Royal Troon Conditioning Under the Top..

[A_Clay_Man]

Tom Paul- One major factor that no one seems to mention was the weather. Ya know, that one last unpredictable element or variable.

At SHGC, moisture was forecasted, same as at Troon. At SHGC, it rained Thursday night and the poa puffed-up and was visible even on TV. Subsequently, (high praise for the conditions) on Friday, the rain ultimately resulted in the lowest scores of the championship.

With a similar weather pattern expected for Saturday night (potential for rain) what U.S. Open super would dare to wet his course, if mother nature was potentially going to supply it? It seems as though that super, would suffer worse slings and arrows, had he wetted the truf and then Mother Nature supplied more. And what if it were alot more? Why risk losing the playability of the golf course, to standing water, on already saturated turf?  At Troon, the rain came as expected. It did not at SHGC. What would the reaction have been to Troon's Sunday set-up, if no moisture arrived? My guess it would've looked and played alot like  SHGC (save for fairway width and rough height) and the scores would've reflected that.

Putting oneself in other's shoes, whether it be recent or past histories, seems like the first action in attempting to be objective. In Mark Michaud's shoes, not one of those bashing the conditions on Sunday, would have had the balls to do what he did, or been in a position to do it. Anyone want to read a real tap dance, go Geoff's site and read Faxon's diary. From his perspective, everyone thought it was a shame on Sunday in the Hamptons. But Fax stops short of saying what he thought. It's odd because when I have asked, many a golf enthusiast, what they thought of Sunday at SHGC, they loved it.

Why not ask the best of the best to stop their balls on sewer caps? And to ask them to have the creativity to hit six irons from 40 yards out?

[Marc Haring]

Mark.

Good article. I remember the Joe Vargas presentation on poa myself. I’m not going to criticise poa greens as such, it is after all up to the superintendent as to what regime he uses and I will admit that poa greens when properly managed are excellent to putt on. Wentworth GC over here are the masters of poa and consistently produce exceptional greens for their two TV events.

I think there are still severe limitations to poa and I believe this was demonstrated at SHGC this year but I wasn’t there so perhaps am not in a position to argue. The limitations would include poor drought tolerance, disease susceptibility, seed head production, green texture problems either too hard or too soft (did you notice how Troons greens stayed firm even immediately following the morning rain) and maybe poor winter performance (certainly in the UK). Look at the problems they have at the annual Pebble Beach Pro Am.

My question is, why bother trying to get poa dominance when you can avoid all of the above managing a natural bent grass green with poa as a bit of infill. I guarantee that the greens at Troon are managed on a fraction of the budget of a 100% poa green, will probably never have to resort to fungicide use and have a natural buffering capacity to all that mother nature will throw. Poa greens results in knife-edge greenkeeping in my experience so I would always prefer to go for the traditional approach.

Having said that, I only have experience of poa greens in the UK and so am not qualified to criticise what my counterparts are doing on the other side of the world. This argument has raged on for as long as I can remember and you know what, we’ll never get to the end of it.  

[TEPaul]

Marc:

Very interesting stuff! There seems to be a lot of fundamental questions here, and as you just said, perhaps no one will ever get to the bottom of the answers to those questions. There just seems to be so many variables anyway not to mention the different conditions around the world.

It's probably true to say that whatever it is that offers the best overall chance for consistency in both agronomic management (time and cost) and also consistency in golf's playability will be the grass that most all go to and stay with (depending on where one is in the world).

I guess the major obstacle to all this is golf's playability (at least in a natural sense) was never meant to be consistent and uniform. It was always largely seasonally variable for obvious natural reasons and trying to EVER make it ultra consistent in both agronomic management and also ultra consistent in playability just might be a fundamental mistake because it always might be opposed by Mother Nature herself in one way or another from season to season!

[TEPaul]

Perhaps we should never forget one of the real ironies of original golf in the linksland that few may not be aware of today. In original "pre-architecture" golf that depended on natural agrostis and festuca as golf's playing surface (swards) golf was basically only played in the seasons other than the summertime. Golf could not be played or played well in the summer months simply because the grass was in its growing season and too high for golf (the sheep and rabbits could not stay enough ahead of the growth of the natural grass (agrostis and festuca) to make it playable enough for golfers).

Perhaps no matter how sophisticated we get with golf agronomy we may never be able to get around the obstacles of Mother Nature altogether!  

Or at least not until we realize again that mostly golf is a seasonal game with sometimes vast differences in playability from season to season. Trying to somehow make it otherwise with total and ultra consistency may never be doable in the real natural world!

Maybe it's just time to accept that fact and stop trying to overcome it altogether with the ultimate goal being ultra consistency! It's probably just impossible to ever have that in golf.

[A_Clay_Man]

Or at least not until we realize again that mostly golf is a seasonal game with sometimes vast differences in playability from season to season. Trying to somehow make it otherwise with total and ultra consistency may never be doable in the real natural world!

Maybe it's just time to accept that fact and stop trying to overcome it altogether!

Agreed, But I don' think that will ever happen on a grand scale. It's become too scientific. The supers are all practically PHD'd in this science and they need to be pushed to their edge, just like any profession, if they want to grow and learn and evolve sensibly. Without that goal, or challenge, against the natural, golf may have been more pure, but what ramifications would it have on us, as a unlimited wanting society?  

[Steve Okula]

TE Paul,

I'm sorry that I came across as "spewing crap". I honestly tried to answer your question as well as my time and ability allowed.

I was in Australia last year, and went to visit the supers at Royal Melbourne, Royal Sydney and a couple of others. I don't believe that their approach to managing Poa is much different to what I have seen in the U.S., the U.K., or continental Europe.

There are many variables, including climate, soils, budgets, golfers' expectations, and availability of useful chemical products. The same super would probably take different approaches if he were in Scotland, Paris, or Sydney.

In the Paris area, for example, the best greens are predominantly Poa annua. This includes St. Germain, St. Cloud, St. Nom-la-Breteche, and Chantilly. The cool, wet weather of northern France makes it practically impossible to keep the Poa out. The old courses like those above evolved into Poa greens years ago.

Golfers and supers have come to accept Poa surfaces as superior to bent for this area. The main drawback is Poa's susceptibility to Fusarium disease, mainly from October through April, and the necessary expense of spraying.

[TEPaul]

"TE Paul,
I'm sorry that I came across as "spewing crap". I honestly tried to answer your question as well as my time and ability allowed."

I know you did Steve, and I'm sorry too that I answered you so testily. One of these days I'll sort of half figure some of this stuff out and I do understand it is hard sometime for those in the profession to explain things to laymen.

All I'm really looking to do, though, is talk about concept of playability and then have those in the profession say---"can do, here's how and how much it'll cost" or "No can do, and here's why" and of course be bluntly honest as far as they can know about it.

I do understand that many superintendents deflect laymen with technical jargon they know laymen don't understand and that worries me, but I'm the first to admit why they probably do that. Superintendents are some of the most long suffering people with some of the thickest skins I've ever seen but they should certainly be willing, in my opinion, to discuss things with laymen who really are trying to learn something about the agronomic ramifications and impact that comes with the request for certain positive playabilities.

The communication gap is real, and it cuts both ways, but I really do hope we can somehow figure out the best and most effective processes to close that communication gap!

[Eddie Adams]

I have read with interest the comments regarding Royal Troons set up.  I spoke to several of my collegues this week who were working there, who have said it was as good a set up for an Open they have seen.
 Greens were smooth and firm, lies were tight and the rough was as Mother Nature intended = Links golf = Claret Jug