By Ben Sims
I started in the turf industry when I was 20 years old, and I worked on a golf course for eight years in a country town in NSW called Orange. I was fortunate enough to have a lot of experience with different grass cultivars and had the opportunity to not only work on a golf course with bent grass greens but also on a hybrid couch bowling green.
As soon as I finished my apprenticeship my passion for turf increased dramatically and I was addicted to researching and learning as much as I could. I would read every article I could find online, and I bought multiple books to help increase my knowledge and understanding.
This love for turf then sparked a passion to teach others how to look after their own lawns which is what ultimately pushed me to start my YouTube channel, Lawn Tips. I uploaded my first video on the 25th of May 2017. My goal was to upload a video once a week consistently and give people not only “Lawn Tips” but provide entertainment as well. Two years later I quit my job on the golf course and went into a full-time Job on YouTube talking about grass.
In the second year of my apprenticeship, I had started to dream of owning and building my own golf course but had always thought that was a little farfetched and impossible. Fast forward to the present day and my dream has become a reality!
The Par 3 Project
My wife and I purchased a 12-acre property in 2021 and the Par 3 project was born!
Taking on this Par 3 build has presented many challenges and I have learnt so much more than I had ever expected to.
The first hurdle was making sure we had sufficient water to water the green, fairways and tees. We only have rainwater storage on the property and no access to town water. I was told that people who sunk bores in our area had very little flow and a minimal chance of water, but I decided to take the risk and sink a bore on the property. If you’ve ever sunk a bore before you know how risky it really is. You could be $30k out of pocket with a 200m hole in the ground with no water to show for it. Thankfully we found water at about 60m underground and had a flow of 500 gallons/hour which was enough to fill up some water storage tanks to then pump some water onto the course.
The build officially started on the 4th of September after nearly 12 months of rain delays.
The Subgrade
The first step in building a golf green is building the foundation which is known as the subgrade. This is where the levels of the final grade of the green are determined. This was by far the most difficult part of the whole process due to constant revisions on the final shape and undulations on my green. The final size of the green I shaped is 500m2 (the subgrade doesn’t have to mirror the finished grade but it’s important to get as close as possible to prevent movement in material and levels over time).
Subsurface Drainage
The next step is the subsurface drainage which is designed to help move excess water from the profile, so the green is playable even after heavy storms. 100mm ag pipe was used in a herringbone pattern to collect as much water as possible. 200m of pipe was used over the whole of the green surface.
The Gravel Layer
The gravel layer is also used to remove excess water from the green surface and help to prevent the sand from clogging up the drainage. The gravel also creates a perched or suspended water table in the sand, increasing its ability to retain nutrients and moisture. The gravel layer should be within 1 inch of the final grade of the green surface (100 tonnes of gravel was used at 100mm in thickness).
The Sand Layer
The sand layer is what the bent grass is established on. Golf greens are built with sand to help move water, allow more traffic, and promote a stronger, more dense root system.
The sand is 300mm thick which equates to about 260 tonnes of sand. I spent 3 weeks shaping, watering, and compacting the sand so it was ready for grass. This can be done in 2-3 days, but I sowed my surrounds during this time to prevent soil eroding onto the green itself.
Sowing The Green
On the 23rd of February, I sowed the bent grass into the sand. I watered the seed 4 times a day to help with germination and by day 6 the seed had germinated. The green was then mowed on day 14 and would be mowed every 2-3 days for the next 4 weeks.
At the 6-week mark, I start to mow daily, and liquid fertilisers are applied weekly to help promote growth and build up nutrients in the sand profile. At the time of writing this article (1st of May), the green is 11 weeks old and is nearly filled in.
Next Steps…
Now that the green is built it’s time to start working on fairways and tee boxes.
This will include irrigation installation, shaping fairways and building elevated tee boxes.
Grass Selection
To help save water on the course I have decided to select warm season grasses for the fairways. For the larger fairway, I have selected TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda. It’s a great grass for the climate here with its superior drought tolerance and ability to hold good colour leading into the cooler months.
For the Fairway toward the back of the paddock, I have decided to go with some Sir Grange Zoysia. I’m excited to try some zoysia out on the property as I don’t have a lot of experience with it. Sir Grange Zoysia was specifically bred for the golf industry, it’s very versatile and is used on some of the best courses in the world, so it’s pretty cool to have here in Orange.
I’m still undecided on the grass types for my tee boxes, but they will be warm season grass again to help with water. I’m leaning towards a hybrid couch due to quicker repair rates with divots and traffic. I look forward to providing an update as the build progresses further towards the end of the year.
