Current state of the Bermuda grass

We continue to manage the recovery of the Bermuda grass from winter damage. As much as we want everything to be perfect immediately, we still must wait for the conditions to be right.

We did suffer winter kill on the Bermuda grass, almost certainly from the 2-week period from the middle of December thru the end of the year. Most of the winter was relatively mild, but damage can be done in a short time.

The most common factors for winter kill on Bermuda grass are excess moisture and cold temperatures: in this period of time in December we received nearly 5” of rain combined with average overnight lows of 21 degrees, including several nights of single digits. The rain that fell did not have time to soak in or sufficiently move off some Bermuda grass surfaces. You can still see the evidence of this on the course- low lying areas, areas near drains, and areas where the water flowed across the grass are the most damaged areas. With all this moisture in place, the temperatures plummeted and stayed cold for a couple of weeks.

Luckily, the vast majority of the Bermuda grass is healthy, though all our focus will be on the deficient areas. At the time of posting, we still have not had true Bermuda grass growing weather yet. Overnights have still been very cool, including a few frosts. Although daytime temperatures have been comfortable, they have not been great for the fairways. This means that the best weather is still to come and natural recovery will occur.

This is an example of a place where
the water ran across the Bermuda grass. We even
installed a drain in this exact location last fall, but
there was too much water and temperatures were too cold, and the water
could not move off fast enough.

From our perspective, we are also prepared with additional fertilizer for all the bad areas. Once the weather is conducive to Bermuda grass growth, we will apply fertilizer weekly to encourage rapid recovery. We also have our annual spring compost application upcoming, likely starting the week of the 8^th. This will also aid in healing. Next, we will slice the Bermuda grass, severing the growing points of the tissue and encouraging new growth at each cut. Lastly, some areas will take too long to recover on their own and will need to be sodded. We have already contacted our sod supplier to order new grass. However, the sod supplier’s Bermuda grass is also still recovering from the winter and is still too immature and weak to be harvested, so there is no timetable yet on when sod will arrive.

Unfortunately, there is no perfect grass for our region. Bermuda grass is our best option and provides many benefits to Bretton Woods. But Bermuda grass also comes with drawbacks and dealing with issues leftover from winter is one of them.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please do not climb up the steep face of the bunkers.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Golf Cart tips

 

 

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org