Same Time Different Year

What a difference a year makes is a common theme many Golf Course Superintendents are saying. First off it's true the weather could not be more different this spring from last year. By this time last year we had mowed greens several times, aerified all of my fairways and we had nearly 350 rounds of golf. This year we are O for three on these items and with the long range forecast looking sketchy, it's hard to say when things will starting acting like Spring around here.

 The funny thing is that weather pattern we are currently experiencing is more normal than not, over the last several seasons we have been treated to extremely warm early spring temperatures. Those temperatures were great to get things going, but then the inevitable hard freeze would hit putting the brakes on active growth. The turf may have been green but it wasn't happy or growing for a while after that. This year is shaping up to be a slow start of the season with soil temperatures being 5 to 10 degrees cooler than this time a year ago. We as Superintendent's routinely try to manipulate Mother Nature, some times with success and sometimes with disaterious results. The key is knowing when to push things and  knowing when to back off, it's a fine line that is walked at all golf courses that deal with seasonal Turfgrass.

Knowing that the Masters is coming in a few weeks and all that comes with the green is good mentality might tempt you to make a poor agronomic decision based on color alone. Don't do it, exercise patience within reason and remember this is a marathon not a sprint.

Spottiness

If you look at the approaches throughout the course you will see many areas with spots of discolored turf. These areas are beginning to show signs of significant drought stress due to a reduction in water applied.

Localized Dry Spots

This is part of the overall shift in course maintenance that now emphasizes playability over lush green conditions.

The approach areas have been modified over several years of intense aerification and topdressing that allows them to better handle the current conditions they are under. In many ways the approaches are now maintained as an extension of the greens surface in order to achieve the necessary firmness required.

Down With Brown

The warm weather has finally hit and it is beginning to show on the golf course. As mentioned earlier this year in both newsletters and blog postings, the color of brown will be more acceptable on the golf course.

The intent is to have the fairways to become firmer and allow for more ball roll off the tee shot, with the visual result being a more off colored golf course. The Bentgrass fairways require less water than the surrounding Bluegrass rough and as a result of this is the fairways receive too much water due to a lack of area separation of irrigation areas .

The new irrigation system design will allow for a separation of watering areas such as greens, tees, fairways and rough will all be controlled and irrigated separately. This will allow us more control over the water and keep it out of the fairways when they do not need it. Currently there is no separation of watering areas, so we have heads that water both fairway and rough areas together. The result of this is that for the rough to receive the proper amount of water the fairway then becomes too wet due to the overthrow. We will be letting the rough dry out and even turn brown, so that the fairway conditions do not become overly wet.

Outer Edges of Rough Drying Out
A higher Level of Drought Stress Taking Place

Getting Away From The Augusta Syndrome

This year we will be making some agronomic changes to the golf course that will make it more player friendly. The first change will be to the height of cut in the fairways.
For the last five years we have maintained an extremely low height of cut .300” in the fairways as a part of the Bentgrass conversion. Now that the process is over we will be raising the height to .400” making the lies in the fairways not as tight.

The next change that will be happening is a reduction in the water applied to the golf course to help improve the playability. Previously an emphasis was placed on having the entire course green i.e. looking like Augusta National. Both the Green Committee and Board have supported agronomic changes for the upcoming season with the color of brown being acceptable. At this time the current irrigation system does not allow for a separation of irrigation areas such as rough only or fairways only. What has been happening is that the rough has a higher water requirement than the Bentgrass fairways so heads have to be run that water both areas. The problem with that situation is that the rough is getting the water that it needs, while the fairways are getting too much.
This problem is being dealt with in the proposed new irrigation system design by creating separate watering areas. We will have the ability to water each area such as greens, tees, fairways or rough all separately based on the individual water requirements.

Golf Digest is making a change in this direction as well with how their course rankings are done. The old definition asked panelists, "How would you rate the playing quality of tees, fairways and greens when you last played the course?" The new definition reads, "How fast, firm and rolling were the fairways, and how firm yet receptive were the greens on the date you played the course?" This definition has nothing to do with the color of the grass or the perfection of a lie. It rewards courses that water less (but sensibly) and makes it easy for panelists to evaluate conditions on the basis of golf shots. This is a very positive step in the right direction getting away from the Americanization of golf.

There are a lot of things that are good about Augusta National, but there are also unrealistic expectations that are borne from the golfing nation watching the Masters every year.