6 minute read
SA Golf Trader: May/June, Q&A with Konrad Suhr - Golf Course Superintendent, Pinnacle Point Estate.
1. When did you realise that turf management was the industry you want to take further?
Many years back I was on the golf committee at a 9-hole club in Mpumalanga.
The course superintendent resigned on very short notice and I was tasked to oversee the course maintenance while we were looking for a suitable replacement.
I quickly got to realise that there is much more to it than just mowing grass and that’s when it all started.
2. What is the best and worst part of being a golf course superintendent?
The best is having mother nature in your corner. The worst is the times when mother nature joins the “Murphy’s law” corner and boxes against you.
3. You are at Pinnacle Point, a coastal course, what is your biggest challenge maintaining a coastal course on the Garden Route?
A combination of factors can make the maintenance of the course very challenging.
Being situated so close to the ocean and relying on effluent water for our irrigation often causes very high salt levels in our soil.
The high winds we experience from time to time can make bunker maintenance very challenging.
Challenging terrain to mow
4. What are the differences in grasses (fairway, rough, greens) on the Garden Route to other parts of the country?
At Pinnacle Point we have paspalum fairways, rye/ fescue roughs and bent/Poa-annua greens.
There is not really a preference for one specific type of grass on the Garden Route and one will find a variety of different grasses on the fairways and roughs (cool and warm-season varieties) at the different courses.
Bent grass is the preferred grass for the greens though. Inland and up north, Kikuyu seems to be the preferred grass for fairways and roughs.
5. Does one need different machinery on course for different types of grasses around the country?
Golf course maintenance equipment is standard on most courses and different grass types do not really need different equipment.
The terrain and height of the cut will determine which turf equipment is best suited for a particular golf course.
In our case at Pinnacle Point we have severe slopes, uphills and downhills. Some of the smaller and lighter mowers that one would use on a flat course are not suited for our course.
6. How big a difference does climate and location play in golf course maintenance?
It makes a huge difference. Turfgrass performance varies under different climates and locations.
Throughout my career, I have maintained courses in Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Northwest, and the Southern Cape provinces. Most courses even have different microclimates on the course that can influence how the turfgrass will perform at different locations on the course.
Paspalum fairways and Rye/Fescue roughs
7. To what extent does course setup affect slow play, and how do you deal with it?
A couple of tricky pin positions & tees on the tips paired with a howling South Easterly wind can really make the course very challenging and slow down one’s round.
Before set-up, we check the wind direction & speed and try to find a balance that will suit the average golfer best.
8. In your opinion does course machinery or golfers spread more seeds like POA or diseases?
Both golfers and turf machinery can spread seeds or disease. The first signs of Poa infestation on a pure bent course usually happen on the practice green. This is the area where a visitor will walk on first when preparing for his round. Any seeds stuck to the soles of his golf shoes are then dislodged and can establish themselves on the practice green.
This tends to happen less with the newer spike-less golf shoes most golfers are wearing today. Course machinery does the same when moving from one area to the next on a golf course.
Fungal spores can also be spread on a golf course by machinery and golfers.
9. Do you think it should be mandatory for each golf course to close one day per week for maintenance?
In a perfect world, yes. It is not always possible though and varies from course to course. A lot of the cultural practices required to maintain a golf course in a pristine condition, are done in a more effective way when they are performed without golfers on the course.
10. Do maintenance staff ever come into conflict with golfers and how do you deal with this?
We try to limit the interaction between the golfers and maintenance staff by staying ahead of play while doing most of the work.
When we need to perform tasks while there are golfers in the area, we try to get the task done without disturbing the golfers. The team knows where the “danger zones and safe areas are on each hole.
11. How important is it for golfers to repair their divots and pitch marks immediately?
A correctly repaired pitch mark will heal in 2 to 3 days, while an unrepaired pitch mark will take 15 to 20 days to heal.
The same with a divot that was left overnight for the crew to put back the next morning. It will die, where a freshly replaced divot has a very good chance and to reestablish itself in the turf mat.
12. People always complain about inconsistent bunkers, how difficult is it to maintain consistent bunkers and do you implement general checks and how?
Golfers often tend to forget that a bunker is a hazard and that hazards are there to penalize a bad shot. The perfect white and smooth bunkers at Augusta during the Masters tournament week cannot be achieved in most areas.
Most courses don’t have the budget to use pure silica sand and bunkers are usually filled with cheaper sand. The type will vary from course to course which already makes for bunkers playing differently at different courses.
Our bunkers are hand raked daily and the raking team carry depth probes with them to make sure the sand depth is uniform.
Bunkers exposed to the elements
