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| Putting surface on the left will be TifEagle. The portion of the collar in the center that has been killed will be the TifGrand encroachment collar. |
An encroachment collar is used around the green to prevent the perimeter grasses from growing into putting surface. Without managing encroachment, over time the greens can shrink in size or loose their definition. We have chosen to use a 32" band of TifGrand Bermudagrass as the encroachment collar. TifGrand has a dense and primarily upright growth habit without as much horizontal growth as some other grasses. It will separate the TifEagle on the green from the 419 that is on the rest of the green surround.
Maintaining clean lines is made difficult during the grow-in process because fertility and thereby growth rates are so high. Throughout grow-in we will be using a mechanical edger to cut a clean line on both sides of the TifGrand collar. As the greens mature and fertility rates are reduced to normal, the vertical edging will continue as a periodic maintenance task.
After a period of years it may be necessary to remove a strip of sod in the encroachment collar and replace it with clean TifGrand to maintain the buffer.
