Bending the Rules of Golf in the Off Season

[Rulesman]

Found this hope it explains what I was talking about. Most of the course here close. the only ones that stay open don't care about the damage and/ or are after a couple of extra bucks. Courses on cape cod stay open but there climate is totally different than inland.

Direct wear injury

Thinning of the turf due to direct wear injury is an obvious and important result of winter traffic. Unlike during the growing season, when turf is able to regenerate new leaves and stems to replace injured tissue daily, winter weather completely halts turf growth; the grass is continually thinned throughout the winter in direct proportion to the amount of traffic. This thinning of the turf canopy can, and often does, encourage the establishment of such weeds as Poa annua, crabgrass, goosegrass, moss, algae, pearlwort, spurge, and other weed pests during the spring and summer. True enough, weeds can indeed be a problem on greens that aren't subjected to winter play, but winter traffic causes them to be just that much more abundant and difficult to control.

Soil compaction

Soil compaction is a more subtle and perhaps more important consequence of winter traffic. Because of the cold winter temperatures and lack of active turf growth, the loss of excess soil moisture through evaporation and transpiration is greatly reduced. In addition, frozen sub-surface soils may completely block the movement of excess moisture through the soil profile. During the summer, a very heavy rainfall often creates soil conditions that warrant closing the course for a day or two until the excess moisture is eliminated by the way of evaporation, transpiration, and downward percolation through the soil profile. Because these moisture losses are often non-functional during the winter, saturated soil conditions can persist for weeks or longer. Yet the golfers who can appreciate the need to close the course during the summer are sometimes completely unsympathetic to the same conditions and concerns during the winter.

The effects of soil compaction on the health and playability of the turf are insidious at any time, but because wet soils are especially prone to compaction, the likelihood of traffic causing the collapse of good soil structure is of constant concern during the winter. As soil particles are compacted and pushed closer and closer together, the pore space that facilitates drainage and root growth during summer is gradually lost. As the season finally commences, golfers often complain the these compacted greens are hard. From an agronomic standpoint, turf begins the season in a weakened state, predisposed to a host of summer problems. In addition to the potential for weed encroachment, the turf on greens played during winter tends to wilt more readily during hot weather, and often is more susceptible to a wide array of primary and secondary disease organisms.

Excellent. I intend to publish this to my fellow members. Can you tell me the source?

[wils5150]

Excellent. I intend to publish this to my fellow members. Can you tell me the source?

it from the USGA turf advisory dept.

[sportsnut]

I played as long as possible last year since I was only playing 3 years at that point and wanted to get as much packed into the year as possible. will not do that again, frost delays, sitting around the clubhouse waiting to play, hitting onto frozen greens and watching balls bounce high and far after hitting the green, too many lost balls, not much similarity to the game so that will be my last year doing that, this year back to trap over the winter becasue I like to keep busy over the whole year and there are other things one can do and have fun. But thats me and to each his own.

[Fourputt]

Found this hope it explains what I was talking about. Most of the course here close. the only ones that stay open don't care about the damage and/ or are after a couple of extra bucks. Courses on cape cod stay open but there climate is totally different than inland.

Direct wear injury

Thinning of the turf due to direct wear injury is an obvious and important result of winter traffic. Unlike during the growing season, when turf is able to regenerate new leaves and stems to replace injured tissue daily, winter weather completely halts turf growth; the grass is continually thinned throughout the winter in direct proportion to the amount of traffic. This thinning of the turf canopy can, and often does, encourage the establishment of such weeds as Poa annua, crabgrass, goosegrass, moss, algae, pearlwort, spurge, and other weed pests during the spring and summer. True enough, weeds can indeed be a problem on greens that aren't subjected to winter play, but winter traffic causes them to be just that much more abundant and difficult to control.

Soil compaction

Soil compaction is a more subtle and perhaps more important consequence of winter traffic. Because of the cold winter temperatures and lack of active turf growth, the loss of excess soil moisture through evaporation and transpiration is greatly reduced. In addition, frozen sub-surface soils may completely block the movement of excess moisture through the soil profile. During the summer, a very heavy rainfall often creates soil conditions that warrant closing the course for a day or two until the excess moisture is eliminated by the way of evaporation, transpiration, and downward percolation through the soil profile. Because these moisture losses are often non-functional during the winter, saturated soil conditions can persist for weeks or longer. Yet the golfers who can appreciate the need to close the course during the summer are sometimes completely unsympathetic to the same conditions and concerns during the winter.

