ConservationGreenkeeping*

In over 50 years of playing all the finest courses in GB&I, I have come to realise that, though design and environment are the most obvious features that makes a ‘Fine, Running-Golf ‘ course so enjoyable, it is the turf that is actually most fundamental and brings the design to life.

The ‘Running Game’ off firm turf is more fun.

American golf tourists tend to call this ‘Links-Golf’ but actually inland courses also can give ‘running-golf’ if they have the right turf, which is perfectly feasable if ‘conservation greenkeeping’ is used rather than ‘chemical greenkeeping’.

Fine turf is dominated by two perennial, slow-growing, deep-rooted, drought and disease resistant grasses, namely Fine Fescues (Festuca rubra) and Browntop Bent (Agrostis tenuis).

All golf courses are improved with these grasses which naturally exist in cool-season, temperate latitudes (Indeed, they do not like hot climates, like Spain or Florida to give two examples).

The principles of good ‘conservation greenkeeping’ are based on the needs of these two grasses that are quite simple to identify and the conditions where they flourish, which are at the same time unsuitable and unappreciated by faster-growing, shallower-rooted, thirsty, easily diseased, low-level seeding, more agricultural, annual meadow weed grasses (Poa annua) that are managed by ‘chemical greenkeeping’ and give soft, receptive turf.  Poa annua is a weed and is brilliant at quickly invading any area of vacant soil.

‘Conservation greenkeeping’ not only provides firm surfaces and the finest performing greens, (a fact underlined by the findings in all surveys to be the golfers’ primary wish) but also helps the environment by reducing inputs of water, fertiliser and fungicides while reducing maintenance costs. It thereby keeps golf in line with the wider society’s ‘person in the street’ wish to ‘save the planet’. Who could not like this? Perhaps only the vested interests who are selling chemicals and products to manage fast growing weed grass!

Common denominator where fine grasses flourish?

It is not altitude, as they flourish at sea level and on moorland tops.  They enjoy alkaline (often derived from sea-shell content) dry arid links, chalky downland, limestone heath and acid moorland.

The answer is as follows, to quote Jim Arthur (the world’s greatest ever golf agronomist who wrote the bible of conservation greenkeeping  “Practical Greenkeeping” published by The R&A and available ONLINE):
“What was surmised a century and more ago has been proven by research and analysis countless times since.  The secret of good golf greenkeeping is to copy basic infertile conditions …. and to ensure ideal conditions for deep-rooting by intensive deep aeration.  In other words, for good greens use slow-release nitrogen only and aerate deeply.  These same principles apply equally to every part of the golf course.”

Another way of putting it, is the old greenkeeping adage “ask a farmer what to do and go and do exactly the opposite – established many moons ago!”

The mono-cultured green of one colour (encouraged by in-organic fertilising) is not what good greenkeepers are looking for. A green of indigenous, deep-rooting, perennial, fine grasses gives a dappled mosaic of colours, including yellow patches in the summer where the shallow-rooting annual meadow weed grasses (Poa annua) is being stressed out by drought and a lack of fertiliser.

Aeration, the most important thing for healthy grass.

These days there are machines for regular small hole solid tining, which hardly makes a difference to the smoothness of the surface. However, if more aggressive hollow-tining is used to reduce ‘thatch’ it can make greens bumpy for some days so golfers need to accept some disruption to their playability and not become frustrated. It used to be often suggested that it should be done later in the year when there are less golfers around, but winter golf is increasing.

More importantly the effect of hollow-tining depends on the type of soil and how it drains. Don’t expect that tining can be done effectively after October when the ground gets waterlogged, and the action of driving in the tine can make a skin on the sides of the hole and stops drainage thereby making the tining less useful for its purpose.

READ HERE all about the eight types of Greenkeeper equipment.

Managed disruption in growing and seeding season

As annual meadow weed grasses (Poa annua) are stressed by drought and reduced in-organic fertilising,  fine grasses should take their place with over-seeding and this needs to be done during the growing season. It is usually a waste of expensive seed to sow in October. Golfers have to accept some managed disruption to their playing surfaces during the growing season (often done in August when golfers are on holiday), to obtain longer-term truer, firmer, quicker surfaces all the year round that fine grasses give. Some of the finest clubs are now over-seeding on a few greens by rotation, on one day (say mondays) each week through the growing season. (Royal Porthcawl was transformed by this policy)

Mowing, the basis to produce good playing surfaces.

Mowing regularly at an appropriate height of cut and the quality of the mower is still the most important single factor in producing really good playing surfaces.

FineGolf has awarded “The Conservation Cut” accolade to motor mower manufacturer Baroness for the high quality of its cutting technology, which based on traditional Japanese Samurie sword craftsmanship, gives the sharpest and cleanest cut of all mowers on the market. A clean cut also reduces disease.

To produce a smooth putting finish  Poa annua has to be shaved close to its roots (2 to 3mm). This also increases the putting speed. Nevertheless, this can have lethal results hence the soubriquet “the quick and the dead”.

Hunstanton’s pure Poa annua shaved greens that were soft and fast, just died. With Gordon Irvine’s help and advice they have now been changed to fescue/browntop bent grasses and are healthy, firm and gorgeous to putt on.

Fine wiry grasses produce quick surfaces without having to be scalped to their roots and indeed some fescue greens cut at 6mm give a Greenstester reading of 11+ feet in dry conditions, though normally they are cut at 5mm and give a speed of between 9 and 10. This is the ideal speed for recreational golf and a quick ‘pace of play’, as golfers take less time putting, being less worried about that six footer return putt that happens so often on very fast greens.

