The morning of the radical surgery, the golf contractor walked a large excavator out to the green site. I’ll never forget watching the machine walk across the golf green of a perfectly maintained golf course. We established control points and elevations to recreate the contours, knowing that the golf course architect would “float out” the final green contours.

Skilled golf course laborers shoveled out green mix from the edge and along the subgrade green floor (the bottom of the green mix as it meets the drainage layer). The green “core out” went well, and the contractor carefully added new green mix to the cavity. Plenty of plywood protected the work zone and collar. The golf architect went from a commuter jet, to a taxi, to a sand bunker machine, finalizing the green contours as the sun set on day two of the project.

The club had two choices on green sod: purchase new sod or use the sod from a large practice green located near the clubhouse. They chose the practice green because it had a mixture of native bentgrass, poa annua, and modern bentgrass; this was the same mixture on the other seventeen greens.

The golf contractor directed his expert sod crew to cut, roll, and transport the sod to the rebuilt green. He marked each roll with a chalk number to insure that the sod installation would be in sequence, not in a random pattern that would not look correct.

The sod installation began on a foggy morning. After we rolled the green surface, the superintendent added soil amendments.  A very skilled sod technician placed each roll of sod.  This individual had previously hand-laid twenty-five other golf greens. After gently placing each strip, he checked for edge alignment. He put his eyes two inches from the seam, and he nudged the edge with his fingers. After a final look, he called for another piece. This process was like watching paint dry. They completed the sodding in nine hours.

The following morning, the sod technician refused to use a plate compactor directly on the newly-laid sod. The sod was wet, so he operated the compactor on a piece of plywood (2′ x 4′-easier to handle). The project completed, the sod crew then installed  modern bentgrass on the practice green.

A few months later, I visited the golf course superintendent. He showed me a letter from the tournament chairman. The golfers loved the course and all the golf greens. They never knew about the green rebuild.

Additional information:

Partial green rebuilds

Golf green construction scope

 Posted by Ray Richard at 7:37 am  Tagged with: , , ,

Golf course settled areas

 Golf fairway construction  No Responses »
Jul 282009
 

Abstract: Settled areas on golf courses create water pockets and dangerous conditions for distracted golfers. Here’s a few methods to fix these problems.

Golf fairway depression is not a psychiatric disorder. It’s not caused by a chronic inability to nail a three-metal. Golf course depressions are turfed areas that are several inches or more below the surrounding grade. These depressed areas can be hundreds of feet long. They create depression in golf course superintendents or golfers.

Settled areas occur when subgrade material under golf course turf decomposes or relocates. This void is filled with soil from above the void.

The primary cause of settled areas is the decay of organic fill. It’s created by improper golf course construction. Golf course contractors are known for creative disposal of organic debris. In the past, environmental regulations didn’t specify where stumps, sod, and other organic debris could be buried. Off-site disposal costs are expensive, so many golf contractors buried organic materials under golf fairways.

The worse case of organic decay I’ve seen was under a top-tier golf course in the Northeast. A not-very-experienced golf course builder constructed the course in 1967. Faced with a huge volume of stumps and wood-waste, he buried this debris wherever he could, usually when the golf architect wasn’t looking. He chose the location of a golf green as a dump site. Gradually, the golf green settled and this began a yearly ritual whereby the golf super removed the green sod. After installing a few shovels of green mixture, he returned the sod.

We were asked to fix the problem. While doing a bunker renovation on this course, I asked a golf course shaper to view the settled green. He took one look and said, “I’ve got the cure.”

He moved his large excavator to the edge of the green (on plywood so no damage occurred). We marked out an area 20’ by 20’ on the putting surface, and he swung the big bucket around. Much to the horror of several members lounging on rocking chairs, he dug down about ten feet and removed three huge stumps. He eventually removed three truckloads of organic waste, concrete, and assorted other junk. We filled the void with clean gravel fill, added a 14” layer of greens mix, and installed new sod. The green is in play today and everyone has forgotten about the settled area.

Deep freezes in the Northeast can relocate large rocks creating settled areas. The rocks that cause these depressions usually can be removed and the void filled. Large rocks or ledge require localized filling of voids.

I wrote the following specification for a golf course with thirty large settled areas located in fairway and rough areas. The contractor buried  wood-waste in fairway and rough areas, and these areas settled a few feet. Someof the settled areas are 100 feet long and 50 feet wide. The settled areas include decomposed organic material, or compost, and solid wood waste (stumps). I proposed to mix the compost with sand, creating a stable fill material. The course has a cheap supply of drainage sand nearby, other fill can be used. The solid fill will be removed and transported to an off-site organic waste facility.

  • Stub all irrigation within work zone. Use a large excavator (Cat 312 excavator) to open up the settled area.  Use plywood as needed. Go wide on the excavation to include some bordering areas. Mix and ompact the decayed material with the excavator bucket. If possible,  compact the fill with an excavator mounted vibratory plate compactor.

You’ll have a final grade 1-2 feet or more below final grade after mixing. Apply a  geogrid fabric, or HDPE neting, on top of the compacted fill. This product come in rolls and it provides an integral connection to the fill. Install a layer of geogrid  on top of the subgrade material,  add 6″ of 3/4″ stone, then sandy fill to grade. Install topsoil 6″ over grade to allow for any settling and seed/sod. Add a few mounds and golf forms so the fill doesn’t look like a burial pit.

Golf course depression can be cured. You don’t need Prozac or Welbutrin. The right fix will increase your golf course playability.

More information:

Golf course fairway leveling

 Posted by Ray Richard at 6:59 am  Tagged with: , ,

Golf Green Partial Rebuilds

 Golf green construction  No Responses »
Jul 142009
 

Summary: Partial green rebuilds replace only a portion of a golf green. The management problems caused by two different subsoils should be considered in relation to the cost to rebuild the entire green.

Well-intentioned superintendents try to save money on partial golf green rebuilds. They want to fix an unusual contour, or add some square footage to increase cupping area. The membership loves the idea, but they are shocked by the cost of green mix: processed sand, soil, compost soil that is installed 14″ deep on the green sub-grade.

To lower construction costs, the superintendent chops the most expensive item. The tee mix detail is modified to include only the area under the green rebuild. The existing tee mix remains untouched under the undisturbed part of the green. The old mix is full of thatch, with an outdated soil probably consisting of heavy, black soil or silty sand.

The construction budget will be reduced, but the reconstruction will cause a maintenance problem for the superintendent. Two different mixes create two different management requirements for one green.
I tell my clients to spend the extra money for a complete green mix replacement. This is a great time to remove all the old mix, install drainage piping if eeded, and install new USGA spec green mix.

The existing grades can be copied with a skilled total-station survey technician. The existing sod can be numbered with chalk and re-installed in the same location as before (allow for some shrinkage). And the superintendent will have a uniform area of golf green mix to maintain, without any any complications. It will be cheaper in the long run.

More information:

Golf green construction

 Posted by Ray Richard at 7:42 am  Tagged with: , ,
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