From The Green

At this point our TifEagle Ultradwarf Bermudagrass greens are just over a year old, having been sprigged last June 2nd and 3rd. Lots of differences between Bermudagrass and bentgrass greens. Ultradwarfs as a rule love heat and humidity and tend to grow more aggressively as the weather becomes more oppressive. This is the exact opposite of Bentgrass. Bentgrass greens cannot handle the extremely high heat and humidity, especially when large amounts of play are entered into the equation. As you may have already noticed there are far more necessary cultural practices needed for management of Ultradwarf greens, namely weekly topdressing and routine vertical mowing of the greens. These cultural practices are required to keep the greens from developing large amounts of thatch. Our main objective is to keep the greens in the best possible condition throughout the entire growing season while performing these necessary cultural practices.

Speed of the greens is another constant consideration and we are continuing to try every approach for consistent daily speed. This includes lower mowing heights, more frequent light topdressings and daily rolling of the greens. At this point our current height of cut is .110” and we roll greens 5 – 6 times a week. All cultural practices, as well as frequency, have been evolving since the greens began actively growing this summer. It is important to understand that this is our first summer managing TifEagle while not under grow-in conditions. It is impossible to duplicate management practices from other facilities or locations, as growing conditions and turf varieties differ from club to club and place to place. This entire year has been a fact finding mission for us and given us lots of information for future development. Speed and consistency are extremely important to us but it is also important to understand that we will always choose turf health over speed.

I would say that the entire course got off to a slow start this season due to extremely dry weather, low humidity and temperatures cooler than normal. Honestly it is difficult to remain patient, especially for us. Truth is all warm season grasses thrive on high heat and humidity, without them it can be difficult to be happy with the results, especially when there is a lack of rainfall as well. Irrigation is supplemental to rainfall. Irrigation cannot mimic the coverage of rainfall, it is impossible. As we all saw the course had an unbelievable response from our first multiple day rainfall event when it was coupled with increased heat and humidity, the course finally came to life. Finally we started to see some definition throughout. However, the very same rainfall event in early June that had so many benefits to the health of the course, left us needing to change the ratio between fertilization and growth regulation to get the greens back under control. At the end of the day nothing plays a larger role than the weather. We can make every necessary adjustment and have perfect timing, double cut greens and roll, but the weather has the last say when it comes to conditions.

As always if you have any questions or comments about this article or anything else, I’m always available. Great to see all of the new faces and activity throughout the club. All of the added play has caused us to make some changes to our daily operation, but we’re happy to adjust.

Sincerely, Ryan Gamble Golf Course Superintendent, Grande Dunes Members Club ryan.gamble@grandedunes.com

843-903-3484