Recently, I had the opportunity to visit with, 22-year Class A GCSAA member Scott Eberly at Viera East Golf Club. Scott had invited me to come see the renovation work the course is currently undergoing as he and his crew convert the Emerald Dwarf Bermudagrass greens to TifEagle Bermudagrass.
They are utilizing a no-till transition, and 13 days after sprigging the greens, they appeared to be well on their way to filling in. Scott sprayed the greens three times with Roundup and Fusillade 21 days apart on the first two applications and 14 days between the second and third application. Following the applications, the greens were verticut with fairway verticut units to help establish good sprig-to-soil contact. Prior to sprigging the greens, they were tarped with Basimid and left covered for 17 days. Scott took temperature readings and the temperatures under the tarp were in excess of 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
The process seems to be working very well for the team at Viera, despite getting a little wash from a rainfall event immediately after sprigging the back nine greens. They received 3.5 inches of rain in a little over an hour which displaced some of the newly-planted grass. Scott and his staff replanted the sprigs that moved and cut them in again. During the visit, the greens were being mowed at .160 inches and they looked very healthy as they are nearly two weeks old but appear to be at least 4 weeks along in the process.
Scott will be planting the collars with TifGrand Bermudagrass in the near future. The hope is to have the greens renovation completed by August 5 for a ceremonial first putt by the club's board of directors.
As we toured the course, Scott was able to showcase a few other projects that he's working on including some cleanup work of unwanted vegetation that was slowing down play on a few holes and the construction of a new forward tee on the 6th hole.
Scott is looking forward to the conditions he will be able to provide with the TifEagle putting surfaces and is hopeful that the rest of the grow-in process proceeds as well as it has initially. I am hopeful to get back to visit Viera East prior to their grand opening and witness the progress that is made. I was very impressed with what I saw two weeks into the process and am looking forward to seeing Scott experience the best of success with his renovation.
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| Viera East Golf Club superintendent Scott Eberly inspects the sprigs on one of his greens two weeks after being planted during his no-till renovation from Emerald Bermudagrass to TifEagle Bermudagrass. |
