Exposure Makes a Difference

Exposure or orientation of golf holes not only make a difference in playability but it makes a huge difference in agronomics as well.  Direct sunlight has a tremendous effect on soil temperatures and direct growth of turfgrass especially in the shoulder season of active plant growth.

This effect is very visible on the golf course right now in relation to snow cover.  All of our Northern exposures are still deep in snow cover, while areas receiving full sun have melted away and are in the process of initiating spring growth and green up.  Approximately 1/3 of our golf holes are north facing and still look like Antarctica and the others look to be ready for golf.  All of these differences occur from hole to hole, some areas are as close as  300 yards apart even though they seem to be on two different continents.

Here is a great look at two of the holes on the course that you would never guess the pictures were taken on the same day let alone same season.

Elevation and Orientation

The golf course is beginning to green up for the season and it is amazing how varied the green up process is throughout the course. We have areas on the course right now that are green, while other aren't even close to greening up.

This is largely due to two factors; elevation and orientation. The golf course has more than 600 feet of elevation change throughout which creates numerous micro climates. The other factors would be orientation and shading from trees.

Some of the best examples of this can be found on our first and eight hole. These two holes have the complete opposite orientation, the first hole faces north while the eight faces south. Elevation the first hole is at 6600 feet and the eight is at 6200 feet.

The following pictures best describe these effects on the spring green up process.

The First Hole

The Eight Hole

Orientation

The compass direction of the turf clearly affects the amount of sun it is likely to get as well as its exposure to wind and rain. A soil which faces south generally warms up more quickly which helps the turf green up earlier in the spring. These southern exposure areas become very useful in providing predicable timetables to the surrounding areas of turf that has not yet started the green up process.

Typically when southern exposure areas begin to green up I know that the other areas will follow with in the next two weeks. As the daytime temperatures rise and the days become longer the opportunity for manipulation of this situation becomes possible. We will begin to apply foliar fertilizers to help snap the plant out of dormancy and catch up with the turf that has a head start thanks to Mother Nature.

The two best fertilizer sources for cold weather response are Calcium Nitrate and Potassium Nitrate. We will begin to apply these products regularly until the desired effect takes place within the targeted turf area.

Here are two examples of heavily contoured greens that have drastically different exposures with in a 6000 square foot area. Click on the phots to see the text and color variations.