Now that it's starting to warm up it's almost time to finish the driving range floor. This includes regrading the washouts that occurred during last year's monsoons, re-leveling some irrigation heads, and re-grassing areas that are void of grass. The timing of this is important; it needs to be warm enough that the bermudagrass is actively growing, preferably with a little bit of humidity, but not so humid that you're in monsoon season!
So, we've decided on the week of June 5th to begin work. We have no set timeline on when the driving range will be able to reopen, it all depends on weather, and speed at which the grass roots and begins to grow. Our estimate is that within 3 weeks of grassing we will be able to reopen the range for normal practice.
The need for closure isn't so much the traffic from practice, but more because of Matt's team's inability to pick balls from the range while water is running! The goal is to get it ready for foot traffic within those 3 weeks. The course and practice greens will remain open during this time.
In addition, we will officially begin the rye grass eradication process later this month. This includes lowering heights of cut throughout the course, verticutting, and eventually spraying an herbicide on the grass that kills the ryegrass but has no effect on the bermudagrass. And listen, it's going to get UGLY... but this will give us an ample amount of time to transition back to a healthy bermudagrass base.