Turf troubles: TPC of Scottsdale replaces sod

What looked like a near-disaster a few weeks ago at the Tournament Players Club of Scottsdale may turn out to be a silver lining for the next FBR Open.

The problem involved the Bermuda grass on the TPC’s Stadium Course, which had all but disappeared on the tees, fairways and areas surrounding the greens by mid-July.

A business decision was made to resod those barren areas of the course at considerable cost, said TPC’s general manager Bill Grove.

On July 23, the Stadium Course was closed to the public to perform the recovery.

The repair, which could be traced to a “continuing battle with the salts on our golf course,” is expected to be completed in the next two weeks, with the course reopening on Aug. 28, Grove said.

“We have a lot at stake, and we owed it to the city of Scottsdale, the (FBR Open), destination-resort travelers, and our summer players to get the course back in perfect shape,” Grove said of the massive undertaking. “We didn’t want to leave anything to chance. It was bad enough to have to close the course and re-sod it.”

About 30 acres of sod were needed for the recovery, along with the combined efforts of the course maintenance staff, Western Sod, Pro Turf International and Hurley Systems, said Jeff Plotts, the superintendent at the TPC.

“I actually think this only helps us; that it’s ultimately a positive,” Plotts said of the unexpected summer work. “We had really good course conditions last year, and this year I think the playing surface will end up being even smoother.”

New sod in the fairways replaced grass that was up to 23 years old and stressed, he said. Also, tees that had become crowned over the years have been laser-leveled.

Plotts said that other issues also will be resolved, such as balancing the soil’s chemistry, continuing to amend the organic profile, and adding needed sand, calcium and oxygen.

“No one at the tournament (next February) will even know we’ve done all this; it will look that good,’’ he said.

Grove declined to reveal the cost of the repairs. But according to a local sod company, the cost of golf-course quality sod would be about 30 cents a square foot. That works out to about $400,000 for the sod, not including labor.

“It was a lot,” Grove said, emphasizing “lot.”

But it was an unforeseen result of a scientific soil study that was done early in 2006, Grove added, with salt being the ultimate villain.

“We had some soil scientists in here, and they ended up giving us a recipe for stronger root structures, and the soil responded very, very quickly to their recipe,” he said. “We gained a lot of organic material underneath the soil, and that material held more water, which held more salt. The salt then wicked up to the surface, and that really hurt the transition.”

But the greens were spared, Grove added, “because there is a different profile under the grass there related to drainage, and so there is a lot less salt buildup (on the greens).”

North Scottsdale golf courses have been pushing for better water quality, and a group of 25 courses banded together earlier this year to propose a $25 million expansion at the Scottsdale Water Campus with the ultimate goal being desalinization.

The salt content has been quite high in recent times due to Scottsdale’s increased use of Colorado River water and the proliferation of water softeners in the area.

Talks between the golf courses and city are ongoing.

“The course looks perfect, even though we haven’t finished it yet,’’ Grove noted. “And the soil was tilled before we resodded — just like a farmer would do it with a plow — so now it’s perfect, too.”