Celebration on Fairways Cancel The title field is required!

1. James Smith

   

   112 posts
   
   8/30/2014 7:08 AM

   I have a greenschairman that wouls love for us to plant Celebration on our #7th fairway. This fairway has many issues with it which causes our turf to be less then desirable. Some of the issues are large water oaks on both sides of the fairway (east and west), so shade is a serious issue as well as I have a gut feeling this fairway was built out of pump sand which is fine and compacts quickly and very hard (we had an irrigation blowout on the hole which left a 5' crater which was all pump sand).
   
   I personally do not have an issue with using the celebration other then cutting height!
   
   My fairways are a mixture of different turf species. By this I mean that 1, 5,6,7,8,9,10,11 & 12 are mostly common with some Sierra mixed in while the rest are Cheyanne or 328.
   
   We have picked the cutting height of .650" because that is where the common fairways play best from a shot point of view. I am concerned that planting celebration may cause serious thatch issues at this height. Planting one fairway as a test bunker seems like the right thing to do but I have no means in order to cut it at a different height of cut.
   Does anyone have any experience with the Celebration at the higher height of cut? how often do you see needing to verticut it if at all?

   
   
   
   
2. Andy Jorgensen

   

   1 posts
   
   8/30/2014 7:08 AM

   The Celebration is being used quite a bit down here for renovations because it tends to allow the common bermuda to blend in better than say 419 or TifSport.
   
   As for thatch....we have noticed that it tends it tends to get puffy when mowed one direction on a regular basis. Switching up mowing directions has alleviated this until we have time to verticut. Circle mowing also helps in lieu of verticutting. We have a few patches we mow at .600" that have never been verticut in the three years it's been down and has performed very well. I would think you would be fine at the .650".
   
   Just be prepared to do the rest of your fairways after your members have played on the one for a few years. Celebration provides a great playing surface and will be the example once you get it in the ground.

   
   
   
   
3. James Smith

   

   112 posts
   
   8/30/2014 7:08 AM

   Andy Jorgensen said: The Celebration is being used quite a bit down here for renovations because it tends to allow the common bermuda to blend in better than say 419 or TifSport.
   
   As for thatch....we have noticed that it tends it tends to get puffy when mowed one direction on a regular basis. Switching up mowing directions has alleviated this until we have time to verticut. Circle mowing also helps in lieu of verticutting. We have a few patches we mow at .600" that have never been verticut in the three years it's been down and has performed very well. I would think you would be fine at the .650".
   
   Just be prepared to do the rest of your fairways after your members have played on the one for a few years. Celebration provides a great playing surface and will be the example once you get it in the ground.

   
   
   Thanks Andy, I would hope they all love it so we can at least replant the bad ones. It generally takes them until July to get thick enough to get a good shot off of.