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Green Section
Some new ways for everyone to win
By Paul Ramsdell, PNGA Media
It's the on-going battle in golf.
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| Photo credit: Mark Whitright/Golfphotos.com |
Superintendents fighting hard to give golfers the fast and smooth greens they cherish, all the while combating tight budgets and the evil destruction of turf disease.
There's some new ammunition and strategy for superintendents locked in that clash.
Superintendents throughout the Northwest are starting different programs that will help them win those battles, or at least Larry Gilhuly, the Northwest director for the USGA Green Section, is trying to inform every one of these ideas.
New aeration equipment is playing a key role, and is allowing superintendents to do their job with less impact on the golfer.
The traditional five-eighths of an inch holes, or tines, made during aeration are going by the wayside. Machinery is now allowing that chore to be done differently.
"What's going on in our industry the past few years is that guys have narrowed down their spacing to allow them to use smaller tines," Gilhuly said. "The golfers win because they (the greens) recover faster. The superintendent wins because it actually takes out more organic material."
So instead of aeration holes five-eighths of an inch located every two to three inches on a green, smaller tines of one-quarter or one-half of an inch are used, but are punched just an inch or so apart. The smaller holes heal more quickly and the golfers are back to their smooth greens much sooner.
"It's really easy now to narrow down the spacing," Gilhuly said of the machinery that runs $15,000 to $20,000 a unit.
The other new piece of equipment is a deep slicer, a machine that knifes down to four inches below the green surface.
"It's a one-shot operation that gives you temporary aeration," Gilhuly said. "You're not taking out a hole, you're not taking out organic, so it doesn't do what a real aeration does, but you're getting down four inches and you're opening up a hole down in there you couldn't do otherwise, and you're able to do it in four hours, and that's a major improvement in our industry."
Gilhuly said this process is something that can be done once a month to enhance aeration. Golfers see nothing more than what it would look like if you took a sharp table knife and cut a slit into the green every six inches or so.
"To go four inches deep and open a gap is pretty impressive," Gilhuly said.
The third aspect Gilhuly is pushing is something a few superintendents have been doing for years - site-specific rolling.
"To smooth the putting surface around the hole, which is what golfers really want," Gilhuly said of the process of just using green rollers 20 to 30 feet around the hole.
"It's to save time for the staff and it's to give golfers what they want, a smooth surface," he said.
"It's not the first 10 feet of a 40-foot putt, it's the last 30 feet," Gilhuly said about what's critical in a golfer's mind.
There are two keys to this strategy, Gilhuly said. One, to provide smoothness, which generally is more important than speed; and two, to enable superintendents to maintain green speeds while raising their mowing heights. If done properly and consistently, this method could help a typical mowing height be increased from .095 of an inch to .125 and not noticeably alter the speed of the green.
"That's a huge increase in mowing heights, and will really help the plant develop more root, and really survive stress better," Gilhuly said.
"Everybody wins," he added. "Golfers win, the new grass wins, superintendents win. It will minimize stress on the plant and it provides smoothness, that's for sure."
Maybe then, it won't be such a battle going forward.
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