TURF TALK FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT
Greens at Coharie CC
Dear Members,
In this newsletter, I will be providing some history of our golf greens here at Coharie Country Club. With the assistance of a few instrumental and longstanding members I have learned a lot about the current types of grass on our putting greens. I will share a brief overview of the grass types and care of them, as well as the type of greens relative to soil type and how/why it is important.
In 1946, the first nine holes were built at Coharie by one of the finest and most renowned architects of the era, his name was Ellis Maples. The golf greens planted were a variety called “U3” which was propagated from Savannah Golf Club and bred to be sold throughout the southeast US. The characteristics of this grass and all other grasses at the time were bred to be an aggressive vertical and lateral growth variety and maintained at a quarter of an inch or .25 inches. The current day holes that were the original nine holes are as follows: 1, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17 and 18.
In 1965, the last nine holes were built, current holes are: 2-8, 15 and 16. and the greens grass was called Tifdwarf and was the latest new grass, once again, designed to be maintained at a cut of .180-.25 inches, which is lower than the U3 grass. Now keep in mind that a ball rolling on a surface at .018 or .25 inches will roll much slower than todays Ultradwarf greens will roll at .110-.145. Keep in mind that we must mow all our greens at the same height because we have one greens mower. So, this is one of the reasons our greens speed is inconsistent.
Our green construction is called “Push up” style which is a much higher soil to sand content with no drainage of the sub soil of the greens, the greens are designed and built for water to roll to the middle of the greens and roll off the edges to protect the center of the greens in case of summer/winter damage by keeping the moisture levels up, which from a ball roll standpoint is detrimental because balls roll much slower on wet greens.
Bermuda grass regardless of whether it has been installed on greens or tee boxes, fairways or rough needs at least eight hours of direct sunlight a day to perform at its best, 16 green receives about 3-4 hours a day during the late fall/winter, which makes caring for the grass very difficult during these times. In saying this, we are currently exploring property line boundaries that abuts 16 and 17 to insure we are utilizing our property efficiently and to our advantage, more to come on that front.
There are ways to create more speed, cultural practices such as topdressing the greens with sand, weekly and weekly/twice monthly vertigrooming of the greens (depending on season/needs) along with rolling the greens weekly are vital in keeping the thatch layer down and the ball rolling faster. Drying greens out is another way of speeding green speeds up. However, drying the greens prior to and during high visibility golf tournaments is favored, once the events are completed the greens must be rehydrated to an adequate level.
The real answer to our green speed and consistency problem is replacing the top four inches of soil in all greens with an appropriate sand/soil mixture that will allow for surface drainage of moisture and replacing the putting grass with an Ultradwarf grass to insure a faster and much more consistent roll. As we move forward with the green’s renovation process the grass chosen is TifEagle Ultradwarf and it is a tried true and tested grass that you will be pleased with. From an agronomic standpoint, our cultural and chemical inputs will not be affected as we currently care for our greens with the same high level of inputs to exact the best putting surface this older grass can achieve.
During next month’s newsletter or before, I will be sending out communication updates on the timelines of the green’s renovation so you, the members, will understand what to expect and when to expect it. We have partnered with Signet Associates out of Pinehurst NC to renovate the greens and New Life Turf out of Norway SC to provide the TifEagle sprigs for planting.
Generally, the best course of action is to shut down the golf course no later than June 1st to begin the process and the entire process and grow-in period will last 8-12 weeks weather permitting. As we get closer to the dates, I will send out more precise information about what happens each week and how the process is maturing.
Thank you for your time and continued support in making Coharie the very best that it can be. P.S. In Mid-late January, we will be spraying the course with pre-emergent chemicals for the Spring/summer weeds.
Mike
