Fairway turf update

The sod from last year’s construction work on holes 3, 15, 16, and 17 is making steady progress. This has been the biggest challenge of the entire summer thus far. We are working feverishly to get the turf as healthy as possible through these good growing conditions we are having in July. We promise that our frustration level matches or exceeds that of every golfer who sees the poor turf.

There is no manual for managing turf. We learn something new each day, week, month and year. So, trying to improve the conditions of the sod from last year, we have been trying all of the tricks we know, plus a few new things. 

First, we continue to give those areas that are weak additional fertilizer. By increasing the amount of nutrition in these areas, we promote continued growth without any lulls that may occur when a food reserve runs out.

We have also reduced the growth regulator we are applying to these areas. Instead of the regular regimen that is applied to existing turf, this new turf has been getting a slightly different treatment. One of the products we use has two chemicals that, in combination, regulate how the turf grows. This product does a very good job of stunting and almost stopping vertical growth completely. However, on the areas that we want to heal, this is too aggressive. We do want to regulate the growth, but not so severely. Instead, we have been using a different chemical, which promotes lateral growth instead of vertical growth. This chemical forces the plant to use its resources to grow sideways, which helps to fill the voids in the turf.

We have also adjusted our mowing habits on the weak areas of turf. We have raised the height at which we mow the grass. We have switched to a different, much lighter, triplex mower, instead of a heavier fairway mower. These two changes were based on the combination of observation and reviewing the notes regarding last year’s initial maintenance routine of the new sod. By studying how we mowed last year and with what machine, we were able to distinctly tell the difference in turf quality on the course. The new strategy is one we have only developed as we have progressed through the summer this year, however it is something we believe will help us improve last year’s sod, and we will use the same principles for this year’s sod as well.

Looking closely, the lines from the slicing can be seen as darker green in all 3 pictures.

Lastly, we have been trying to use the growth habits of the Bermuda grass in our favor. Bermuda grass is a very aggressive stolon and rhizome producing grass. These are above and below ground stems that create new plants. By cutting either the stolons or rhizomes, a new plant can begin to grow at the point of severance. This is one of the tenets of why we verticut the fairways. We can create new, vigorous plants that will continue to provide dense fairway turf. However, verticutting also removes old, dead tissue and thatch from the surface. In the case of the struggling areas, there is little, if any, dead tissue and, zero thatch that we want to remove; all that would be removed would be healthy tissue that we need. In order to obtain the benefits of cutting the stolons and rhizomes, yet not tear into the soil and rip out existing turf, we employed the services of a machine we already had, but which was meant for a much different task. Our Redexim over-seeder has discs that slice into the ground to create a groove for seed to lie. For this task, though, we did not have any seed in the hopper, but instead ran the machine “dry” to use only its slicing capabilities. Not tissue was removed, but the discs did a great job of slicing the stolons and rhizomes. While initially it looked as though we had simply sliced the turf to death, one step back brought us 2 steps forward. The turf continues to look better as time passes and we can now see the lines that were sliced being stronger and thicker turf than before.

Again, as a golfer plays their round, they see the bad turf on each of last year’s construction holes for the ten minutes they are on that particular hole. For the Grounds department though, we look at those holes 20 times a day. We are constantly trying to think with any strategy possible to provide better quality each day because we find the poor turf as unacceptable as anyone.

Etiquette Reminder of the Week

Remember to please replace or fill your divots both on the tees and in the fairways. No one wants to land in a divot in the fairway, but if a ball does happen to end up there, a sand filled divot is much better than bare soil.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org