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.

Turf Mystery Solved

The other day while driving around I noticed a couple areas on the golf course that distinctive rectangular areas of turf damaged. At first I though it was odd and was not sure what caused the damage but upon further investigation the mystery was solved.

It turned out the day before on a warm day with temperatures in the 80's my irrigation tech was working on some of the bunker pop up zones.  These zones are controlled by an electric valve contained in a valve box that had the lids removed during the servicing. The warm temperatures and intense sunlight heated up the plastic lid that was laying on the grass and burnt the turf underneath.


Fortunately only the leaf tips were damaged and the turf is already growing its way out of the injury. It goes to show you that the turf can be damaged in many different ways several of which are not expected.