Influence of TV:

Golfers can be infected by ‘Augusta Syndrome Disease (ASD)’  and want overly quick greens when seen on TV at the American Masters Augusta course, as the GB&I golf season opens. Augusta is set-up for that one week and costs a fortune to maintain. It is closed soon after the tournament for months to allow it to recover. For golfers to think that Augusta greens can be re-created at their home Club creates all the wrong pressures on club greenkeepers, who may be afraid of losing their jobs and so shave the greens for speed.

This is the quickest way to get a degeneration of the turf to annual meadow grass (Poa annua) greens and all their disadvantages of softness and the necessary chemical greenkeeping high cost inputs of fertiliser, pesticides and lots of water that they need for the weed grass to survive.

High turf firmness gives more enjoyment

The speed of fine grassed golf club greens will vary being dependant on the amount of local rainfall at any particular time in the year, while the average fescue/browntop bent green will have a Clegg Hammer measured firmness of around 110, while most Poa annua greens are much softer at around 8o/90.

Poa annua self-seeding slows greens and gives bumpiness

When growing seeding pods appear on greens often in the spring, they are from the Poa annua. A factor in slowing down the speed of Poa annua greens is that it seeds at low level. It being an annual grass, its survival depends on it putting much energy into re-seeding itself. The seed pods occur most prevalently in the spring when greens can give an almost white sheen. It at this time of year that different grass species grow at different rates and the seed pods increase the bumpiness of putt. Perennial fine grasses seed on high stems and therefore do not give this seeding problem of bumpiness and slower speed.

The cardinal sin is over-watering.

It encourages the wrong grasses. Greenkeepers of fine courses allow greens and fairways to dry out.    Have a look at a bumpy fairway and what do you see?  The fine grasses are on the top of the dry ridge and in the wet furrows are found the weed meadow grasses.  The solution?  Aeration, to stop rain running off the ridge and more aeration, to give drainage in the furrow.

A technological breakthrough in water management products sometimes called Wetting Agents is being increasingly used to help moisture retention in dry areas of greens and surroundings. No longer does the whole irrigation system have to be turned-on to just irrigate a small dry area. Indeed hand-watering is on the increase and the moisture metre has become one of the most important pieces of conservation greenkeeping equipment.

This saves gallons of water, and encourages the naturally deep-rooting fine grasses to grow their roots ever deeper and seek out moisture low-down during droughts. Fine grasses often ‘brown-off’ during droughts to protect themselves but show they are alive by greening-up after the first rainfall.

Whereas, the shallow-rooting Poa annua if not watered regularly will die during a drought giving bare patches. If the ground is overseeded with fine grasses quickly the sward can be improved.

Nevertheless, it should be remembered that fescues enjoy and grow best in a cool-season climate. During the six weeks of exceptionally high temperatures around 30 degrees in the summer of 2018 we lost some fescue and Poa annua fairways during the heatwave. The clever greenkeepers over-seeded with fescues as soon as the rain and dropped temperatures came back.

Fine aprons are vital.

One of the distinctions between fine courses and others is that a fine course encourages the bump and run shot with a flatter club. This requires the aprons and run-offs to be smooth and give a consistent bounce with the use of modern grooming and scarification exercised on aprons to greens.

On Lush Target-style courses the fairway grass is comparatively long right up to the green and the ball dies if pitched into it. So if the shot is to have a predictability of bounce, the golfer has to use a high shot, normally a wedge, to pitch onto the green. In addition to hold the shot it is easier for the golfer if the surface is soft.

Quality of aprons: Greenkeepers need to be encouraged to de-thatch and improve the consistency of their aprons so we see more golfers using the bump and run. On a Running-Golf course it is as important on the aprons and run-offs to have a consistency of bounce as on the greens.

Tight turf is fun and the percentage game is not played with wedges:

One of the enjoyable aspects of running-golf is using one’s imagination and creativity in shot making to negotiate the bumps and hollows around greens played off tight dry turf.

This is easier for the amateur to use a flatter club, as the percentage play is to bump and run the ball one third of the distance and to have it run-out two-thirds, as it does with an eight iron. The four wedges in your bag are not necessarily an advantage as they are more likely to duff or scim off tight turf.  One has to hit the ball exactly 110% correctly, to be precise when using a wedge. A flatter club gives more margin for error.

Encourage fine turf:

All greenkeeping hinges on the precept that, if we copy the basic conditions found in nature, where these fine fescue and browntop bent grasses dominate, and therefore keep out their competitors, then the grasses we want will thrive.  Even where past mismanagement has resulted in annual meadow grass (Poa annua) dominance, correcting the course management policy will slowly but surely achieve a swing back to fine turf.

Fine golf is an all-round winner:

The finest courses have knowledgeable green committees who encourage their green staff to take a long term strategy that ignores the pull of lush target golf.  In the long term, keeping to the principles so beautifully and amusingly elucidated by Jim Arthur in his book “Practical Greenkeeping” will give golf club members courses that play better all the year round, conserve water, protect the ecology and natural character while aiding disease control and weed invasion and reduce agri-chemical pollution of the soil and the subsequent run-off to rivers. Conservation greenkeeping helps ‘save the planet’.

More profitable with Running-Golf

The target-style courses have to spend unnecessary amounts on fertiliser, water, pesticides  to keep their annual meadow grass (Poa annua) dominated courses alive and extra time on mowing their fast growing grasses. These courses are often closed for days in the winter, reducing members enjoyment as well as green fee income.

Fine running-style courses require much smaller budgets, reducing fertiliser and pesticides use and over-watering. The grasses need less maintenance and cutting and the greens are firm and in use all year round. Members enjoyment is enhanced and green fee income increased.

Support your Greenkeeper

…to pursue a long term policy of Conservation Greenkeeping and make sure the succession of Captains don’t bring the wrong management to your course, influenced by watching too much target-style  TV golf.