Sustainable Greenkeeping

In 45 years of playing different golf courses, I have come to realise that, though design is the most obvious feature that makes a ‘fine’ course, it is the turf that is actually most fundamental.

Influence of TV:

Greenkeepers need protection from ignorant club members who demand lush green fairways and heavily watered, scalped greens that are seen on television.  These types of conditions may make it easier for them to score well short term with target golf and keep to their low handicaps but they are a recipe for degeneration of the turf longer term and thereby their enjoyment.

Fine turf is dominated by two fine-leaved, slow-growing, deep-rooted grasses, namely Fine Fescues (Festuca rubra) and the Bents (Agrostis).

All golf courses are improved with these grasses which naturally exist in temperate Northern European latitudes but hardly anywhere else in the world.  The principles of good greenkeeping are based on the needs of these grasses and the conditions where they flourish which are at the same time unsuitable or unappreciated by coarser-leaved, faster-growing, shallower-rooted, more agricultural grasses (poa annua).

The common denominator  where fine grasses flourish?

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

The answer, to quote Jim Arthur (from “Practical Greenkeeping”):

“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 basically infertile conditions - especially to avoid phosphatic fertilisers - and to ensure ideal conditions for deep-rooting by intensive deep aeration.  In other words, for good greens use nitrogen only and aerate deeply.  These same principles apply equally to every part of the golf course.”

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

Aeration is the most important thing for healthy grass.

But tining makes greens bumpy for 10 to 14 days so golfers become frustrated and often suggest it should be done later in the year when there are less golfers around.

But don’t expect that tining can be done effectively after October when the ground gets waterlogged, as at that time the action of driving in the tine can make a skin on the sides of the hole and stops drainage thereby making the hole useless for its purpose.

Mowing is the basis of producing good playing surfaces.

The ‘Augusta Syndrome’ of quick greens as seen on TV creates enormous pressure on club greenkeepers, particularly from low handicappers, to cut the greens short for speed.

Poa annua has to be mown close (2 to 3mm) for speed but this can have lethal results hence the sobriquet “the quick and the dead”.  Fine wiry grasses are quick without having to be scalped to their roots and indeed some pure fescue greens cut at 5 to 6mm give a stimp reading of 11+ in dry conditions.

Seeding slows greens: A major factor in slowing down the speed of greens made of Poa Annua is that it seeds at low level. Fine grasses seed on high stems. The increasing use of the verticutter machine, leaving close parallel lines on the sward, is often an attempt to reduce Poa Annua’s seeding characteristics in the spring. But it also stresses and tends to kill off the wanted fescue grasses and so sustainable greenkeepers are reducing the use of the verticutter.

The cardinal sin is overwatering.

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

Fine aprons are vital.

One of the differences between fine courses and others is that a fine course encourages the bump and run shot . This requires modern grooming, sissis and scarification exercised on aprons to greens.

On Lush Target courses the fairway grass is comparatively long right up to the green so that, if they are to have a predictability of bounce, the golfer has to use a wedge to pitch onto the green and it needs to be watered to hold the shot.

Quality of aprons: Greenkeepers need to be encouraged to dethatch and improve the consistency of their aprons so we see more golfers using the bump and run.

Tight turf is fun:

One of the enjoyable aspects of Fine Golf is negotiating the bumps and hollows around greens played off tight dry turf, when the 4 wedges in your bag are not necessarily an advantage!

Encourage fine turf:

All greenkeeping hinges on the precept that, if we copy the basic conditions found in nature, where these fine fescue and bent grasses dominate, and therefore keep out competitors, then the grasses we want will thrive.  Even where past mismanagement has resulted in annual meadow grass dominance, correcting the mistakes of management 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, the ecology and natural character while aiding disease control and weed invasion and reduce agri-chemical pollution of the soil and run-off to rivers.

Support your Greenkeeper

…to pursue a long term policy of sustainable greenkeeping and make sure the revolving Captains don’t bring the wrong management to your course, influenced by watching too much target TV golf.

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