The City Council of Muscle Shoals, Ala., authorized spending $29.150 to provide cold-weather protection for the greens of the city-owned course, where $159,000 was recently spent to convert them to dwarf Bermuda grass.

 

The new putting greens at Cypress Lakes Golf Course in Muscle Shoals, Ala., will get custom-made covers for added protection against bad weather, reports the TimesDaily of Florence, Ala.

The Muscle Shoals City Council, which owns Cypress Lakes, agreed to spend about $29,150 to purchase the green covers from Xton Inc. of Florence, the TimesDaily reported. Xton’s bid of 16 cents per square foot was the only one received after six bid requests were sent out, according to Lisa Ricks, the city’s purchasing agent.

The cost estimate for the covers that was approved by council members is based on the size of the greens at Cypress Lakes, the TimesDaily reported. Muscle Shoals Mayor David Bradford said the final cost would be about $2,000 less than what was budgeted, it was noted.

Cypress Lakes recently reopened after two months of work to replace the grass on 18 greens and a practice green, the TimesDaily reported, with a dwarf Bermuda grass that is better suited for Alabama’s hot weather, through a project that cost the city $159,000.

The covers will lengthen the life of the new greens, Ricks said, by protecting the surfaces during periods of cold weather.

A week earlier, the TimesDaily reported, Cypress Lakes’ General Manager, Scott Arndt, had said that the new greens, with proper care, should last for 20 to 30 years. “We have the people here that know how to take care of the greens,” Arndt said. “They know what it takes in terms of fertilizing, watering and tending to the greens. We should be in good shape.”