New sod for #5 Tee.

I'm sure those of you who are frequent players or annual pass holders have noticed that the zoysia tees on number five have been looking very weak and were not coming out of dormancy well. One of the benefits of having zoysia is that it is a tough grass, once established, and has very good cold tolerance qualities. The problem with zoysia is that it is a slow growing turf that is hard to get established. Unfortunately the zoysia on number five tees succumb to the unfavorable growing conditions that we face where those tees are located. Since the zoysia had a hard time getting established there we decided it was time to explore other options of turf that would be more suitable for the conditions presented on these particular tees.
As you will notice in the picture above the first step in resurfacing a tee is to remove the existing plant material.

 

 

The second step in this process is to level the tee. Ideally we would like to have laser leveled the tee so that it is a perfectly even surface but due to certain constrictions we were not able to do so. So we had to improvise and use a sand pro and an equipment operator with a sharp eye.

 

 

 

 

The variety of turf that we felt best suited these growing conditions was TifGrand. TifGrand is a variety of bermuda that performs well at a low height of cut, has excellent wear tolerance, and handles the shade better than any variety of bermuda I have ever seen. This does not mean that it will grow in 100% shade. All varieties of bermuda are warm season grasses that thrive in full sun but TifGrand seems to tolerate the shade better than most. So please don't go buy a pallet of TifGrand and put it under that "Ole Live Oak" in the front yard and come hunting me down three months later when it is all dead.  

The next step is to lay or plant the sod and cut it in.

Once that sod has been laid and cut in it is best to roll it. What this does is ensure that the roots are making good contact with the soil and will shorten the establishment period.

Be sure to water the sod generously every day until you see that it has tacked down well (taken root). It is also highly advisable to fertilize the newly planted turf with a starter fertilizer. You can tell that it is a starter fertilizer because it will have higher than usual amounts of phosphorus in it. The high rate of phosphorus will promote root growth and get the turf to take root faster and stronger.

Final Product.