The first fairway was recently expanded to shorten the distance from the tee. Players on the gold tees faced a 90 yard carry that has been reduced to 45 yards.

After we mowed, the turf turned brown due to the shock of cutting half of it's length at one time. Normally, you should never cut more than 1/3 of the leaf blade. With common bermuda, there isn't much need to worry. The turf is already very thick and playable and the brown color should fade to green in the next 2 weeks.

You may have noticed a few other areas that have been cut a little shorter. #8 approach, facing the lake, has been expanded to improve aesthetics and playability. Every time a shot landed on the false front it would roll down and stop a foot inside the rough cut. Now there will be a little more variety as the ball might come to rest in the short stuff. You then have a few more options to play including putting up the hill. #9 fairway is being widened towards the levee to provide a fairway lie for balls that kick off the slope. We are also maintaining the slope at a 1/2 inch less than the normal rough to discourage a side hill lie. The final spot is #4 tee. We are mowing most of the upper portion at tee height to provide a hybrid bermudagrass nursery. We will use this turf to fill in bad spots on tees or fairways. Please bear with us while the turf recovers from this aggressive cutting. All of these spots will green up in a short time and will compliment the rest of the course.