Condition of 8 Green

The front left of the 8th green is still not getting better. This damage was caused by ice damage from the long winter we had last year and the low lying location of the green. In the spring we aerified this area and seeded it with bentgrass to re-establsih the area. The wet and cold spring left most of the seed un-germinated and the areas still bare. We then began to install over 300 hexagon plugs to fill the areas but this was a slow process and the green was still not up to par. I then used sod strips from our nursery which were doing well until the heat of the weekend really stressed them and they began to die. The difference between the plugs and the sod strips is that the plugs had 3 inches of roots while the sod only has 1/2 inch of roots. The roots on the sod strips just couldn't keep up with the demand from the plant during the hot temperatures. The foot traffic on the green also hampered the roots so we have roped this area off and it is "ground under repair." I will continue to topdress, aerify, and seed this area for the next 5 or 6 weeks until the shorter days of August are here which will allow us to try and sod this area again. I apologize for this unacceptable area on the 8th green but I want to let the membership know that we are working hard to fix this area as soon as possible without causing more damage to the green.