The effects of soil compaction on the health and playability of the turf are insidious at any time, but because wet soils are especially prone to compaction, the likelihood of traffic causing the collapse of good soil structure is of constant concern during the winter. As soil particles are compacted and pushed closer and closer together, the pore space that facilitates drainage and root growth during summer is gradually lost. As the season finally commences, golfers often complain the these compacted greens are hard. From an agronomic standpoint, turf begins the season in a weakened state, predisposed to a host of summer problems. In addition to the potential for weed encroachment, the turf on greens played during winter tends to wilt more readily during hot weather, and often is more susceptible to a wide array of primary and secondary disease organisms.

An additional effect of the Chinook winds combined with the naturally dry climate is that Colorado doesn't have the wet soil conditions that you have in Massachusetts.  Traffic simply does not have the same impact.  Many modern turf grasses are more resistant to such damage too.  I can remember back in the late 70's, when many courses used temporary greens through the winter.  Those same courses now allow play on the regular greens.  This is partly due to improvements in the turf grass itself, as well as improved maintenance strategies.

The last time I played on temporary greens was in the early 90's, and that was due to my home course being shipped a batch of contaminated fertilizer.  The problem wasn't discovered until the par 3 course and 7 holes on the front 9 had been treated with it.  Fortunately they did the par 3 course first, and when the greens there started to die, they immediately ceased all applications until they figured out what had happened.  It turned out that a number of courses in the general region had received contaminated product (for which all courses were ultimately compensated).  We played on temporary greens on most of the front 9 for the next 3 months while the turf was completely removed and resodded.  Aside from that incident, the course has had exceptional greens for the last 30 years, especially considering that it's a heavily used municipal course.

[Phil McGleno]

Rick youre arguing with a superintendent. You dont have direct wear injury or soil compaction in Colorado? Please.

[iacas]

[wils5150]

I am well aware of the new grasses. mine greens are T1. Simply put playing on frozen dormant turf causes damage. Most Places that stay open due so for the money. which is fine. Sucks about the Fert.  mistake. It doesn't happen a lot but once in awhile you here about it.

Erik is right I have drifted off topic. If you would like to discuss turf anymore we should make a new thread.

[iacas]

Erik is right I have drifted off topic. If you would like to discuss turf anymore we should make a new thread.

I think a thread manned by a superintendent talking about turf grasses and all sorts of topics would be great. Either give it a general title and make it a catch-all, or do specific threads on specific topics. Put it/them here: http://thesandtrap.com/f/14/golf-courses-and-architecture .

[wils5150]

I think a thread manned by a superintendent talking about turf grasses and all sorts of topics would be great. Either give it a general title and make it a catch-all, or do specific threads on specific topics. Put it/them here: http://thesandtrap.com/f/14/golf-courses-and-architecture .

I am game for that. I am not the grand wizard of turf but I have been doing it for 20 plus years. My only stipulation is That I wont answer any questions that I feel would be stepping on another Superintendents toes.

[Dave2512]

Being from upstate NY I can't believe it stays warm enough in Colorado to play nearly year round.

Notable winter days I golfed last year. Thanksgiving, Xmas eve, my bday Jan. 12, Superbowl Sun. It's not nearly year round it's 12 months here. Courses are only closed when covered with snow or if there is an impending storm coming in quick. It doesn't even need to be completely clear for courses to open. Bunkers and shady areas may have snow for several weeks. Courses open late enough that morning frost isn't an issue. Most days it would be too cold to be out early anyway. Today the high will be 61, when I walked my dog at 6AM it was 28. Worst time for golf in CO is end of winter early spring. By then the greens are so inconsistent it makes putting miserable no matter how warm the weather is.

[jsgolfer]

Frost is basically frozen dew that has crystallized on the grass, making it hard and brittle. A grass blade is actually 90 percent water, therefore it also freezes. Because of the short mowing height (sometimes as low as 1/8 inch) and fragile nature of the turf, putting greens are most affected by frost. Walking on frost-covered greens causes the plant to break and cell walls to rupture, thereby losing its ability to function normally. When the membrane is broken, much like an egg, it cannot be put back together.

http://www.cybergolf.com/golf_news/understanding_frost_delays -- Golf Course Sup't Association