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element of the hole that will be grassed—which translates to a little more than 1,000 tons per acre. This amounts to an average of 780 tons for a par 3, 3,000 tons for a par 4, and 4,700 tons for a par 5. Creating a sand foundation for all the holes is one of the most important steps of the entire renovation. “The new Poppy Hills, you can go


after it with an aerial shot, but you can also take these side angles and play off kicker slopes to run the ball up into the center of the green,” says Charlton. “We couldn’t do that if we didn’t have sand that drained well. The firm and fast conditions are going to be huge.” ••• + The Green—A Very Separate Process First, a location is chosen. Then, it is conceptualized on paper—the size, shape, configuration, slope percent- ages and hole location. That drawing is handed to a skilled shaper, who goes to work in a bulldozer. “The shaper forms the green, forms the bunkers, and looks at all the slope percentages,” says Charlton. “This is all done in the subgrade—which is about 16 inches below where the green is going to be.” ••• + Checking Slope Percentages This is the first chance for the archi- tect to tweak the green, which can go through many revisions. Slope eleva- tion measurements are taken every 10 feet and spray-painted on the ground for the architect to OK. “If you get anything rising more than .3 of a foot in 10 feet, it’s too strong,” says Charlton. “You get those greens fast, and that ball’s gone.” ••• + Drainage and Seeding on Greens Once the green design is approved, drain lines are installed and layered with 4 inches of a pea-sized gravel. An additional 12 inches of sand mix is added on top of that, bringing the green up to its playing elevation. Spot elevations are taken one more time. “Sometimes your eyes fool you,” says


Charlton about the slope of the green. ••• + Better Billy Bunkers After the green is signed off, irriga-


tion heads are installed and raised to the finished grade. The area around the green is sand capped, and the greenside bunkers are finished. “There’s drain rock that goes under- neath the bunker—it’s part of the Bet- ter Billy Bunker Solution—and then it is smoothed out and sprayed with this Better Billy Bunker epoxy, which makes the bottom really, really hard, but the water drains right through it,” says Charlton. “And then you put your nice white sand on top of it.” ••• + Seeding At this point, the course is still brown. Seeding is when the course begins to pop. The putting greens are fertil- ized and seeded using a walk-behind spreader. The rest of the course is hydroseeded—a process where a tank sprays the sand capped turf with a rye- grass/fescue blend.


Just seven to 10 days after that, the


grass is germinating and growing. ••• + The Waiting Game Poppy Hills has been rooting for a dry summer and fall. Why? The less rain there is, the better maintenance can control how much water is on the golf course. While sand capping will ultimately


improve drainage tremendously, the soil and grass need a solid two-month settling period before they can handle large amounts of water. “You need 60 days of good turf


growth before water won’t rip it up,” says Charlton. The entire course will have six


months to grow before the first divot is taken. The first few holes that were built and seeded on the front nine will have closer to an eight-month window.


Special i zing in


Workers ’ Compensat ion Property & Casual ty


Advanced Claims Service Bi l ingual Loss Cont rol Employee Benef i ts


S e r v i n g c l u b s ’ n e e d s s i n c e 1 9 8 7


Pat Hoffman 


Keith Schuler


Tony Pozas  Tom Hughes 8 0 0 - 8 7 3 - 3 7 2 5


Of f i c e s t h r o u g h o u t Ca l i f o r n i a License #0B01094 Let our experi ce guie you en d FALL 2013 / NCGA.ORG / 37


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