Re-sodding greens collars

Over the last few weeks we have been re-sodding some of our bad collars. So far we have just been doing the worst areas on the course and replacing them.  The areas that we are doing first are the spots that are just completely bare around the greens.  The topdressing throughout the winter, wear from mowers, and traffic from golfers can all be attributed towards the turf loss in these areas.  We did a few of these areas last summer and found that if we just strip enough of the old sod off and replace it with new it would end up too high, most likely from the mat of roots from the old turf. After we figured this out we began to set our sod cutter much deeper to take out about 2 inches of material.  We then come back thru and add a layer of sand to the areas, pack the sand and lay the new sod on top of the sand. This process seems to be working much better. It is slow, tedious work to level and cut the sod to just the right height and curve of the green.  Here are a few pictures of the work being done. The sod that we are laying is not the best looking stuff right now due to the cold spring we have had all over the state, but with a little TLC we will have it looking great in no time.

 The new sod that is going down is Tifgrand. It can tolerate much lower mowing heights than the 419 that is in our fairways and perimeters.