UNDER THE OAKS
Links News
by Tom Lipscomb, Director of Argonomy
I have some exciting news about a Special Playing Surface Improvement project we will be starting around April 1st of this year. About a year after my arrival to Seven Oaks, I was asked by one of our local Sod Farm distributors if I could recommend any
new Bermuda grass varieties for them to plant on their farm and sell. I made the recommendation of a Bermuda grass named “Iron Cutter”. I felt comfortable recommending this grass to the sod farm because I had seen it used back east, two years prior to my arrival at Seven Oaks. I had forgotten about this conversation until this year, when they brought me the very first piece of Iron Cutter grown and cut in the state of California. The sod farm is elated as to how impressive this grass looks compared to all the other new and improved types of Bermuda grass that they are currently growing. Immediately, this new grass was striking in appearance and incredible in its production of a very, very fine leaf blade and texture not normally associated with most Bermuda grasses. After seeing it the sample, I asked the Board if I could take the #5 Islands par 3 fairway and convert it to this Iron Cutter variety of grass. I was given permission to make this conversion on “THAT” fairway. My goal is to bring the absolute best playing surfaces to Seven Oaks that will set us apart from the very expensive clubs to our West. I will evaluate the performance of this new grass for the next two years for the following: how it holds up to cart traffic (the reason I chose our longest par 3), divot recovery, drought tolerance, color, thatch production, how the golf ball sits on it and any other traits this grass produces. My initial thoughts about this grass is that when I mow it down very low the golf ball will sit much higher, allowing for many different club selections to hit the ball with. At the same time of this conversion we will also “ring” the new fairway grass with Zoysia grass, which will also greatly improve the playability of the “Intermediate Cut”, which is the 6-foot-wide cut between the fairway and the rough. Our schedule to accomplish this conversion will be as follows: • Sometime around the first week of April 2025 we will make our first application to start the process of killing our current fairway grass • Second application (the same as the first) will be applied late April • Third application (a little different combinations of products than the first two applications) will be applied sometime around the third or fourth week in May. • After the third application, the fairway will be closed to cart traffic, but you can still hit your shot from the fairway. • Sprigging of the new fairway and sodding of the new Intermediate Rough will start around the 1st to 2nd week of June • The fairway will remain closed to cart traffic until the end of August/the first week in September. You can still play your shots from the fairway, only carts will be restricted from the fairway. After our two-year evaluation of this new grass we will make a recommendation to the Board; to either convert Nine holes of fairways each year to Iron Cutter or continue our search for better options that will bring our course to the front of the pack. Thank you for your patience while we look at ways to better improve your golfing experience.
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