Winter Golf Course Conditions

[DaveLeeNC]

I'm curious about winter course conditioning - particularly in the 'northern southeast' where the norm is bent grass greens and bermuda fairways.

Around here in NC it is common to overseed bermuda fairways in the winter with winter rye. This is typically done around here as an asthetic thing, rather than playability. There is enough rye to make things look green when viewed from an oblique angle, but generally not enough to help the playability of the course.

They have to cut the bermuda really close to get the (very thin layer of) rye to grow. So basicallly everything plays as a super tight lie.

This isn't all bad as the lies are consistent, it can be somewhat helpful in 'training in' good ballstriking, and you can really hit some nice little 'half wedge checker-type shots' from those lies.

On the downside I find that the set of clubs that work best for me in the summer are not the best in the winter (mostly related to fairway wood COG's and wedge sole design).

I'm curious as to how other courses that are in the "bent grass greens-bermuda fairways" longitude handle winter conditioning.

Thanks.

dave

ps. The best winter playing conditions that I have ever encountered around here was a course that was not overseeded one year. They let the bermuda grow just a smidge and it went dormant. While it was as brown as dirt, the course was VERY playable - much more than the overseeded courses near it.

[Dub]

My home course is really starting to show it's "winter face" right now. They've overseeded the tee boxes and that's about it. The greens were fertilized and are a bit more "spikey" from reduced cutting (we have bermuda greens). The fairways have not been overseeded and I find this to be an improvement over some courses that do.

Visually, as you said...the dormant fairway grass and rough aren't so great looking however they play well. You get a true run on the ball and a firm lie to hit down into. Some of the overseeded fairways on other local courses are just too furry and they kill your run.

All in all, things aren't objectionable, however the course was spectacular in September and October. I'm really looking foward to late March and April....Master's time....I'm sure this section of the golfing world will green up nicely.